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Location

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Date Posted

Ontario

I wonder how many new growers to tomato's, realize, you can grow a new plant off that sucker you pinch out. So you have one Hunt 7.3 and wished you had more ? guess what you do! Let the sucker get to a half decent size , remove it and place in the soil or planting medium. Keep the soil moist and out of the hot sun . And before you know it you have another plant. The best suckers are the ones coming out of the soil ,as they usually have somewhat of a root system going already. Good luck Terry

6/25/2013 12:16:33 PM

Ely Mn

Wow...i didnt know that.thanks for the info!

6/25/2013 1:31:31 PM

Allentown, PA

Very good! I have started quite a few heirloom plants via this method.

It would also work for those plants growing to obtain giants.

Excellent bit of information! Thanks for sharing it with everyone!

6/25/2013 4:11:02 PM

President - GPC

WOW good to know....thankZ....I got lots of suckerZ

6/25/2013 5:02:15 PM

Mnt.pleasant ,tennessee

Also just stick them in vase of water they'll root out

6/25/2013 5:22:51 PM

Germany

Terry, just wondering what "half decent size" might be. Half size of a decent plant? No, that´s too large.
How many leaf nodes would you recommend the little sucker should have before you cut it off and try to get it grow its own roots? (talking about the ones which don´t have any own roots so far)
Cheers,
Jörg

6/25/2013 5:29:28 PM

Omaha, Ne.

did that last year, in a very short time I couldn't tell them apart. I also used a rooting hormone.

6/25/2013 6:03:46 PM

Cameron

We've planted suckers @ 6" tall with very good results. I've found here that it takes about a week or so for them to take. Like Terry said, don't let them dry out & keep them shaded as much as possible. Good luck.

Jane & Phil

6/26/2013 8:30:26 AM

Ohio

I did this with two of the 5.08 Mastons I'm growing. I cut them off dipped them in water and then in rooting powder and then set them in an ice cream bucket on my porch. It only took about a week and they have tons of roots on them now and are ready to plant tomorrow.

6/26/2013 6:35:29 PM

Piqua, Ohio

yep I have 12 plants from one seed.

6/26/2013 6:42:20 PM

Central NY

Ugh....more work....

6/26/2013 7:46:16 PM

France

I've already used about 70 good suckers to produce new plants for friends.
After 10 days, the pots are full of roots and ready to transplant. Simply keep them wet and away of the sun.

6/27/2013 2:58:19 AM

East Carbon, Utah

My biggest Brutus Magnum tomato last year came from a sucker, not from the two plants grown from seed! That suckered plant was also the most productive and was not even in my giant tomato bed - that is, no pruning or other special care. Perhaps an anomaly, but does demonstrate that suckers can produce healthy, productive tomato vines.

I would add three cautions, based on lots of failures on my part:

- Bring the suckers indoors to root and heal; around here, it's too hot outside, even in the shade.
- Make sure the soil has few, if any nutrients and is clean, perhaps even sterile. Rich soil seems to kill the suckers.
- If rooting in just water, use very clean water and replace at least once a day.

Also consider air layering the suckers before pinching them off. I have not tried this technique yet, but it seems to me you would get a higher success rate - at least higher than mine!

6/29/2013 11:41:40 AM