The best way I have found to clone tomato suckers is to use solo cups with no holes. Pot up the cutting and fill the cup all the way up with water. In other words set it and forget it. By the time the water level goes down, it is time to transplant. Two weeks. I do this with basil plants too. Plants are happier if they are surrounded with soil from the get go. There is no transplant shock with this method. There was always transplant shock when taking a cutting only rooted in water and transferring to soil.

Well done. Very clear and easy to follow.

What a fantastic idea! Thank you so much for the step-by-step explanation, and the advice to cut into a V-shape. I'm definitely going to try this the next time I grow tomatoes. Hope you have a lovely day!

2 good new ideas! Thanks. Your yard looks very nice.

Have you guys done a pepper geek cloning episode ? If not would love it as I haven't had much success but I don't want to use hormones.

I just did this a few weeks ago to mine, did the whole process in direct sun. I put the bare stalks directly into potting soil in small pots and placed the pots in saucers filled with water. They did droop for a few days but quuckly recovered and are back with new blooms and growing strong.

Gotta love the super sweet cherry 100s. One plant produces way more than me and my son can eat. I still plant at least 2 of them. Also i clone the suckers just incase.

You two are my idols! I've learned so much from you about gardening and can't thank you enough. QUESTION: about how long after placing the rooted sucker in soil does one wait to start the fertilizer regiment? Going to try cloning many different things next year.

@geekygreenhouse , thanks for the video. I have a bunch of tomato cuttings in water right now waiting to go into soil. Do you have any suggestions for the best phase of root growth to transplant into soil? I noticed you had a pretty 'bushy', small root ball going. Have you noticed any difference in earlier or later stages of root development? The only thing i've noticed is if i let them go too long (basically another week past what you showed in this video) then they seem to have trouble rooting into soil. Also if the white root lines are turning brown, they seem to be too hard to want to transplant from water. A few other YT channels show transplanting rather early. Basically, when roots start to show up on the stem, they go straight to soil. I have tried different timing (not scientifically) and don't have a good consensus on the best time. One other tip i have found when planting in the ground, is to pack the root ball in coconut coir or other soft treatment to let the roots get going. i have a fair amount of clay in my soil. This is really only a clay soil issue but i usually pot my clones in 4-6" pots to strengthen up the root ball. Then i transplant in the ground with a very deep hole and a fair bit of coir around the base of the plant so roots can develop. In the past, i've noticed that plants going into the ground seemed to have a hard time developing bigger roots and therefore not having much fruit yield. From what i could tell, my high clay soil hindered root development.

Love your channel

One word: Calcium! Excellent video, thank you!

The container does not need to be opaque. Change the water daily.

Would you guys ever consider doing a fruit channel, or doing fruit videos on this channel? I have been growing tomatoes and vegetables for a while now, and this year for the first time I have started experimenting with strawberries and blueberries. This is probably one of the most informative and helpful channels I have ever found along with pepper geek, I have been subscribed to pepper geeks for a while I actually just found this channel today I don’t know how it took soo long lol but I am glad I did, better late than never haha 😂 I am pretty amateur with fruits and was just curious if you would ever consider sharing some info on them. Hope you have a great day!

Over complicating it, this isn't a hardwood cutting. 1. take the sucker with a flat cut and trim the flower buds and about half of the mature leaves (either half of each leaf or half by number) to reduce evaporation 2. stick it in some wet potting mix 3. put it in bright shade at 70f-95f, protected from wind. 4. keep humidity moderately high and mist with plain water a few times per day. You actually want the leaves to dry off between mists and get just the slightest hint of wilt and then be rehydrated by the next mist. Soaked to runoff.(Which will also prevent minerals from building up) If you have very hard water maybe use half tap and half rain (or distilled or deionized [reverse osmosis] water), I don't recommend 100% distilled as it can draw nutrients out of the plant. 5. They will stop wilting in a few days to a week depending on temperature, which means they have roots. Stop misting and start moving them back into more direct light so they can manufacture food. Like hardening a seedling, but this is less about sunburn and more about water loss. They will be full strength less than a week after first root formation. Tomato roots come straight through the skin you don't need to expose cambium, really the larger cut will just increse chance of rotting so use a basic straight across cut. Tomatoes have zero need for added rooting hormone The water jar method will keep the tops perky but rooting time will be much longer because the upper plant can absorb all the water it needs without roots. Start on a weekend so you can do the misting, If you do need to leave for the day then mist well and cover with a plastic tote and if in a low humidity area also mist the inside of the tote. It's more humid than ideal but they won't die. A dry clear tote can be good as a wind break if you're around to mist the cuttings but just live in a very low humidity area.

Does this work with F1 hybrids?

Does it have to be a sucker or can you clone from any branch? Love your channel!

I just put mines directly into soil and it works

In addition to starting in water (which is great for seeing what's happening in real time) I've heard of putting suckers directly in the ground, but have settled on a middle ground of putting suckers into a narrow deep pot with potting soil until they outgrow it. My suckers (mostly from Moskvitch tomato suckers from 2 months ago) are now in-ground, about 5' tall, and flowering. They need extra nutrients before going in-ground or a larger pot. Have you tried the direct-to-potting-soil method, and if so do you find water first to be faster?

Arent cherry tomato suckers more productive than usual tomato sucker branches?

I just broke off the top of one of my tomatoes and then I remembered to just place it back into the soil.

Everyone is using Gardner Scott information and not giving him credit.

Just save seeds

Starvation to induce growth seems a bit harsh. Can you imagine doing that to another living being which can actually communicate its suffering in a way you comprehend?