Question about tomato plants?

first how do you clip tomato plants and make starters whens the best time to do that second is I watered my plants too much how long before they don't look so yellow

Question about tomato plants?
Cuttings can only be taken from a mature plant during the summer.To take a tomato cutting you need to take a piece from the top or from suckers, about 3-4 inches ,in length and cut in half any large leaves. Insert in moist sand and leave in a shady place keeping watered, but dont overdo the watering or they will rot.They should take a couple of weeks to root.


How old are your plants??? The yellowing could be something other than too much water -nematode damage(microscopic organisms) or lack of nitrogen in the soil.


Have a look at the roots. If there are some white roots then it will be ok. If the roots look brown and mushy then the plant is probably on its way out.If they look ok,give it a couple of weeks, then feed once with a high nitrogen feed, but only if it is a fairly mature plant.


Good luck
Reply:That sure was long and you got allot of info you don't need.


I have never grown plants from clippings. I always buy them already started and transfer them to the ground. If you over water, leave them alone for till the soil drys out. Stick your finger in the soil and see how far down it is dry. Tomato's are real finicky about watering. Check out some websites for tips on growing. Good Luck!!! I have mine in raised beds and they do great.
Reply:when u turn yellow
Reply:some advice. need more plants, go buy some. they are cheap. buy different varietys in case disease hits one particular variety. unless your tomatos are in a container, dont worry about over watering. look at the tags to make sure you buy disease resistant varietys.
Reply:When you say clip tomato plants I'm guessing you are talking about plucking off the suckers. You can start plucking suckers any time your ready. Even before you have them in the ground.





When you say starters I'm guessing your talking about starting new plants from the suckers. You can also start a new plant from a broken branch. Tomatos root very easily but rooting hormone helps alot. Just stick your branch or sucker in soil and keep it moist. It will wilt and look like there is absolutly no hope for survival but just give it a few days and it perk back up in no time at all and before long you will see new growth. Its amazing.





As far as when is the best time to do these things. Any time but of course you know tomatoes don't like to be cold. It stunts their growth and a freeze will kill them.





And lastly, if you over watered your tomato plants and they started turning yellow they probably now have a disease. Chances of recovery are slim. If your growing them indoors are you sure its from over watering. There are many causes for tomatoes turning yellow and most arn't repairable. The problems you can correct would be lack of nutrients, insufficent lighting, or if you over fertilize it can inhibit the plants ability to absorbe nutrients. Some the conditions that cause disease are poor air circulation, environment to humid (tomatoes don't like wet heads) and this can especially be bad if the temperature is to cold (Tomatoes like the heat), and if you over water tomates tend to develope a condition called Verticillium Wilt. I hate to say this but its fatal. I don't know what type of tomatoes you are growing but I always go with the disease resistant varieties.





Here are some web sites that might answer some of your questions:


http://www.northerngardening.com/tomatoe...


http://extension.unh.edu/Pubs/HGPubs/gro...





Good luck and I hope you have a bounty crop
Reply:Tomato plants are best grown every year from seed in May whenever the growing season starts. Start off the seeds in a shallow tray filled with moist peat to one part sand. Soak the soil and leave to stand for 24 hours for the moisture level to be correct. What I do is I cut open the top of the bag and hose the soil with water and whenever I need to use it it is already damp and useable. Tomato plants are very easy to grow and enjoy being kept damp constantly during the growth period. They grow well in a greenhouse in direct sunlight.
Reply:Apply starter fertilizer when transplanting. Hoe or cultivate shallowly to keep down weeds without damaging roots. Mulching is recommended, especially for gardeners who wish to maintain their plants for full season harvest. Black plastic or organic materials are suitable for mulching. Delay application of organic materials until after the soil has warmed completely in early summer so that growth is not retarded by cool soil temperatures early in the season.





Water the plants thoroughly and regularly during prolonged dry periods. Plants confined in containers may need daily or even more frequent watering. Side-dress nitrogen fertilizer (ammonium nitrate) at the rate of one pound per 100 feet of row (equivalent to 1 tablespoon per plant) after the first tomatoes have grown to the size of golf balls. (If ammonium nitrate is not available, use 3 pounds of 10-10-10 fertilizer.) Make two more applications 3 and 6 weeks later. If the weather is dry following these applications, water the plants thoroughly. Do not get fertilizer on the leaves.





Many gardeners train their tomato plants to stakes, trellises or cages with great success. Not all varieties, however, are equally suitable for staking and pruning.





Tomato cages may be made from concrete-reinforcing wire, woven-wire stock fencing or various wooden designs. Choose wire or wooden designs that have holes large enough to allow fruit to be picked and removed without bruising. The short, small, narrow type often sold at garden centers is all but useless for anything but the smallest of the dwarf types. Most modern determinate tomatoes easily grow 3 to 4 feet tall and indeterminates continue to get taller until frozen in the fall, easily reaching at least 6 feet in height. Use cages that match in height the variety to be caged and firmly anchor them to the ground with stakes or steel posts to keep the fruit-laden plants from uprooting themselves in late summer windstorms.





Trellis-weave systems have recently been developed for commercial operations and can work just as well in a garden planting. Tall stakes are securely driven into the tomato row about every two or three plants in the row. Make sure the stakes are tall enough to accommodate the growth of your tomato varieties and make sure they are driven very securely into the ground to prevent wind damage. (The woven rows of tomatoes can catch much wind.) As the tomatoes grow upward, strings are attached to the end posts and woven back and forth between the supports, holding the tops of the plants up and off the ground. This operation is repeated about as often as the tomatoes grow another 6 inches, until the plants reach maturity. The fruit is held off the ground as with staked or caged plants; but the foliage cover is better than with staked plants, and the fruit is more accessible than with cages.