TOMATO CUTTINGS

[Shallot Man]

Had No:1 grandson round a week ago, who watched me nipping the tomato side shoots out, can I plant them he said, of course you can I replied, the thing is they are all growing, will they produce tomatoes.One for OH !

[Primrose]

I seem to remember somebody raised this question last year and I believe the answer was that you CAN generate new plants in this way. I wanted to experiment myself but so far this year it seems to have become an ingrained habit to nip the sideshoots out as soon as they appear so I haven't yet had an opportunity. I guess the only issue might be that your tomatoes would flower and fruit later than normal, so you might not have much of a good crop, but if you have a greenhouse and can prolong your growing season this might not be a problem. We'll look forward to hearing the results.

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Shallotman, i can see no reason at all why they won't crop admirably, even if thay are a tad later.

[Elsa]

I often use the sideshoots of tomatoes to make new plants, espec if I have started one or two in January (can't wait!). Or plants to grow outside, made from the early ones in the glasshouse. Last year I kept a plant, made from a very late overlooked sideshoot, alive all through the winter in a cool window, just to see if it was possible. It didn't produce anything during the winter, but if one day I get a fantastic F1 plant with super tasting tomatoes, I know it is possible to keep it going for more than one year.

[Johnboy]

Hi Elsa,
What you say is very interesting because just at present there are several varieties of vine tomatoes on sale in the supermarket for which no seed is available. These have, unlike the norm for supermarkets, got superb flavour and I suspect that what you have described is exactly how these tomatoes are produced as they also seem to be available for certainly longer than the normal periods.
Most commercial tomatoes are grafted onto special root stocks so if you allow an indeterminate to grow as a bush the result would be masses of side shoots which would be very good for baulking up for production.
JB.

[Primrose]

Johnboy - interesting comment about occasionally getting supermarket vine tomatoes with a good flavour. I suspect that one very tasty cherry plum tomato I grew last year came from self sown manky tomato thrown out onto my compost heap and I did dry some seeds from that plant for future use. However, I find it very frustrating that supermarkets never name the tomato varieties they sell. They do this for apples, i.e. Cox, Pink Lady, Brawburn, etc, so why not tomatoes, especially as we would then know which absolutely tasteless ones to avoid. Perhaps we should start campaigning for the supermarkets to do this.

[Shallot Man]

Primrose. A good idea, why don't we make a start through this forum. I shall email ASDA. who else is up for it.

[FelixLeiter]

Most commercial tomatoes are grafted onto special root stocks so if you allow an indeterminate to grow as a bush the result would be masses of side shoots which would be very good for baulking up for production.
JB.

Commercial tomatoes are only grown on rootstocks for resistance to soil-borne diseases, not in order to propagate them. They're grafted at the seedling stage, using an approach graft whereby the roots of the stock and scion are retained until the two are fully wedded. Seed of supermarket varieties of merit is usually embargoed from sale to the gardening public, and many varieties are exclusively licensed by some retailers or food processors. Heinz, for instance, have an exclusive tomato variety they use for making their ketchup.

I have grown tomatoes from cuttings many times, to get a late crop from vigorous plants on a short stem. It's a good technique to use if you're growing tomatoes for a long season, say from a January sowing, but don't have the space for the vines to grow tall. They're so easy to root that you do not even have to take nodal cuttings. Tomatoes cannot safely be perpetuated from cuttings from one year to the next as they accumulate viruses, which tend to start to accumulate after about 18 months — I recommend taking cuttings from a seed-grown plant only once.

[alan refail]

Bought some from Tesco today - variety given as "Temptation". Mean anything to anyone?

[FelixLeiter]

I find it very frustrating that supermarkets never name the tomato varieties they sell. They do this for apples, i.e. Cox, Pink Lady, Brawburn, etc, so why not tomatoes, especially as we would then know which absolutely tasteless ones to avoid. Perhaps we should start campaigning for the supermarkets to do this.

Supermarkets do now label some of their varieties. But only some. I must say things are far improved over what they used to be with tomatoes even only a decade ago, when there wasn't the range of cherry, beefsteak, or vine tomatoes that are so plentiful now, and when very few were actually ripe. Many are still bags of coloured water, but at least there's the choice to buy something with a bit of flavour and substance, even if you have to pay a bit more for it.

[Primrose]

Felix - "Seed of supermarket varieties of merit is usually embargoed from sale to the gardening public, and many varieties are exclusively licensed by some retailers or food processors."
Can you clarify this please? Does this mean that you cannot commercially buy the seeds of certain supermarket tomatoes from catalogues from the normal seed suppliers?
I know some of the varieties may be F1, or even grafted, but I don't see how the supermarkets can stop people buying their tomatoes and drying and saving the seed if they find a variety they like, even if there's a risk that the subsequent crop may not turn out to be completely true to type.
I think I will start an e-mail campaign as soon as I have time to the major supermarkets to ask for their tomato varieties to be labelled but I suspect it will require more than the odd voice crying in the wilderness before they listen.

[Shallot Man]

Alan. The only Temptation I knew was when I was in my teens, but they wore a skirt.

[FelixLeiter]

Can you clarify this please? Does this mean that you cannot commercially buy the seeds of certain supermarket tomatoes from catalogues from the normal seed suppliers?

Yes.

I know some of the varieties may be F1, or even grafted

Yes, often grafted, but not as a means of propagating a named clone, only to give seed-raised plants disease resistance.

but I don't see how the supermarkets can stop people buying their tomatoes and drying and saving the seed if they find a variety they like, even if there's a risk that the subsequent crop may not turn out to be completely true to type.

Nothing to stop you doing that at all. And usually the offspring will be mongrels, but not always. What you can't do is sell the seed.

I think I will start an e-mail campaign as soon as I have time to the major supermarkets to ask for their tomato varieties to be labelled but I suspect it will require more than the odd voice crying in the wilderness before they listen.

I think you're leaning against an open door with this particular campaign, it's one that's been fought for for years by consumer groups. Progress is being made, but it's slow.

[Johnboy]

Felix,
Your Quote; Commercial tomatoes are only grown on rootstocks for resistance to soil-borne diseases, not in order to propagate them.

Nobody has suggested otherwise. But if you grow them as cuttings they are open to the vagaries of the soil whereas used in conjunction with rootstocks they are not. As you so rightly say they are scions and not cuttings.
JB.

[PLUMPUDDING]

Plant your cuttings nice and deep and they will root right up the stem, making a vigorous sturdy plant. It is a good way of extending the season as your cuttings will be coming into production when the plant you took them off has finished.