Pruning tomatoes and growing new tomato plants from the shoots (part 1)

I’ve been absorbing tons of information about gardening lately and obviously I’m very eager to share everything with you. Especially this little trick I heard about. It’s about pruning tomato plants and what you can do with the little shoots you are left with when you do this. If you do this, because pruning is a controversial topic in itself. I for example will be pruning only half of the time, since it’s hot in this part of the world in summers and the leafs seem to be good protection against the sun. Also I’m growing outdoors, so I won’t have a lot of trouble with humidity (which is one of the reasons why one would prune).

But if you do prune (all the way or half way) you don’t have to throw these little fellows away. You can grow new tomato plants out of them apparently! And as I love re-using things, this sounded just perfect!

I’m not sure if it works, since I placed the shoot in the soil only today. But it sounds plausible. The idea is that those little “hairs” on the stem will become new roots. I’m hoping mine will do too. If it works I’ll take some more shoots off later on and I’ll make even more tomato plants. You would think 20 tomato plants are enough, but I have big plans for home made winter sauce, so I have to be prepared.

Have you ever tried shooting these guys? Did it work? Any tips or tricks? I just placed it in a small container with soil and I plan on keeping it wet.

I read you can both place this in soil as well as in water like you do with mint for example. The mint I bought recently rooted perfectly as you can see. So we’ll be having a lot of watermelon with mint, feta and onion soon with all our guests.