The lone survivor.
Last fall I embarked on a new experiment. Cloning Tomato cuttings from some of my favorite tomatoes from last years garden.
The going was great to start with. I was able to get all the cuttings to root nicely, they all transplanted to soil with no rejections and all was going along like I'd done this for years. And then old man winter snuck up and clubbed me over the proverbial head with weather that stayed in the teens and twenties for weeks and weeks. I was able to cover the transplants with some plastic, that helped a bit. I even brought an electric heater into the greenhouse to keep the chill off under the plastic overnight by running it with an on and off schedule using a timer, that helped too, but just not enough, I kept loosing plants here and there through the winter.
Sadly, I finally met my match with a final hard cold spell some time in early January that took nearly all the rest. But one hearty little guy held out. He was scrawny and a little cold burned on the tips but with some love I've been able to pull it through!
It's one of the heartland tomatoes that I grew last year and lucky for me that was at the top of the list of tomatoes that I wanted to be able to keep over the winter.
Right now, this little Heartland tomato is about eight inches tall and starting to fill in a bit more. My hope is that I can let it grow for another couple of weeks and then split it again from this stock and get at least three healthy plants from this lone survivor. This is a known to be a particularly good patio tomato variety, meaning that it can do well in pots, and I plan to try my hand at growing a few of them that way this year. Because they are also indeterminate (meaning the harvest doesn't come all at once, but rather trickles in all season.) the plan is that if I have them established well in the pots come fall, I can move them into the greenhouse and have tomatoes well into December.
Of course I've had these grand ideas before and they didn't work out as planned, but since when has THAT ever been a good reason to quit?
Wish me luck!
P~
The going was great to start with. I was able to get all the cuttings to root nicely, they all transplanted to soil with no rejections and all was going along like I'd done this for years. And then old man winter snuck up and clubbed me over the proverbial head with weather that stayed in the teens and twenties for weeks and weeks. I was able to cover the transplants with some plastic, that helped a bit. I even brought an electric heater into the greenhouse to keep the chill off under the plastic overnight by running it with an on and off schedule using a timer, that helped too, but just not enough, I kept loosing plants here and there through the winter.
Sadly, I finally met my match with a final hard cold spell some time in early January that took nearly all the rest. But one hearty little guy held out. He was scrawny and a little cold burned on the tips but with some love I've been able to pull it through!
It's one of the heartland tomatoes that I grew last year and lucky for me that was at the top of the list of tomatoes that I wanted to be able to keep over the winter.
Right now, this little Heartland tomato is about eight inches tall and starting to fill in a bit more. My hope is that I can let it grow for another couple of weeks and then split it again from this stock and get at least three healthy plants from this lone survivor. This is a known to be a particularly good patio tomato variety, meaning that it can do well in pots, and I plan to try my hand at growing a few of them that way this year. Because they are also indeterminate (meaning the harvest doesn't come all at once, but rather trickles in all season.) the plan is that if I have them established well in the pots come fall, I can move them into the greenhouse and have tomatoes well into December.
Of course I've had these grand ideas before and they didn't work out as planned, but since when has THAT ever been a good reason to quit?
Wish me luck!
P~
Labels:
2010,
2010 garden,
cloning,
gardening,
greenhouse,
tomatoes
3 comments:
Good Luck! That last survivor must be a tough little girl to have made it this far. I bet she'll reward you kindly for keeping her alive through the winter!
Good luck! Maybe pray to the tomato gods?
I bet the fact that it survived means it is an extra hardy one as well. I've never tried cloning, but it sure looks interesting.
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