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Re: was Pepper Problems now cuttings

Debra

Cuttings are easy with tomato plants. In fact asexual
reproduction/cloning is pretty easy with MOST plants.

I water start mine which is the simplest way that I know. I have done
air layering, and used soil and rooting hormone on other plants, but
tomatoes are easier in water from my experience. It is, afterall, just a
damned vine. Did you know that a century ago people would not eat them,
they thought they were poison and that they eminate from South America. 

Here is a step-by-step of how I do it. 

FIRST - I use tall plastic glasses but you can use any container that is
not transparent. Roots develop better in darkness or at least out of
direct light. These glasses hold about a quart of water. I use red and
blue ones because that is what I use. 

SECOND - Fill the glass with water, preferably rain water - oxygenate it
first by putting it in a jug and shaking it like crazy. Oxygen is
extremely important for all roots but especially these babies. Oxygen
also discourages algae growth.

Do NOT use distilled water as the distillation process actually takes
out the micro nutrients that occur naturally in water (in it's purest
form water is a serious ACID, almost as toxic as Hydrochloric or battery
acid - in fact since all ACIDS contain a Hydrogen molecule, water would
work like the blood from the alien movies and eat through EVERYTHING in
it's purest form). 

If rain water is not available, run your tap for a few minutes to clear
the stagnant water from the pipes and then run a gallon jug of COLD tab
water leaving a couple of inches for air space (less chemical build up
in cold water pipes) and let it stand for a day at room temperature and
then carefully pour off the top 2/3rds of a gallon. 

The water that we PAY for is so full of additives and chemicals that is
is nearly undrinkable for plants, not to mention we humans. Forget all
the crap you read about adding an aspirin or sugar, while it may make a
marginal difference, it is non essential. 

I have gotten in the habit of adding a pinch (~ 1/4 teaspoon) of either
Shultz 18-19-30 Tomato fertilizer or Miracle Gro 18-18-21 Tomato
fertilizer to each gallon but this is optional (I prefer the Shultz).
Fertilizer also encourages algae growth. If you do not have any
available no big deal, they will still root if you follow all the steps. 

THIRD - head to the garden and find strong healthy plants. To take early
cuttings, look for suckers on lower branches if you left them. This is
actually a little early to take cuttings but if you have the heat that I
am experiencing you are probably already seeing some wilt (plants
generally do not repair damage on leaves, including wilt or sun burn).
If you are taking late cuttings head to the tops of the plants which is
what I did this year.
 
NOW, I am going to attempt to make an ascii diagram of the top of a
tomato plant (CUT ME SOME SLACK, SQUINT, visualize a tomato plant).

    |
    |  /A
B\  | /
  \ |/
   \|1
    |  /C
D\  | /
  \ |/
   \|2
    |  /E
F\  | /
  \ |/
   \|3
    |
--------- cut line
    |  /G
H\  | /
  \ |/
   \|4


Typical FEMALE plant node spacing (no opposing branches) 

*Tomato plants are typically bisexual look like THIS way ^^. 

The following is an example of other types of plants. 

   |
 \ | /
  \|/
   |
 \ | /
  \|/

Typical MALE node plant node spacing (opposing branches) (not
necessarily tomatoes).

NOW the key is to make sure that when you make your cuttings you leave
at least 3 nodes (where the branches leave the main stem). I have
numbered the nodes on the first diagram. 

You can take 4 if you like or in some cases 2. The distance between
nodes is determined as much by photoperiod, wind, and other factors as
it is genetics. My cuttings vary from around 6" for the Merced and Roma
to 10" on the Sweet 100's.

The objective it to have nodes that will submerse several inches under
water (so that they will not fall out of the glass) as this is where you
new roots will grow. Smaller cuttings will grow just as well as longer
cuttings when they form roots and hit the soil (in 90 days you will not
know the difference) anyway. 

Roots develop as a consequence of darkness, temperature, and pressure.
Since every cell has the exact same DNA, you just have to flip the
switch on these cells to trick them into thinking that the cells are to
make roots instead of vegetative growth. Darkness, temperature, pressure
does this. The glass offers no direct sunlight - Darkness, the water is
a constant temperature - room temperature, and also offers a constant
pressure greater than air pressure. 1.2.3.

I have a nice set of gardening shears that I cut with that make a crisp,
sharp cut on the plant. If you rip it or tear it, you stress it out and
open it up for embolisms and other problems. You can use SHARP SCISSORS
or a SHARP knife. I recommend cutting below the 3rd node about an 3/4"
or an inch BELOW the branch labeled F in the above diagram (still
squinting?). CLEAN SHARP CUT.

Take the cutting and trim off the leaves labeled D, E, and F, LEAVING A,
B, & C attached - again with a sharp instrument, leave 1/4" to 1/2" of
leaf stem attached to the main stem. 

