Rooting cuttings, including suckers, will allow you to grow more tomato plants more quickly. Cuttings take less time to develop roots and produce new plants than seeds do.
Did you know that you can grow new tomato plants from the stems of tomato plants, including the “suckers”? As a bonus, you get a head start on your fruit-producing plants because you’re starting with established stems.
As a starting point, let’s examine the parts of a tomato plant. You can see the main stem, a leaf stem, and a sucker in the diagram below.
Cuttings can be taken from any part of the plant’s main stem, including leaf stems and suckers.
What Exactly Is a Tomato Sucking?
Suckers are stems that form at a 45-degree angle between the main stem (the thickest stem) and the leaf stem. A lot of people say suckers “deplete the plant’s resources,” but I can’t find any scientific evidence to back this claim up. Just like other stems, suckers can flower and produce fruit. However, they are good cuttings and we may have to remove them due to their overcrowding.
When it comes to pruning, you can’t separate it from taking cuttings because anything you cut off can potentially become a new plant.
Depending on where you are in the season, you can approach it in a variety of ways.
When I’m just starting out, I only take a few cuttings and use them to propagate new plants.
Identify stems that impede air flow, are low to the ground and susceptible to diseases like tomato blight (fungus), or are blocking sunlight exposure and remove them. To avoid robbing Peter to pay Paul, you should keep at least five good flowering or fruiting stems in your possession.
If the plant is an indeterminate (vining) variety that just keeps growing, I may “top” (snip off the main stem) it later in the growing season to stop further unnecessary growth because time is running out. I live in a cold climate, and at this point, I’m looking at indoor growing for any cuttings.
After harvesting the fruit at the end of the growing season, all stems are fair game. I buy a dozen or so in the fall to keep as houseplants. Only a third of them will make it through the winter to bloom and bear fruit on my windowsill. To learn more about growing vegetables indoors, please visit this page:
In the beginning, I’ll show you how to prune your plants, and then how to root the cuttings.
Pruning Tomatoes: An Easy Guide
Pruning vine-grown (indeterminate) tomatoes are more common than pruning bush-grown (determinate) tomatoes. Some gardeners prefer to leave their tomatoes alone for the entire growing season, so pruning is not necessary.
You want healthy plants that produce a lot of fruit without putting them at risk from things like the weight of tomatoes or diseases.
Indeterminate tomato plants should have about 4-5 fruiting stems (those with flowers/fruit). It is possible for a plant to produce as many as 20 or more tomatoes from each cluster of flowers. A single plant can produce quite a bit of food—depending on the variety and its size—but that’s still impressive.
To prevent it from growing too tall before the first frost, we may also ‘top’ or pinch off the top of the main stem as the growing season draws to a close. This will prevent the stem from growing too tall before the first frost arrives. The plant is “topped” when this is done.
To “pinch off” a sucker, you can literally use your fingernails to remove it from the plant’s base without damaging the rest of the plant. You can also use clean, fine scissors or a scalpel or knife with a sharp blade (my favorite). As you experiment with it, you’ll get a sense of how it works. Of course, the less damage or open wounds there are to the main plant, the better.
Keep reading if you intend to root your pruned cuttings.
How to Grow New Plants from Suckers and Other Cuttings
Get your supplies ready before pruning if you intend to root your cuttings.
The steps are straightforward.
- Fill three-inch-deep mason jars with clean, warm water and set them aside. To prevent the roots from becoming tangled as they grow, I like to keep only one cutting (plant) in each jar.
- At least six inches long (or more), with some leaves, and (preferably) not flowering or ripening, are the ideal stems to use.
- After pruning, put the cut end into the water jar. Leaves and stem are not allowed in the water.
How to Take Care of Your Cuttings
- Keep the jars out of direct sunlight and in a warm, protected location.
- Water should be changed on a regular basis (or more often). The cuttings are simply transferred to new jars of warm water and the old ones are washed in batches.
Roots will begin to emerge from the submerged stems within a few weeks.
Transplant Your Cuttings into the Ground
Even though transplanting is possible any time, I prefer to wait for at least four to six weeks so that some roots have grown, but they aren’t too long to cram into the pot.
Make sure to place the rooted stems in an organic potting mix that is at least as deep as they were when they were submerged in water.
Make gradual adjustments to your growing environment if you’re growing outdoors (full sun). When the plant outgrows its pot, either transplant it into a larger container or directly into the ground. When the potting soil is constantly drying out, the plant knows it’s time to grow.
Maintaining a steady supply of water is essential if you’re growing your plants indoors. Add more water if necessary.
Install trellises or cages early on wherever you’re growing them so that they’ll be there when you need them. When retrofitting tomato cages, it’s too easy to break the stems.
