Hello, I planted a tomato plant for the first time a few weeks ago. I read that I should get one of those metal contraptions that holds up the branches so I put that around the plant. Well, the plant has grown in our hot, California sun but today I accidentally snaped off a branch while trying to coax it into the metal holder. My question is this: Can I put the branch in the ground to grow a new tomato plant? It is currenly in my house in a glass of water. There are yellow flowers on it, which I know means there would have been tomatoes on this branch. Thank you.

yeah if its a side shoot you can plant it and it should grow!
i would take off the flowers as well, then pot it up and place it in the shade until you see new growth, then place in the sun and grow on.

* * * *

Mark

For me, I've had branches break off...
and I am basically an organic home gardener..
but for something of that nature I do use a
liquid 10~60~10 fertilizer for foliar feeding of the branch until it can produce enough roots of it's own to feed it'self...

I keep the soil moist, not soggy, but moist...
a good watering of the liquid the first day..
then foliar feed a bunch of days after...

Please keep us posted on how you make out,
We loveeeeee to hear updates, good or bad....

* * * *
Weezie

Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have
done this have entertained angels without realizing it.
- Bible - Hebrews 13:2





http://photobucket.com/albums/y250/weezie13/

I've had great success planting tomato branches directly in the garden in full sun when I place a cut-off 1 gallon milk jug over them and water once. The milk jug keeps the humidity high around the "plant". Bury them up to just below the top cluster of leaves and new roots will form all along the buried stem.

* * * *

Terry

May the force be with you

It takes about a week or so for suckers to form enough of a root mass to take off once they're in the ground. I let the roots grow to about an inch and there should be several. What you don't want is one of those really long roots that act like a man starting to bald so he combs over these couple of long hairs he's still got. You want more roots so there's more moisture uptake by the plant. Taking the flowers off a sucker allows the plant to focus all of its energy into forming new roots and getting itself over the shock of new transplanting. Give your new transplant a fertilizer that is heavily weighted on the phosphorus, the middle number. Phosphorus is good for new root growth. Fertilizers are always organized in this order: Nitrogen (N): Phosphorus (P): Potassium (K).

Buona fortuna,
Julianna

* * * *