Cutting Down a Tomato Plant -Will it Grow Back? (Garden Experiment)
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- Have you ever had a tomato growing too far out of control? Or maybe it's looking very sickly due to mite damage. Would it be worth cutting it down and trying to get it to grow back? What if a wind storm snapped your tomato branches off? Should you just compost the plant and cut your losses?
This Summer I decided to test this out on my 2 determinate tomatoes, grown in a 30-gallon SIP self-watering tote. They were getting super tall and shading out my other plants. The lower leaves were drying out from mite damage. Meanwhile, I couldn't give the tomatoes away fast enough!
So I took a break from my tomato harvest and cut the plants down, pretty low. Watch the video to see if they grew back before the Fall frost set in! Also, I found a way to sustain a tomato branch in case it should snap off for some reason.
#Tomato #ContainerGarden #Horticulture
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I love the fact that you actually do a video with the actual end results. I can't tell you how many videos I've watched when someone starts an experiment or comparison and they never finish it. So the viewer never knows what happened!
Thanks for being so thorough and thoughtful
Love your t shirts. I'm ordering a couple soon
Thanks Al
Hi Ed! Thanks for your positive feedback. I know exactly what you mean. Did their experiment "fail"? Were they embarrassed about how it turned out? The way I see it, every well documented test is a success. Even if it shows what NOT to do, that's ok. Unexpected outcomes are a part of basic science. I want people to succeed and sharing info on the web is a weighty responsibility. My biggest concern is to give the most honest, helpful advice that I can.
Nobody ever buys my shirts, even though lots of people like them. So if you decide to get a couple, that would be super cool! FYI: There is supposed to be a 20% off sale from July 26 - July 28. So if you order on those days you should be able to use the code JULYSALE to get the discount. ;-)
Yes you're absolutely right. I mean who cares if the darn thing failed but at least tell us what happened :)
Thanks for the discount code. Wasn't aware of it and will use it for sure.
Also, please do a video or share the link of what you used or use for your soil for raised garden or transplanting into the ground. I saw the video of you fixing your dad's raised beds with mushroom compost but in this video "cutting down tomato plants will they grow back" it looks like a darker soil mix.
Are you using Mel's mix formula and if so what are using for your compost material?
Again, Al, thank you for everything you do. You might not know but there are many people like me who look you up as first source for answers to many gardening questions. i would say you and 3 other guys are my goto gurus (teachers) when it comes to all things gardening.
I just got an email this morning from spreadshirt (the company that makes the T-shirts). It seems that they changed how their latest promo was supposed to work:
• Free standard shipping on all orders on July 21st & 22nd
• Coupon Code: SHIPJULY
Sorry for any confusion. They are the ones who determine their discounts. Free shipping is pretty good, especially for a small quantity of shirts. I wanted you to know!
Exactly my thoughts
+1.
After seeing this video, i went back out to my compost and retrieved the cut down tomato plants and put them back in their pots. Thanks sir!
When my tomato plant died I had 3 completely green tomatoes left. I broke the branch and planted it into the ground and they all turned red. Plants are amazing.
That's very fascinating and something I'll bear in mind ! It's summer here (Australia) and winds are knocking plants around a little , I have 5 cuttings (suckers) I transplanted into vases in a windowsill and they are healthy and putting out massive root systems.. I'll either plant them before summer's end or give them some soil in an indoor pot and keep them curated during winter to take outside next spring.
You've given me more ideas for when I have too much foliage in one spot and height exceeding the stakes.. transplant existing branches with fruit into spare garden space !
@@etherspin
Australia? Please keep safe.
Last summer I picked the suckers off in July, let root in a vase and planted a bumper crop! It worked beautifully!
I woke up to 100+ degree weather in AZ this week and the leaves to my beautiful tomato plant completely dried up. I'm new to gardening and cried like a loser since it was my first grow. I was ready to say goodbye to it, then I came across this video. THANK YOU!! Hope it's not too late for my lil guy.
