I have such good memories when I think about tomatoes. I remember the smell of tomato plants combined with basil every evening when my grandpa was watering his garden. Tomatoes are a favorite crop by gardeners. They’re flexible, tasty, and full of health benefits. You can also clone the plant with a super straightforward method, don’t overcomplicate it, plain water works great! You can make multiple plants of tomatoes from a single one that you started from seed or bought from the nursery.
How to Clone Tomato Plants
- Choose a healthy, disease-free tomato plant that has traits you want to replicate.
- Using a knife or scissors, cut a 6-8 inch section from a healthy stem, preferably with no flowers or fruit. Ensure there are at least two sets of leaves on the cutting.
- Remove the lower leaves, leaving only the top set. This helps the cutting focus its energy on developing roots.
- Place the suckers/side shots (growing in between the main stem and the leaves) in recycled bottled water. If using water, change it every 3 days to prevent stagnation.
- Keep the cuttings in a warm, bright location but out of direct sunlight. Within a week or two, roots should begin to develop.
- Once the cuttings have developed a strong root system, transplant them into your garden or larger pots.
Why Clone Tomato Plants?
Cloning, also known as propagation, involves taking cuttings from a mature tomato plant and nurturing them to develop roots. This approach can be useful because it lets you:
- Preserve Desired Traits: Cloning ensures that your new plants retain the desirable traits of the parent plant, such as flavor, size, and disease resistance.
- Save Time: Cloning skips the germination step, allowing your plants to grow and produce fruit faster.
- Increase yield: More plants equals more tomatoes. Cloning allows you to make better use of your garden space and increase productivity.
Health Benefits of Tomatoes
- Rich in Vitamins and Minerals: They’re loaded with vitamin C for a healthy immune system, vitamin K for strong bones, potassium to keep your muscles happy, and folate, which is important for overall well-being.
- High in Antioxidants: Not only does it give tomatoes their vibrant color, but it’s also been linked to a lower risk of serious diseases like cancer and heart problems.
- Supports Heart Health: The potassium and lycopene combo can help lower your blood pressure and keep your cholesterol in check, all good things for a healthy heart.
- Improves Skin Health: The vitamins and antioxidants they have can help shield your skin from sun damage, even out your skin texture, and make sunburn a little less likely.
- Boosts Digestive Health: they’re packed with fiber, which keeps things moving smoothly and helps prevent constipation.
Quick Tip:
Make sure to remove the lower leaves of all your plants to improve aeration and reduce the risk of soil-borne disease. Add the leaves to your compost or worm farm!
I collect empty plastic bottles from my neighbors to reuse in the garden and reduce waste, and I will gift lots of these plants to whoever wants one! You can recycle empty plastic bottles as well to help the environment.
Happy growing!
