Bill P.-
There are surely experts better than I am, but I have done OK with rooting cuttings....based on my experience:
You want to get a healthy root system going before you put back into the ground and after being in the shade, reintroduce to increasing direct sun before transplanting, like hardening. Know from your other posts you have plenty of experience growing transplants from seeds in cups: suggest you judge readiness for transplanting when cuttings dry out soil in cups at about the same rate as the transplants you raised from seeds did just before you transplanted them, and then water them like any other transplant when they're back in the ground. You should see new leaf growth by then. I'd say don't cut off the big leaves... it probably just needs a little more time to get more roots going...they're nice looking cuttings and should do fine!
Tom D.

Bill,
I do my rootings a bit differently. I pinch a good sized sucker (not too big, not too small) and put it in a small vase (old medicine bottle) with plain water. If there are large leaves I cut them off. I position the sucker so that the stem is in the water but the leaves aren't. In about a week or so roots form. Then I transplant them in potting soil (I use ProMix BX) and put them under the lights I use for seedlings that I grow from seed. In about a week or so I see that they are growing so I start to harden them off for a about a week or so, then they're ready for transplant.

I don't know if that helps or not.

Good luck.

Randy

p.s. Sorry about all the "week or so" above. I didn't measure how long it took and that's a guess.

gonefishin

I've rooted tomato suckers in the past and just put another one of a Brandywine RL into moist and shaded planting mix. Only one of that variety germinated and I wanted one more plant.

Anyway, about the one you mentioned with large leaves. If you have smaller leaves on the plant, and it looks like you do, I'd remove the large ones. That way, the plant won't be struggling to keep the large leaves alive and develop roots at the same time. IOW, it might root faster.

A week to ten days is about right for the roots to develop under optimal conditions, and I agree w/WVTM about hardening them off after they begin growth again. Make sure you keep the soil consistently moist but not soggy while it's doing its root thing. Then treat it like any other seedling by not watering it as much.

Good luck!

Wow! Thanks for the prompt response and help that I needed on rooting cuttings. I do appreciate it very much.

Thanks for the tips Tom D. and I will know to watch for some new growth on the tops of them.

Randy, I can see where rooting them in water would ad a dimension of being able to see the roots when they grow, but might involve one more step in the whole process. I may try some that way to see what happens.

I appreciate the mention of hardening them off like you do seedlings, I had not thought much about that actually.

Randy, at my age, I might be able to find an empty medicine bottle around here somewhere. ":^) Question: What would you say "a good sized sucker, not too big and not too small" is if translated into inches ? 6? 8? Should they have any leaves on them other than the very top tip?.

Anney, I had read that in the beginning you keep the potting mix very wet, and I can see if they were being rooted in water that they would like that. I have noticed that if they dry some, the leaves tend to start to droop a little. I am thinking that when they get over that stage, I could start cutting back the watering some. Does that sound about right?

There may be others wondering about these things too that this excellent info will help.

Thanks a million.
Bill P.

gonefishin'

Just one more thing. If your suckers don't stay strong in planting soil (if they wilt), you can put them in water as WVTM says he does. The plant will take up all the water it needs without having to deal with soil, which might get in the way without any roots. I had to move the sucker I'm trying to root today because it WAS wilting. It's really a young baby sucker and I might have been better off to wait until it was bigger before removing it. But after 15 minutes with the stem in water, it perked right up.

I've rooted my share also.

I pluck them at about 3" long, dab the end in rooting hormone and stick them in moist pro-mix.

In the greenhouse, they take about 10 days to root and I have near 100% take every time.

This is something that the hybrid seed companies don't want you to know or try. It might slow sales down a little.

Make sure that you hold the proper licence if you root any varieties that are patened. After you root them, count the number of plants that have taken X the royalty and mail in your check. LOL!

have fun!

Thanks Timmy, I appreciate it. About three inches long, O.K.!

Yeah right, I am sure that you have heard, the check is in the mail. If that bird had not broke them suckers off and If I just had not tried to save them and nurse them back to health ~ ~ ":^)

Thanks again Anney, now I know what to do if they look like they need quick first aid or resuscitation.
Bill P.

a single sheet of moist newspaper over the top of your cuttings on a hot day will help if there wilty.