Omg I live in Phoenix and when I bought my tomatoes and basil plants they were green that was 2 weeks ago. When we hit the extreme heat warning a few days ago, when I went to work in the morning they were fine and when I came back they all died...🥺 I was debating going back to Lowe’s to return it but after this video I’m keeping my bare stem.
I’m a new gardener too and everything I planted dies on me, everyday I wake up at 5:30am just to work at my so call garden. I really want to succeed.
I did this on purpose this year and not for the reasons you mentioned. Here is southern California we have a very long growing season and my cherry tomato grew right off the top of the trellis. I cut right above a spot that had already re-suckered. I was worried if I cut below there the plant wouldn't put out new growth. The plant had enough time to grow to top and produce fruit again. Thanks for the video. Very informative.
And thanks for verifying this pruning strategy
Yes! I have broken a few tomato branches with and without fruit! The one without fruit but with flowers I stuck in the dirt outside, it rooted itself and continued to make fruit. The one with tomatoes, I stuck in a milk jug with water and a tiny few pebbles of fertilizer. The tomatoes continued growing and it rooted in the water. So anything is possible with tomatoes!
This is exactly what I needed to know! I live in the tropics and tomatoes can grow pretty much indefinitely here, so it's interesting to know that I could possibly keep the plant going as long as it's healthy
Oh my goodness. I just did this without knowing if I should. I'm a novice gardener and this is a GREAT video! Thank you for taking the time to make it and share. Happy Gardening!
Wow you are the first person to actually explain the Indeterminate & determinate theory.
I, after 18mths of growing now understand that the Indeterminate tomatoes have a indeterminate amount of life- sorry just couldn't get my head around it until NOW- Thank You so much- Great video Cheers Denise from Brisbane Australia
I am in the process of cutting down my tomato plants that were in containers. Thank you for sharing your video, I hope it works .
Thank you for this, I was given some tomato plants by a neighbor and it was 102 degree heat when they were moved...I thought I had lost them, but followed your instructions and they were saved
Thank you for making this video. I had to strip everything off one of mine because of how the leaves were all turning. Glad to know they grow back
I've been sticking my prunings of indeterminate tomatoes in the ground. Water real good. The seem to stress and wilt for a few days but about week later they come back and I have a new plant. It seems to work even with fruiting trimming. Thanks for video!
I'm doing exactly this with determinate tomatoes that flowered and stressed to early due to weather conditions and low yielded. The three plants I have produced 4 tomatoes total and started dying off as determinates do. I've done what you did and they are coming back and look beautiful again. Just really great to find your video and get the confirmation I needed to know this is going to work out in the long run and it's just a set back and that I don't have to start over from scratch.
By the way I'm doing Homestead Tomatoes for their heat tolerance because I'm zone 10. Just didn't know exactly what I was getting into with determinates as I'd always done indeterminate before this year and by July they are cooked and dead so I thought I'd try something different that might hold up to the heat.
Anywho. Thank you for the video and the time it took to record this whole process. You get a thumbs up from me!
Hello Thank You so much for sharing . I Will try this today
Great video!! 1st year container grower here and I couldn't stress more about tinkering n trying things out in your garden. Only way to learn. Keep up the good info.
Awesome! I agree 100%. Hands on learning is the best teacher! xD Thanks for watching!
I listened to a zoom session today about tomatoes and they suggested cutting back indeterminate tomatoes because they will grow back for fall harvest and you don’t have to water as much in the summer. Just cover for heat. We are in S AZ
I'm so relieved about this! I thought I had done too much pruning of my tomato vine yesterday but maybe I didn't. Thanks so much!
if keep repeating this process and protecting from winter perhaps could last several years thanks i think is intresting prospect of tomatoe gardening that no one considers much, smart woohoo tomatoes
Thumbs up for your video.
Straight to the point, no stupid elongated introduction.
Thanks for watching!
Great experiment. I helps show the tomato plant's abilities, and how much it can take.
I had 3 tomato plants last year. Two regular, one cherry. I cut the leaves off at the end of the year, tore down the plants and pulled them up. They still had tomatoes on them. I laid all of the coupons and branches in the garden so the nutrients could leave into the soil.