If there are flower buds or tiny fruits, trim them off too. Your
objective is to get the thing to root, not flower. The reduction in
photoperiod in this process would normally encourage flowering anyway.
If you cannot get them all, no problem. But like the advice about
purchasing plants, flowers or fruit are not a positive thing as they
detract from the growth phase. 

AND if you are a little hesitant to take a starter with flowers, just
remember that they few who die this way will be the sacrificial lambs
for a plant that will be as prolific as the parent. I throw all this
excess in the compost pile. 

NOW, here is something that I do from experience. I take the end of the
stem where I originally removed the cutting from the plant and I
submerse it in water and make a 45 degree cut UNDER WATER and then place
the whole stem with leaves in the glass of water/fertilizer. This
prevents a possible embolism or air bubble from entering the circulatory
system of the plant. 

I then place the plants in the glass under a 130 watt fluorescent light
that stays on 24 hours a day over my kitchen sink. I do NOT recommend
placing the babies in direct sunlight or extreme heat - a few hours of
direct sunlight a day is fine for the first week or so. 

If you have a good southern window in an otherwise cool room that will
work. The reasoning is simple, until such time as the plants generate
roots they will not be able to aspirate sufficient water (a bicambrial
event, the outside of the skin of the stem is actually the water
transport path) to support the leaves. 

The few leaves that you leave on the plant will allow the plant to
photosynthesize to allow the plant to grow roots. The more roots, the
more the plant can photosynthesize, the more photosynthesis, the more
roots will grow. Too much light and heat will outstrip the water
carrying capacity of the roots, not enough and the roots will develop
slower, if at all. Let common sense be your guide and experiment. 

Check the water/fertilizer solution daily - do not let it get stagnant
or too dark. IF it starts to grow algae, pour it out and refill the jar,
again being careful to aerate the water just like in the first filling.
The 12 Merced cuttings I took 2 days ago drank nearly an inch of water
the first 24 hours that they were in the glass. A little blue green
algae will not hurt the roots but a lot will strangle them. In instances
where there is a lot of algae bloom, I dump the water out and run the
faucet with an aerator at a pretty good clip and circulate fresh aerated
water for a few minutes. This slows the algae growth down and adds
additional oxygen to the roots, then I refill with the nutrient
solution. The roots are a LOT tougher than they look. 

After a 10 days or so you will be able to look into the glass and see
fine white roots. You can pretty much sustain growth like this until the
glass gets full of roots, but the whole idea is to get sufficient roots
to plant in soil. 

When my root bundle is about the size of a big pecan or a small golf
ball I place them in good potting soil in 5" pots, being careful to NOT
compress the soil too much and then water with the same weak nutrient
solution and leave them in the same light that they are used to. Add
soil if necessary as the plants will grow roots above the ball. Do not
worry about tearing a few roots when you pull the plants apart, it is
inevitable that they will all grow in one mass by using this method, but
be careful and do as little damage as possible. 

The day before I get ready to put them out doors I hit them with a high
nitrogen fertilizer (I use Miracle Gro 36-6-6 lawn fertilizer about 1/2
tablespoon per gallon of aerated water solution).  

After a week in soil you can slowly but surely take them outdoors under
a shady tree and gradually acclimate them to direct full sunlight over
the course of a few days to a week. 

How long the process takes depends on many variables. In my case I have
taken this process from cuttings to the garden in as little as 3 weeks
and as long as 6 weeks. 

I am on the 6 week plan this season, maybe sooner as the existing plants
are starting to burn - I have a fungus/blight starting. 

If you get this right you have just cloned an exact duplicate of the
parent plant. 

If you have one plant that is spectacular or has a trait that you like,
you can duplicate it over and over. 

If your buddy has a nice plant, you can duplicate HIS plants this way
for YOUR garden. Hell, if your neighbor has a nice plant and he is a
jerk, you can sneak over and take a cutting. The old farmer who taught
me to garden 16 years ago used to get ALL of his plants from the sewer
plant. 

So much for cloning being a threat!

Hope this elaborate explanation of a simple process does not waste too
much bandwidth and answers your questions. Please do not flame me for
the inaccuracies in terminology or spelling. It has been 25 years since
college environmental biology.



PLeach7969@aol.com wrote:
> 
> << If it is any consolation, my tomatoes are putting on like crazy. I
>  harvested 6 lbs yesterday from my 30 plants for the 3rd straight day and
>  took cuttings for a second season in a month or so (we have a 231 day
>  growing season here in Dallas).   >>
> 
> Thats great mine are full of tomatoes but still green, got them in late. Never
> heard of the cutttings. How do you do that? I know I have a hard time finding
> plants for a fall garden. so being able to start more plants with cuttings
> would be great. I live 35 miles SW of Fort Worth.
> Debra Leach
> Top-line Nubians and Boers
> Joshua, TX
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