Tomato Suckers

I am totally amazed at the advice that is shared here.  Someone, maybe 2 years ago, said that if a sucker  gets really big before you take it off that you can plant it and it will get roots and grow.  Well, it worked.  I have 3 that survived.  Only one problem - they will have to come inside to survive beyond the frost. 

I have this really huge planter from an indoor tree that finally died and I put one in there.  I have a sunroom which has windows that have cedar as the trim.  No varnish.  So, I took a couple of cup hooks and put one at the top and one at the bottom and strung a bit of twine.  It's looking pretty happy right now.  If it survives beyond this week, I will take a picture.  It is blooming.  The other 2 are outdoors yet.  Think I will leave them out there until we are near frost.  Also going to add some herbs to the mix when I have the time to dig them up.  (not yet) 

When I enclosed a porch about 10 years ago and made it into a sunroom I never even thought of doing this. Wonder if lettuce would survive.  Yes, I will probably have to get some grow lights since I live in zone 4.

I tried the sucker planting last year.  I put them in pots and then put the pots on a wagon.  That way, I could pull the wagon into the garage when frost was threatened.  I had tomatoes until Christmas.  I got tired of taking the wagon in and out of the garage and finally just let them get frozen one night.




They were also hit with some kind of disease and I had to trim the bottom branches so they look kind of funny.

yolos wrote:I tried the sucker planting last year.  I put them in pots and then put the pots on a wagon.  That way, I could pull the wagon into the garage when frost was threatened.  I had tomatoes until Christmas.  I got tired of taking the wagon in and out of the garage and finally just let them get frozen one night.

They were also hit with some kind of disease and I had to trim the bottom branches so they look kind of funny.

If I lived in the south I would do it more.  This will be the first time I have attempted this.

I always replant cuttings. I start with just a couple tomato seedlings and then keep replanting whenever I trim off a sucker. I ended up with about 15 (?) tomato plants this year. As I pull up early crops like lettuce, I just fill the square with another tomato cutting.

manda99 wrote:I always replant cuttings. I start with just a couple tomato seedlings and then keep replanting whenever I trim off a sucker. I ended up with about 15 (?) tomato plants this year. As I pull up early crops like lettuce, I just fill the square with another tomato cutting.

Thanks for sharing that. I think I will do a sharing with my grandkids who have gardens.  Maybe that will help their budget next year.

greatgranny wrote:

manda99 wrote:I always replant cuttings. I start with just a couple tomato seedlings and then keep replanting whenever I trim off a sucker. I ended up with about 15 (?) tomato plants this year. As I pull up early crops like lettuce, I just fill the square with another tomato cutting.

Thanks for sharing that. I think I will do a sharing with my grandkids who have gardens.  Maybe that will help their budget next year.

My tomato plants get some disease or other right off the bat.  So I no longer take cuttings from the diseased plants.  Next year I need to stagger planting dates.

yolos wrote:

greatgranny wrote:

manda99 wrote:I always replant cuttings. I start with just a couple tomato seedlings and then keep replanting whenever I trim off a sucker. I ended up with about 15 (?) tomato plants this year. As I pull up early crops like lettuce, I just fill the square with another tomato cutting.

Thanks for sharing that. I think I will do a sharing with my grandkids who have gardens.  Maybe that will help their budget next year.

My tomato plants get some disease or other right off the bat.  So I no longer take cuttings from the diseased plants.  Next year I need to stagger planting dates.

I live in Chicago, so this isn't a continuous thing since all our plants die by October at the latest.  I just do this throughout the summer.