Early spring, I cleared the debris, added more sorry and planted flowers and gladiola bulbs. I go outside and started seeing tomato plants growing in my flower garden. I have about 10 plants. Wow!
Amazing! Plants are brilliant! LOL!
that's great! I have a large sprawling indeterminate vine that was hit with blight so it lost most of it's foliage and is just an ugly clump of bare vines now. Good to know I can cut it back and restart it again.
great experiment. thank you for sharing!
Good to know this! I had a couple indeterminate tomato plants snap. I cut the tops off and decided to plant them anyway. They look good so far! Also learned that the snapped off parts can be planted and develop roots--two plants from one, bonus!
How Cool.It really shouldn't surprise me cuz my tomato plants are growing at an insane rate so if I were to cut it down ,there is no reason why it shouldn't continue to grow back providing no frost or insane amount of rain.
The amazing tomato plant! That's just awesome! 🙂👍🏼
Thanks Karrie! It was fun testing it out. xD
I pulled this video out of the Summer archive. It was inspired by my 1st year of gardening when my pepper plant was snapped off by a strong storm. This documents how my tomatoes responded after being intentionally cut down. ;-)
So you did the cutting in Summer? And only water in those buckets! Amazing! Thank you for this video!
Thanks for taking the time to do this analysis, it was helpful.
I used your advice on a special tomato that wasnt doing well that I wanted to save, its a domingo from Italy. Anyway all the foliage had turned to crap and the plant itself still relatively small. So I stripped every single leaf off the plant. What happened - It produced the largest tom in my garden 1 lb 15.3 oz. so yes it can work .
Awesome! That's very good to hear. Thanks for adding your personal experience. :-D
Great comment
The tomatoes plants seems to grow faster when been cut down.
Also the weather looks warm there
So true!
amazing…I am going to take your advice and choose my favourites to grow inside during the winter.😊
Thanks
this video is an excellent public service! just had the storm situation here.. had some unique varieties where the individuals had their top 3rd snap off (before any fruit productions, around 3FT high) and I didnt know whether to rip these out and replace with tiny seedlings that i already have duplicate plants of (whereas the snapped ones are unique) its a week before summer here still
I will try this end of summer for the fall. See if I get a second crop for fall
Thanks alot for a complete video. I always cut my tomatoes almost completely down around June 15 just before summer begins. At this point I cut off flower clusters as well. It allows new even and healthy growth. It never crossed my mind to let it go a little longer get some tomatoes, then cut it back. 👍 👍.
Cool! Thanks for watching Jeremy. :-D
I took your advice! Will see what happens. Thank you!
Thank you! My inderterminate get sooooooo long and it is waaaay to how in Texas for them to set new fruit. I've been wanting to cut them back and see what happens. Thanks to this video, I'm going to cut them all now!
This is what I call the DEER effect. Deer will eat a plant down to its bigger stalks... Then as if by design... The plant flourishes and starts pushing new dense growth. We have seen it in all kinds of plants.
I just planted when my dog dug it out and broke the plant at the base. No leaves left only the stem. I hope ot grows back.
Did it grow back?
I need to know
thanks, i love experimental kinda stuff...nature is so freaking awesome!
thank you
Thanks for the info guy! I e got some suckers that got away from me while I was out of town. They've got fruit growing on them. Wasn't sure if I could cut and propagate them. Not much info out here on how big, or what the limit is when pruning suckers. This kinda answered my question. Thanks again bro!
Last year after the first freeze we ran the mower over everything to mulch it up then I tilled up the garden. And we added our fall leaves as well as our grass clippings and repeated in late Feb. And then in the spring before we planted, I tilled the garden for about the 3rd time. We planted everything and we had a surprise we had 2 Tomato plants show up and well as a Romane lettuce plant come up and we have been getting lettuce of it for 2 weeks now.
It was a nice surprise for us and one of the Tomato plants has blooms on it.
