Growing More Tomato Plants

OK - here's a simple trade secret for this time of year. Do your tomatoes look rough, dying from the bottom up and the tops are falling over the tops of your cages but the tomatoes are getting smaller as we go into fall. You don't want to lose your production but what does one do?

Cuttings. Get a bag of perlite from whereever (I hate WalMart but they do carry small bags). Get a wide low pot and place a plastic bag into it. Poke a hole in the bottom of the bag thru the pots normal drain hole - not all drain holes - just one -three holes is enough - we are working on slowing down the water drainage. Fill the pot with perlite and be careful of the dust that will come out of the bag - you don't want to get this in your nose or lungs. Now water the perlight until is just about floats - you want it nice and wet but it should also be draining.

It needs to be at least 4 inches deep - I usually almost fill an eight inch deep container so I use about 7 inches myself. Take a pencil/pen/stick and poke a hole. Well, go get a dozen cuttings if that pot is at least 10 inches across first - about the last 8 inches of the growing tips of plants you want to keep growing from your tomato patch. Taking a glass of water to stick them in is not a bad idea.

Now go back to your perlite filled pot and stick the first tomato cutting down into the first hole you poked. Now move over a bit and poke another hole and stick the plant into that hole. Keep up the process until you have about 12 plants stuck into the perlight (do strip back excess leaves along the stems about as long as your holes are deep). After you have all the plants in each pot, water once more and make sure it is draining well. Place in a shadier spot only to protect the plants from a lot of direct hot sun. Wait two weeks watering at least once per day - if the temps are over 85, twice a day may be adviseable but once usually is enough - water logging is not advised - make sure it does drain.

At the end of two weeks, pull the plastic sack up out of the pot and test the plants for rooting. I don't use any hormones. If you find they have a nice rootball started, transplant into pots for a few weeks to give them a shot of growth before transplanting your new plants to the garden. Be careful not to crush off the new roots - they will be quite tender.

Overstuffing the plants into the perlight can cause rot. We had 16 each in two pots and lost 4 in one - they were hollow and rotty so don't expect 100% replacement - best to do more pots than overcrowd a few if you want a ton more plants.

Taadah! Tomatoes you can guarantee are clones of the ones you have been growing and successful with for fall planting.