Restarting a Indeterminate Tomato from a sucker

deonb 4/29/2021, 12:12 pm

We've had some 90 degree weather here in the beginning of April that completely caught me off guard on the tomatoes after transplant. I had contingencies against 30, not 90...

This heat scorched a lot of my tomato plants. I have one plant particularly that is very sad but actively growing new sucklings. There is still some greens at the top that's keeping the plant alive but it's not growing new leaves. It is however growing new sucklings around the stem.

Would it work if I nurse one of the suckling to good strength then cut off the rest of the plant and have the suckling become the new stem?

And which suckling should I do for this? I have 4 sucklings available, starting from 2 inches off the ground to about 10 inches.

Restarting a Indeterminate Tomato from a sucker Tomato10

Restarting a Indeterminate Tomato from a sucker Tomato11

deonb 4/29/2021, 1:13 pm

And by "Suckling" above, I mean "Sucker".

Not enough coffee yet...

OhioGardener 4/29/2021, 1:51 pm

When suckers get a little bigger, they can be cut off and stuck in the dirt, and they will grow into a full plant.

deonb 4/29/2021, 2:16 pm

OhioGardener wrote:When suckers get a little bigger, they can be cut off and stuck in the dirt, and they will grow into a full plant.

I already have new starts that are larger than the sucker.

So I have to make a decision between putting in a new plant vs having the sucker grow.

**jimmy cee** 5/1/2021, 10:49 pm

OhioGardener wrote:When suckers get a little bigger, they can be cut off and stuck in the dirt, and they will grow into a full plant.

Usually by then, that sucker may overtake the mother plant due to warmer soil temps.
That will prove my theory of planting warmer crops to early stunts their growth.

markqz 5/2/2021, 12:49 pm

jimmy cee wrote:
That will prove my theory of planting warmer crops to early stunts their growth.

That coincides with my experience. I live in a warmish place. But not warm enough as far as plants are concerned. I've tried many times to start crops as early as February. But although all danger of frost past in 1936, the plants just sit in the soil and never take off. On the other hand, my most successful garden was one started in July.

On the other hand, the plants I've started in fall will grow over winter, but at half the rate as expected.

deonb 5/2/2021, 1:04 pm

markqz wrote:
jimmy cee wrote:
That will prove my theory of planting warmer crops to early stunts their growth.
That coincides with my experience. I live in a warmish place. But not warm enough as far as plants are concerned. I've tried many times to start crops as early as February. But although all danger of frost past in 1936, the plants just sit in the soil and never take off. On the other hand, my most successful garden was one started in July.

On the other hand, the plants I've started in fall will grow over winter, but at half the rate as expected.

This is inside a 12-foot tall enclosed hoophouse with solid, AG-85 and AG-17 covers available. The plants that are 2 squares down are now growing by 10 inches vertical height per week. The soil temp hasn't dropped below 60 since transplant, and averages 70. Nighttime temps haven't fallen below 50.

It's not the cold that killed this one, it was having 90 degree heat 2 days after transplant. The plants got hardened in the mid 60s.

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Restarting a Indeterminate Tomato from a sucker

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