Love your posts! I'm starting a self watering 4 x 10 raised bed from your design. I had a cherry tomato plant that grew out of the middle of my modest compost heap. Came back 3 seasons in a row! Never did anything to it. The nutrients from the compost as well as the warmth from decomposing sustained it. I'm from Philadelphia and I remember one winter was brutal. Thanks again and stay well, Jim.
Woah!!! That's pretty awesome! :-) Thanks for visiting my channel.
very informative. This goes along with Proxius method.
+KALSINFILMS - Thanks! xD
Yessss!! They will!!
Indeed!!
This is amazing, it's exactly what I went online looking for. I have two planters with two tomato plants each that are 7ish-+ feet tall and very fruitful but I'm moving 100 miles away in a few days and I was planning to just cut them down (they wont fit in any pf the vehicles I'm using to move as they are) and put the fruiting stems in a bucket of water..but I was worried and nervous! I don't know why I hadn't even thought about what I would do with the root end...maybe it's just exhaustion and I likely would have realized I should keep them too when I got down to the task. I have, in the past, had tomato plants that fell off of my second floor deck, and the main stem had broken low to the base, and I was able to regrow both the root end and the broken stem portion but the plants I have right now are much, much taller than those were. Anyway--now I want to photo-document this to show that I did it too and-hopefully-that it worked. I'm leaving here in two days so I knew I had to deal with the plants tomorrow and your video gave me the courage I needed to get on with it.
Sounds like a great opportunity to try it out! I hope it works out well. 😀
This is awesome and well worth a shot I recon......cheers brother
Good to know thank you!
Exactly what I needed to know - thank you! Im in Austin, TX so I think I will wait a few more weeks until I prune them back. That way, the new growth wont be scorched by the August heat.
I'm in Houston and I'm also trying this experiment. We don't technically get a frost here, so I *overwintered* my tomatoes and pruned them back to the first sucker I found from the bottom. My thought process is that the root system has been established so therefore I should see tomatoes sooner in the spring. Worst part of winter has passed for us too.
I THINK ITS GOOD IdeA TO BURRY THE NAKED PORTION UNDER THE GROUND ..ILL TRY THIS YEAR
thanks so much, I needed to see this,my plans dried up, I thought we were going to a cold freeze but we didn't and I let my plants dry up and now i regret it ,It will never happen again.
+Janie Melgoza - I'm glad this was able to help out Janie! Thanks for watching. :D
Very useful informations. Thank you for a great video
Thank you!! We have had some storms and they had broke off and I thought it was done for!!
Wow, this is really good to know. I wonder if this applies to determinate as well? Would sort of make sense that it would work even better for those
It does not.
whoo! so glad i found this video! i was planning on just ripping all my indeterminate cherries out 😁 i wasn't sure if they would continue producing after harvesting 😂 good to know! Thanks! 👍🍅
Awesome! Thanks for watching. :-D
I had cut just the tops of my tomatoes, they were already over 7 feet high with nothing tall enough to trellis them to. It was early September so I knew would not have much time left for the more before the frost. Was really surprised to find small tomatoes starting at the bottom of the plan nearest the dirt. Had already harvested everything at that height. Also I just bring in the green tomatoes and leave them in a bowl to ripen in my kitchen, they do so slowly and have been eating till the end of November, pretty good for being in Canada.
That's pretty cool!
Thank you for making this. It was helpful.
wow thank you so much for this video!!! sending live from.jamaica
Thank you so much.
😊thanks
This video is nice! It is helping others to know about cutting down on tomatoes! Thank you, sir!@#
I found my way here because "meanwhile in Australia" a kookaburra flew down and took off with three quarters of my tomato 'baby'. I.can't.even.believe.it.....SO mad!
Nooooooooo!!! :-0
That's amazing. Awesome ideas with practical advice!
Will absolutely try this.