Bill,

Again I eyeball things and don't measure exactly, but I'd say the suckers are around 3-4 inches in length.

I haven't read anywhere that you should harden them off again. I just did it because they were out of the elements for a while and I thought they might need some "toughening up". :-)

Randy

I have rooted twice. Years ago I once heard Martha Stwewart on TV say to prune away all suckers on a tomato plant because nothing will ever come of them. I knew that was folly. I have harvested hundreds of tomatoes that have grown from suckers on the plant! So I stuck a small sucker in a vase and changed the water daily. After a few days I potted it up and it grew a fine plant.

Now, this year. I had very bad germination on 'Chapman'. Out of 30 or so seeds I only had two germinate and both were sickly seedlings and one died. The other was on my porch trying to get better. My son stepped on it breaking the main stem about two weeks ago. I decided since it was my only Chapman I'd just plant what was left of it in the garden and see what happens. The darn thing is growing! It is way behind my others of course but I think I'll be sampling a Chapman after all this season.

You know what? I don't think you can kill these things...LOL

And thank you again Randy and Timmy.

Bigdaddyj, I do not usually have a plant survive if it is broken off when small. I have lost two this year to cut worms and one to a bird. Not bad I guess out of over 75 in the ground. One of the ones that a cutworm got was a plant that I ordered and really hated to lose (Dora) so I left it awhile to see if it would come back. It did not, but when I dug it up, it had developed an impressive root system although it was still only about 10 inches tall.

I have one other Dora tomato plants that is looking really good and hopefully I can save some seed from it. I think that after I get this rooting cuttings things down a little better, I may try to root a cutting from it.

I am glad that you had good luck with yours.

Bill P.

Well, I am encouraged. This morning, even the big leaves on the Big Beefsteak are

Along with help from good folks like you all, I may get them to root and have clones to put into the garden yet.

Kristi encouraged me to try again, she had excellent success by rooting cuttings to put out for fall tomatoes last year. That may very well be the best way to go here in our area where it is so hot and dry in the summer. Could it be that once rooted good, they may not be quite so tender and susceptible to the terrible heat here ??
Bill P.

Hi Bill :). I just saw this thread today or I woulda chimed in earlier! Thanks for remembering my rooting adventures from last summer.

Last summer, all I did was pinch out a couple of suckers. But mine were at least 12 inches long. Stuck them in good soil in 4" pots. I also put a tray under them and kept about 1/2" of water in the tray (this was in July). Put them on my front porch which gets morning sun and in two weeks, I planted them out. They never wilted after transplant....I think because of the morning sun they had gotten. And I know you remember how stinking hot July was last year :).

I don't know if I think they adapt to the heat. I just think the spring planted ones have spent up a lot of their vigor by that time and the new plants are vigorous and are better able to handle the heat than the old farts. LOL, kinda like me. I need a lot of breaks when the heat hits.

As far as removing foliage, there are two ways to do this. I didn't remove any since my suckers did not have leaves except for at the very tops. Always remove the bottom leaves and don't bury them. Then, if you still have a lot of good sized leaves left, remove 1/2. You can either remove half of the leaves left or 1/2 of each leaf left. The purpose is to decrease the demand for water traveling up through the stem. Those little roots need time to be up to the task of supplying all the water that a full, bushy cutting would require.

I'll be using the same methods this summer (if summer ever gets here), except I am going to pot them in 1 gallon sized containers this year. Oh, I didn't use any kind of rooting hormone either. I remember thinking then that "it can't be this easy." But it sure was :). Good luck and keep me posted.

Kristi

Hi Kristi, nice to hear from you. Thanks for the input.

The way things are going with this highly unusual weather, we may need something for ferns, moss. mold and mildew! We really did need the rain, but I think that now we are caught up. I have many tomaotes with tons of blooms on them, some have set little tomatoes on the vines but I do not know what the constant rain and high humidity will do to them.

I have my shredded oak leaves ready to put down for mulch and soak hoses in place, but wanted the ground to be wet when I put it down. Now I need to catch some dry weather to be able to get it down. Hopefully we will have a good year in the long run.
Bill P.