Propagating Tomatoes – Growing Cuttings in Water or Soil

Want to get new tomato plants for free? Try propagation! Propagating tomatoes will give you new plants in just a few weeks, which is much faster than growing them from seed.

Propagation is the process of growing new plants from a single parent plant by using parts of it. This can be done by using cuttings, division and air layering.

You can propagate your tomatoes from normal cuttings, tomato plant suckers, and topped tomato plant sections. Today, we’ll be using cuttings of tomato plants.

Keep reading to learn how easy it is to grow tomatoes from cuttings.

Propagating tomatoes from cuttings in soil and water

To begin, you’ll need a pair of garden shears. Be sure to clean them before taking the cuttings, since tomato plants are very susceptible to disease, which can be spread with dirty shears.

When choosing your cuttings, you can either remove tomato suckers or take a cuttings of new growth from the tip of your branches.

If you choose to remove a tomato suckers for your cuttings, you will have what your need to propagate a new plant, and also prune your existing plant at the same time.

Use the shears to cut a tomato suckers or branch tips about 6-8 inches long (15-20.5 centimeters). Inspect the cuttings well to ensure there aren’t any insects.

Propagating tomato plants from cuttings in water

An easy way of rooting your tomato cuttings is by placing them in a jar of water. In about a week, the plants will develop roots, and the cuttings will be ready to be planted into soil.

Carefully put the rooted cuttings into pots with fresh seed starting soil. Plant them deeply in the pots. Tomato plants can grow roots along the stem, so planting deeply makes them more stable.

Place the cuttings in a warm, shady spot, and water them well. Keep the soil moist but not soaking wet.

You can also place the cuttings directly into the soil in your garden. I find that I get better results planting cuttings in a pot first before transplanting them into the garden.

How to propagate tomato plants from cuttings in soil

While you can propagate tomatoes in water, you might have more success rooting tomato cuttings directly in soil. Water-rooted cuttings have fragile roots, and soil-planted cuttings tend to produce stronger plants.

You will eventually transplant the cuttings into the garden, so rooting in soil from the start allows you to skip the water step.

Take your 6 to 8 inch (15 to 20.5 centimeter) cuttings and clip off any flowers or buds that may be present. Remove the lower leaves so the bottom part of the cuttings is bare.

Dip the stems into rooting hormone powder. This helps to stimulate root growth and increases the likelihood of successful tomato plant propagation. 

You can root the cuttings in peat pots or containers filled with seed starting soil or vermiculite.

Use a pencil to make a hole in the soil. Plant the cutting deeply into the container and water well.

It will take 2-4 weeks for your soil-rooted cuttings to develop a strong root system.

Hardening off the rooted tomato cuttings

Whether you rooted the cuttings in water or soil, you’ll gradually need to get them used to full sunlight. This is called “hardening off” the cuttings.

At first, you’ll want to place your cuttings in a warm area with shade. After the cuttings root, you can move them gradually into more sunlight until they are in full sunlight.

Keep the cuttings moist as you harden them off.

Once the plants are growing in full sun, you can transplant them directly into your vegetable garden.

Tomato plant propagation photos

The photos below show tomato plant cuttings that I rooted this year, in the middle of summer. It took about two weeks for them to root well.

I propagated them directly in soil in large pots. Then I hardened them off in the shade of a crepe myrtle tree and planted them in my vegetable garden in mid-July.

This is how they looked in early August:

In early September, the two plants were about 4 feet tall.  They haven’t produced fruit yet, but the plants are very healthy, and flower buds are starting to form.

They started producing fruit by the middle of September, and I ended up getting almost a hundred baby tomatoes from these two cuttings alone. 

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Yield: Tomato plants from cuttings

How to Propagate Tomato Plants from Cuttings in Soil

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Getting a new tomato plants from cuttings is easy. Simply take cuttings of an existing plant and root them in soil.

In 2-4 weeks, you'll have healthy new tomato plants for a fraction of the cost of retail plants.

Prep Time 15 minutes

Active Time 14 days

Total Time 14 days 15 minutes

Difficulty easy

Estimated Cost $2

Materials

• Tomato cutting
• Seed starting soil or vermiculite
• Rooting hormone
• 4 inch garden pot

Tools

• Watering can
• Garden shears
• Alcohol to clean the shears
• Pencil

Instructions

1. Clean your garden shears with rubbing alcohol.
2. Take a 6-8 inch (15-20.5 centimeter.) cutting of a sucker or branch tip from your tomato plant.
3. Remove any fruit or flower buds from the cutting.
4. Fill a 4-inch (10.16 centimeter) pot with fresh seed starting soil or vermiculite.
5. Use a pencil to poke a hole in the soil. Make the hole deep into the pot.
6. Dip the tomato cutting into the hormone rooting powder. Tap off any excess powder.
7. Place the cutting deeply into the hole in the soil.
8. Water it well and place it outside in a warm, shady spot.
9. Once the cutting has rooted, gradually bring the cutting into a spot with more sunlight until it has been transitioned into full sunlight.
10. Roots can take 2-4 weeks to form. Keep the cutting watered, so the soil is moist but not soaking wet.
11. Once the roots have formed and the plant is growing, you can transplant it to the vegetable garden or a larger pot if you are growing tomatoes in pots.

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

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• 
  Super Root Booster Seed Starter Mix | Promotes Strong Roots & Boost Plant Growth
• 
  (24 Qts) - Organic Vermiculite for Gardening - Fine Grade Vermiculite for rooting cuttings

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