Im intrested because i plan to try to keep an older plant alive inside over winter. Im doing some just to keep alive and some to see if i can get any tomatoes. I knew you could root tomato cuttings. In certain zones the cuttings wont produce in a normal growing season though so im trying to figure out a way to get tomatoes really early each growing season without starting from seedings or constantly rooting if just keeping the root alive works i think that will help me accomplish it. I knew that indeterminate knew they would never stop growing
Your plant is huge!
it does and think u very much i thought i could before i ask the question
i love your experiments :)
Thanks! I got some seedlings and I nearly killed them not enough water, my beefsteak is holding on to a couple of dried leaves I wasn't sure if I want to keep them or not. Gave it some miracle grow and the stem has brightened up but the leaves got drier.
I hope it can start to grow back for you!
These look great so I have to wonder what kind of support (i.e. fertilization) did you give the plants to help them along? Well done on the test and thanks for the video of your results. It encourages me to top off my tomatos where needed.
+Karl Becker - On that tomato container, I was actually experimenting with a combination of Organic Tomato Tone and a strip of Osmocote Time Release. It seemed to supply a long release of nutrients. Thanks for watching Karl!
Good info....thank you!
Wow, very interesting
Just had a late frost here in Georgia and had some pretty significant damage to my tomatoes and peppers, I started some new seeds but now have a bit of hope my plants can make a recovery. Just cut off the dead bits and the stems are still firm so we'll see what happens!
Hi goodelleric, did your tomatoes recover?
Thanks a lot, very good video.
So helpful! Thanks so much!
In Chicago area apartment. I have/had floor to ceiling husky cherries I grabbed from the home depot dumpster. No lights just in the window. I've since gotten a nice light covers 6x6 plus the nice south east facing window light. I've cut the mass of random potted plants. I have loads of suckered in beer bottles spawning roots and the bare stalks after being bare boned are sprouting new suckered all over.
Thanks for the information
Absolutely! Thanks for watching. :-D
Great experience . And smart ideas video from begging until end .
Could be for science fair project. Try different vegetables plant
Great information Al. Thanks for sharing. Best wishes Bob.
i heard that since tomatoes become more and more decrepit with age, they aren't really worth overwintering as they'll easily die with disease the second year. However, I feel like there's a chance this method can be used to keep tomatoes vigorous and grow them as perennials in the same fashion as raspberries. I'll need to give a try
It's November my determinate tomato plant snap in half will it regrow again (zone 9 )
Hail damaged my indeterminate tomatoes……I have pruned back , fed and watered them well and will wait for the new growth.
Hopefully they spring back to life!
If those are Principe Borghese tomatoes.....they are monsters. I had volunteers I transplanted this year and I had vines 15 feet long.
excellent. awesome. thank you! New Orleans, here, & so was considering doing this for several reasons. our 1st frost is 15 december, so starting more for the late season at a time when we have the most bugs, scorching sun, & super heavy frequent thunderstorms & gusts is pretty harsh on younger, more tender plants. why not instead keep mature, healthy, strong, established, & delicious plants going, rather than putting a larger number of new, more fragile ones through the obstacle course of MS Delta late summers? got the idea when a storm murdered one recently & i saw new growth before i redid the container; it was struggling of course, since i had not been maintaining it, originally thinking all was lost & planning to rip it out. thanks again for this excellent experiment! ((-: {inundated?? i "inundate" myself with them whenever possible.. a few times to the point i was getting mild nightshade poisoning. but, they are my favorite food in the universe, so... please, be sure to let me know immediately if a house on either side of yours is ever for sale.}
I'm really enjoying your Channel, I have a question. I have recently tried donkey manure for my red wiggler worms and I think they like it better than food? They are multiplying like crazy. I am curious what are your thoughts on this?
Cool video. I’ve been thinking about doing that to my overgrown tomato plants. And now I know they will be just fine!! Quick question, I noticed that water bottle you use to water your plants. How does that work? I’m really interested in doing something like that
Thanks for watching and welcome to my channel! xD The bottle is the top of the fill tube for my sub-irrigated planter. I have a tutorial on my website showing how I converted 30 gallon totes into self-watering systems: albopepper.com/30-gallon-tote.php This playlist covers how such systems work: ruclips.net/video/CXyV-XsQWNE/видео.html They've made my gardening so much easier and more productive too!
