For this instructable, I will show you how to increase the amount of produce you can grow at your home for free.
Cloning may sound like a very complicated scientific process, but for the at-home gardener it is a very simple thing that anyone can do.
Cloning may sound like a very complicated scientific process, but for the at-home gardener it is a very simple thing that anyone can do.
Step 1: Materials needed
The actual list of items needed to clone a plant is very short and anyone who gardens will have no problem at all locating these items around the house.
Absolute must haves:
A semi-mature tomato (Donor or mother plant) A plant with good growth and that has not been diseased or stressed.
A container or containers around 2 inches deep (I used one of my wife baking dishes, Ha ha)
Razor knife
Potting soil
Water
Other optional items :
Rooting compound (can be found @ Wal-mart for 6 dollars[U.S.])
Humidity dome
Seed heat mat
I realize that most gardeners probably have the humidity dome and seed mat, but I was aiming this instructable for the weekend warrior gardener in hopes of expanding minds and showing how simple and cost effective this act of cloning can be. The optional items will greatly speed up the cloning process BUT are not required to complete this process.
Absolute must haves:
A semi-mature tomato (Donor or mother plant) A plant with good growth and that has not been diseased or stressed.
A container or containers around 2 inches deep (I used one of my wife baking dishes, Ha ha)
Razor knife
Potting soil
Water
Other optional items :
Rooting compound (can be found @ Wal-mart for 6 dollars[U.S.])
Humidity dome
Seed heat mat
I realize that most gardeners probably have the humidity dome and seed mat, but I was aiming this instructable for the weekend warrior gardener in hopes of expanding minds and showing how simple and cost effective this act of cloning can be. The optional items will greatly speed up the cloning process BUT are not required to complete this process.
Step 2: Your mother plant
The first step to cloning is to make sure the plant you are taking cuttings from is healthy and has not been affected by disease.
Now take a look at your plant where a large branch comes off of the main stem of the plant.
Where the branch comes off of the stem forming a "v" there will be new growth. This "start" or new growth is the target of our cutting.
This "start" if left on the plant will continue to grow and produce more branches. It has what is called "nodes" to start blossoms and new branches.
Important note: Selecting starts from the bottom stems of the plant have a better chance of producing roots because of increase in natural rooting hormone in the plant. ( I have had luck propagating starts from all areas of the plant though.)
Now take a look at your plant where a large branch comes off of the main stem of the plant.
Where the branch comes off of the stem forming a "v" there will be new growth. This "start" or new growth is the target of our cutting.
This "start" if left on the plant will continue to grow and produce more branches. It has what is called "nodes" to start blossoms and new branches.
Important note: Selecting starts from the bottom stems of the plant have a better chance of producing roots because of increase in natural rooting hormone in the plant. ( I have had luck propagating starts from all areas of the plant though.)
Step 3: Cutting your mother plant
Once you have identified your start, using a razor knife or blade, cut the start at its base on a 45 degree angle.
IMPORTANT : As soon as you cut your start you should dip it in some tepid water
Now for the optional part. I have read, at this point you can stick it straight into moistened soil and mist and wait. the following steps are purely optional but guarantee success .
After dipping my cutting into the tepid water I use my razor and scrape the bottom inch of the cutting stem.
IMPORTANT : As soon as you cut your start you should dip it in some tepid water
Now for the optional part. I have read, at this point you can stick it straight into moistened soil and mist and wait. the following steps are purely optional but guarantee success .
After dipping my cutting into the tepid water I use my razor and scrape the bottom inch of the cutting stem.
Step 4: Optional step
At this point in the option step. I lightly scrape the base of the stem with my razor at a ninety degree angle all of the way around the stem.
After scraping the stem I dip the cutting again in the tepid water and then dip directly into the rooting compound.
After scraping the stem I dip the cutting again in the tepid water and then dip directly into the rooting compound.
Step 5: Lets get dirty
Now insert your cutting into the potting soil and lightly mist the cutting with water.
These cutting should be put under some light but not in direct sunlight. I always mist my cuttings twice a day to ensure their chances of success.
After a week (usually 2) your cuttings will have developed a root system, and can be transplanted outside.
When transplanting your cutting outside, bury it as deep as possible and more roots will grow from the stem.
These cutting should be put under some light but not in direct sunlight. I always mist my cuttings twice a day to ensure their chances of success.
After a week (usually 2) your cuttings will have developed a root system, and can be transplanted outside.
When transplanting your cutting outside, bury it as deep as possible and more roots will grow from the stem.
Step 6: The Results
Using this exact process I have increased the amount of tomatoes plants in my garden for free.
