Tomato clones?

[pepper]

Does/has anyone cloned tomato plants? I am curious how they turn out. I might take a cutting and see how it does. I am guessing it will be smaller but not sure.

 

[Tetters]

Yes you can take cuttings from good strong plants, and they will root quite quickly, either in compost, or alternatively in water. I have always grown mine from seed, but I think Zigs may have done cuttings

 

[Meadowlark]

I do several every year. They turn out great. The lazy way is to just cover a "limb" in dirt where it will root and produce a new plant. This is what I usually do for my fall Tomato crop.

 

[pepper]

I do several every year. They turn out great. The lazy way is to just cover a "limb" in dirt where it will root and produce a new plant. This is what I usually do for my fall Tomato crop.

So the tomatoes end up the same size? I thought they would be smaller. Interesting.

 

[YumYum]

So the tomatoes end up the same size? I thought they would be smaller. Interesting.

It should be the exact same plant when it grows up. You can cut off a sucker (preferable a bigger one) and stick it in the ground and grow a new tomato plant but you have to keep it damp or it will dry up.

 

[Chuck]

Does/has anyone cloned tomato plants? I am curious how they turn out. I might take a cutting and see how it does. I am guessing it will be smaller but not sure.

I do it just about every year. I have no problems with the cuttings as about 90% develop good roots. Sometimes I get a crop but a lot of the time all I get are green tomatoes because it frosts early. I can't tell any difference in the tomatoes. I find that taking a cutting and just sticking it in soil is not as reliable as placing the cutting in a glass of water and rooting in that. At least you can see if it is going to decently root. I plant mid-season tomatoes to take cuttings from. I find early season determinate varieties want to bloom while it is still too high a temperature for bloom set. A mid season variety like Celebrity usually works fairly well. As for indeterminate varities I like Cherokee Purple for cuttings. But temperatures in Canada and in Texas are extremely different. I would guess that to take cuttings in Canada you would have had to start at least a month ago. Here in Texas I plant my cuttings between the 1st and the 15th of July.

 

[pepper]

The clone part is easy enough, I use a root stimulant but wouldn't need to for tomatoes because they root grow easy from those little hairs on them. One type of plant I sometimes clone because it's a hybrid so even though when you buy the seeds you never know what will grow because it's crossed with X Y and Z to make the particular variety so most often you end up with something that is nothing like what the seed is suppose to be. When I do luck out and get the same I clone it but find the clones grow much smaller plants then the host and less harvest. That's why I was curious if the tomatoes would be like that.. kind of a mini version of the mother host.

Even though I am pretty sure beefsteak tomatoes are not hybrid I seem to always get one or two plants out of the crop that are monsters and grow huge fruit. Those are the ones I'd like to clone.

 

[Chuck]

The clone part is easy enough, I use a root stimulant but wouldn't need to for tomatoes because they root grow easy from those little hairs on them. One type of plant I sometimes clone because it's a hybrid so even though when you buy the seeds you never know what will grow because it's crossed with X Y and Z to make the particular variety so most often you end up with something that is nothing like what the seed is suppose to be. When I do luck out and get the same I clone it but find the clones grow much smaller plants then the host and less harvest. That's why I was curious if the tomatoes would be like that.. kind of a mini version of the mother host.

Even though I am pretty sure beefsteak tomatoes are not hybrid I seem to always get one or two plants out of the crop that are monsters and grow huge fruit. Those are the ones I'd like to clone.

There are Beefsteak tomatoes and there are "beefsteak" tomatoes. The Beefsteak tomato you want is the old heirloom open pollinated variety. There are other beefsteak varieties such as Beefsteak VFN, Beefmaster, Big Beef to name a few. Many are sold under the name of Beefsteak. If you get the old heirloom variety you will have a clone if you take cuttings. If grown from seed you may have slight variations but basically the same. If you take cuttings from the others you will have a clone of that particular plant but if you plant seeds from any of these "beefsteak" varieties you will not have a clone.
Many factors can determine if a single tomato can grow huge or not but mainly it is determined at pollination. Then growing conditions get involved.

 

[Meadowlark]

... Here in Texas I plant my cuttings between the 1st and the 15th of July.

Reminds me I'm running late this year, thanks. Last year was perhaps the best fall tomato crop I've ever had. There was an early cool front in Sept that enabled fruit set and we had a great crop...but that was certainly the exception for here.

 

[pepper]

There are Beefsteak tomatoes and there are "beefsteak" tomatoes. The Beefsteak tomato you want is the old heirloom open pollinated variety. There are other beefsteak varieties such as Beefsteak VFN, Beefmaster, Big Beef to name a few. Many are sold under the name of Beefsteak. If you get the old heirloom variety you will have a clone if you take cuttings. If grown from seed you may have slight variations but basically the same. If you take cuttings from the others you will have a clone of that particular plant but if you plant seeds from any of these "beefsteak" varieties you will not have a clone.
Many factors can determine if a single tomato can grow huge or not but mainly it is determined at pollination. Then growing conditions get involved.

I always put a few tomato plants to the side and pollinate them with a q-tip as soon as I see new flowers open. I cut off the lower flowers and wait to see what upper ones look the best once they set then cut off all the other flower stems. I only get about 3 tomatoes off each plant but they are usually really big because all the energy goes into them. But that isn't the same as the random monster plants that do it on their own. I will make sure though from now on I only get the heirloom beefsteak seeds. Thanks for the tip on that, I didn't know.

 

[Chuck]

Reminds me I'm running late this year, thanks. Last year was perhaps the best fall tomato crop I've ever had. There was an early cool front in Sept that enabled fruit set and we had a great crop...but that was certainly the exception for here.

Well, for me it is always a gamble and there is no way of predicting it. I try to keep my indeterminates alive but after the crop is made on the determinates, which is now, I will take a few cuttings and pull them up and get the soil ready to put cuttings in.