I've never tried determinates, simply because I don't really like them much; love those big, juicy slicers. But indeterminates will literally grow like weeds given even the bare minimum of attention. I'm a newbie to gardening, but mine are out of control, overburdening the supports I gave them. The soil is rocky, too, so it's hard to bury the supports deep enough to get the needed sturdiness. I'd rather have that problem than them not doing anything, but it's still a problem. Better pruning and stronger supports next year, but it's looking like a bumper crop nonetheless.
That's awesome to hear! Isn't it something how half-way through the season we're already making plans for next year! :-D
I have had a problem with lots of rain here this spring. My tomatoes that I need to put in the ground have gone crazy. I was wondering if I could get by trimming them back and then planting once the ground dries up.
What about propagating tomatoes via cuttings and overwintering them in small pots indoors with grow lights?
I wonder if you could do this to bring in for winter? Maybe not cut down so short?
I love your informative experiments! part of the fun of gardening is tying new ideas. Please continue the good work!
+Beverly Pous - Thanks Beverly! :-)
+AlboPepper - Drought Proof Urban Gardening do you put holes in the bottom of your buckets?
+C. Jones - If you are referring to the 30 gallon totes, they have water reservoirs and so no holes are at the very bottom. Instead, there is an overflow hole a few inches up. You can see how they are designed by checking out my site: albopepper.com/30-gallon-tote.php
AlboPepper - Drought Proof Urban Gardening thank you very much. Enjoy your Summer.
How about if you cut back indeterminate plants as cold approaches and then cover them at night with,, say, a bed sheet. Would they rejuvinate in the spring? Where I live is fairly mild with rarely hard freezes.
I just started this experiment myself, since my son just cut the stem of one of my tomatoplants.
My plant has severe tomato blight, think cutting it back would work?
After you've cut them back is a good time to feed with a liquid fertilizer. A good drink and feed, right after being cut back.
If you grow indeterminates in containers outside but live in a cold winter area, could you: a) Cut the plant back at the end of the season like you showed b) Ripen the remaining fruit as you showed c) Move your cut back plant inside over the winter where it would put new growth on over the winter ready to go back outside in late spring. Could that work?
I'd say those are good options to try. Certainly that would work well on peppers. So it may be worth trying on IND tomatoes too!
If you have decent grow lights and you keep your temps right for setting fruit you till more then overwinter. Right now Im getting tons of fruit on my Cherry Tom plant that popped out of the ground Jan 1. Can be done with regular toms too. You wont save any money on Produce growing with lights but there is nothing better then a Fresh Heirloom tomato YOU grew. Come spring you can cut your plant down and make clones out of all the suckers. This way you have tons of mature plants ready to go rather then starting direct from seeds. Here is a vid I put up about it acouple days ago :) ruclips.net/video/U1Z9-aOCMnU/видео.html
I needed to know if the lower leaves on my tomato plants would regrow if I removed them, as the leaves are drying out from an accidental overwatering, hopefully they should.
Good Video.Good Info.
I wonder if you could do this just before the frost and put a small greenhouse setup over them till spring when they would come back. Just curious
Watching this in 2024 because I messed up my plant and wanted to know what to do!
I’m going to just wait
Alright my man. You just blessed my little family! We have been hanging onto our tomatoes over the winter in the greenhouse....we got a fruitfly infestation and wondered if we could not only just take the cuttings and see what takes and what doesn't, or if we could also repot the original.
Holy cow. I just looked at ur videos and u have a lot! I saw you commented back so i subbed. Do you have any videos on : maximum yield crops, growing mushrooms outdoors, or stealth gardening? (Hidden veggies or fruits )...i went to home depot today to get more stuff and am ready to go. My back isnt but i am. I plan on doing some radishes, carrots, cabbage, cilantro, mint outside tomorrow in the raised beds along with a bunch of greens/ lettuces, chamomile, potatoes, Is there anything else i should have already planted and on a side note....
Have your plants been coming up waaaaay early this year? I knew i smelled spring way too early and im not sure why but i hope to take advantage of it if the weather allows