soil in plastic cup method @ 2 weeks
I've been rooting tomato suckers for years with good success. I am in zone 7b, so I can grow tomatoes outdoors until late September and into October. If I move them into my greenhouse, I can keep them producing longer.
This year, I decided to try two different methods at the same time to see which did the best. I stuck 15 big suckers in water and put 24 in soil. I did not change the water daily in the bottles. I don't want more work. I want something easy to do.
Of the suckers put in the water, three of those did well. A fourth developed roots a bit slower than the others. The rest did not grow roots. One more has the bumpy texture that starts right before the roots pop out. So, it was around a 25% success rate.
I had 100% success rate on the suckers stuck in the soil, and they had good root development! They looked fantastic! I was really happy with the results! I thought of people I could share with and made a mental note to call them the next day to see if they wanted them.
Then, life happened. Sigh.
We live in an area thick with wild blackberries which have fungi which spreads to my tomatoes. I've learned to give a preventative dose of fungicide before I set my tomato plants out. I asked Hannah to do it and told her to get the measuring spoon and to measure carefully.
My sweet Hannah did not follow my directions to MEASURE the fungicide. She thought she could "eyeball" it. I saw the suffering plants the next day and could smell the fungicide in the soil. She really overdid it!!
I called Hannah and asked her is she had followed my directions exactly. She woefully told me she didn't get the spoon and measure it. I showed her the plants and went over loss in time and the potential harvest. I told her as long as she learned from it, we were good.
Hannah learned a lesson about how plants can be poisoned just like people and animals. All four of us gardening girls learned how to treat poisoned plants by flushing them with water. Bethany enjoyed watching them come back to life after each heavy watering.
Twelve of the tomato plants perked back up and have been planted outside. They don't look fantastic, but they should make it. Two died later. The other ten range from looking "so so" to "what a sad sight." We'll see what happens.
I think I'll skip trying to root the suckers in water and just do the soil next year.
I'll also make sure that fungicide is measured correctly!
Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.
Jeremiah 29:6