The first picture is my "MOTHER" plant , the second picture is semi mature cuttings almost ready to produce fruit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good Luck
Share this with your friends.
GROW YOUR OWN FOOD !!!!!!!
GET YOUR KIDS INVOLVED, THEY WILL LOVE IT !!!!!!!!!!
The first picture is my "MOTHER" plant , the second picture is semi mature cuttings almost ready to produce fruit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good Luck
Share this with your friends.
GROW YOUR OWN FOOD !!!!!!!
GET YOUR KIDS INVOLVED, THEY WILL LOVE IT !!!!!!!!!!
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Gogutu, do you have someone who can translate to English?
I am beginning to play with cloning, but I'm playing with OTC varieties, and not the expensive rootstock, such as maxifort or beaufort. This is also for my own personal garden, and not a commercial endeavour. If I get successful with my grafting, I might play with grafting clones myself.
I would assume that tomato plants (right now ,being late May ) are too small to take cuttings from. Does anyone know if you could take a cutting from below? i have little flowers growing on my tomato plants but afraid to cut off the top, even if it grows roots, will it damage the flowers in any way?
This is a good Instructable tonysoprano! Hopefully it will encourage more people to get into propagation. Your "Selecting starts from the bottom stems of the plant have a better chance of producing roots because of increase in natural rooting hormone in the plant" is correct, but also because the shoots further away from the root/stem interface are more "adult" (less old, but more "adult") and contain more auxins - "An important principle of plant organization based upon auxin distribution is apical dominance, which means that the auxin produced by the apical bud (or growing tip) diffuses downwards and inhibits the development of ulterior lateral bud growth, which would otherwise compete with the apical tip for light and nutrients. Removing the apical tip and its suppressive hormone allows the lower dormant lateral buds to develop, and the buds between the leaf stalk and stem produce new shoots which compete to become the lead growth. This behavior is used in pruning by horticulturists." (Wikipedia); ironically auxin is also used as a rooting hormone! Plants: go figure.
If I can find the photos, I'll do an instructable on propagation using leaf base buds based on a potato propagation project from my B. Hort (Tech) (Hons) honours year - I grew thousands of plants from just two different tubers!
Finton, your input and knowledge are greatly appreciated!
Cheers,Kiwi
after taking the cutting and doing it in grow hormone and putting it in your soil (best 50/50 sand and peat mos ) place the container in a clear plastic bag .
Put some sticks on the side to support the bag and tie the bag close and leave for two weeks in a light but not in the sun place make sure the soil is well watered but not to wet.
no need to water them at all.
also cut half the leaves so there is less leaves to feed.
Some plants are hard to do but I know another way and will post that later.
Hope you have lots of fun doing it.
There are more way's then one to skin a cat lol
Sorry for the late reply was not aware of it it was the first time i ever posted anything.
I tried your method. It looks like it worked. No leaves yet but it looks like it has buds. So easy after everything else I tried didn't work.
Thank you!
Keep in mind that apple trees started from seed rarely produce true to type, unless they are an heirloom variety that has not cross pollinated with any other variety. Most nursery-produced trees will be a good fruit-producing scion grafted onto disease-resistant and/or dwarfing rootstock (do a Google search). If your seedlings grow well in your site, you could always top-graft them with another variety when they're big enough.
I have some apple seedlings growing from broken roots left when I shifted my two grafted apple trees - these will be from the rootstock, so I intend to do just what I suggested above. I have also grafted scions from a old heirloom variety onto the existing trees; the grafts have taken but I've had no fruit yet.
I always taking cutting and expect to lose 10 % by default.
Perhaps some of the rooting hormones are synthetic--that might be cause for worry, but if it is an exact duplicate of rooting hormone (chemistry wise), again, I would not be worried.
How much rooting hormone does it take to cause cancer in some test animal?
How many tomatoes would you have to eat to get an equivalent dose?
Does it build up in your body or is it excreted regularly in some fashion?
What size do you recommend?
On the plant I want to clone, the suckers are growing out exactly in the V between the main stem and a "leaf stem". In your picture, it looks like the sucker is growing from a place an inch or so out on the leaf stem.
Will that happen later on my plant?
Should I wait for that to happen before cutting the sucker?
Wikipedia's Salicylic acid article also says "It plays a role in the resistance to pathogens by inducing the production of pathogenesis-related proteins. It is involved in the systemic acquired resistance (SAR) in which a pathogenic attack on one part of the plant induces resistance in other parts." This might be interesting to research also: infuse willow bark and spray on the veges as a pathogen preventative...?
Anyway. Thanks for posting this!