Tops of lead stem fried

akgardengirl · May 12, 2008

While on vacation, 4 of my tomato plants must have grown against the grow lights for a period of time as they are fried off. Will this hurt the production of the plant? Will another stem take over and if so, will the plant be spread out like when a tree is topped? A couple were cherry plants.
Sue

robin303 · May 12, 2008

How big are they. One thing about tomatoes they do put off secondary’s. Couple yrs ago I waited for the 6th leaf set and topped it off into two vines.

PaulF · May 12, 2008

A couple of years ago, I lost the top half of a Kosovo and created an accidental dwarf. It topped out at about two feet tall and produced regular sized fruit, just not as many as usual. The plant died earlier than normal, too. I guess the stress was just too much.

akgardengirl · May 13, 2008

The plants range from 12-16" tall. I repotted them today into 1/2 gallon milk cartons. I hope I am not wasting space and the short growing season if the leaderless won't produce as normal.
Sue

**carolyn137** · May 13, 2008

Sue, I can't remember if you grow everything in a greenhouse or outside or a little of both.

My question being, would you still have time in your zone 3 to take and root some cuttings from those damaged plants which are really quite big and should have ample lateral branches ( suckers) to take from.

akgardengirl · May 13, 2008

We have around 3-4 weeks until the temp is warm enough to harden off and plant, or if it suddenly turned warmer then I would start to harden them off sooner. I can try to root the suckers. Those are the ones between the branches, right? They are not real big right now.
Sue

**carolyn137** · May 13, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by akgardengirl

We have around 3-4 weeks until the temp is warm enough to harden off and plant, or if it suddenly turned warmer then I would start to harden them off sooner. I can try to root the suckers. Those are the ones between the branches, right? They are not real big right now.
Sue

Yes, the suckers, aka lateral branches, are the shoots that come out between branches on the main stem and with plants that tall I would think that the suckers would be big enough.

Stick them in some artificial mix and under the lights and keep well watered until you see new growth.

I think you'll be able to get some decent plants in the time you have left before they have to be hardened off and set out.

dice · May 13, 2008

I broke off the growing tip on a Marmande seedling that only
had one leaf a few weeks ago. Now it has one leaf and two
tiny branches. I think that is pretty much the norm for what
tomato plants do when they lose their growing tip.

I also took cuttings from the tops of a few different cultivars
that I started really early this year and put them in water.
The original plants started growing side branches from the
crotches of leaves and are quite healthy. I will probably trim
them down to 2-3 main stems for the season and cut off
other side shoots. (I am seriously trying pruning this year,
to avoid overcrowding.)

Cutting the fried tops off may slow them down a little until new
growing tips develop (some kind of plant hormone is produced
there that is produced nowhere else in the plant), but if they
already have side shoots, no problem there.

May 12, 2008	#1
akgardengirl Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Anchorage, AK zone 3/4 Posts: 1,410	Tops of lead stem fried While on vacation, 4 of my tomato plants must have grown against the grow lights for a period of time as they are fried off. Will this hurt the production of the plant? Will another stem take over and if so, will the plant be spread out like when a tree is topped? A couple were cherry plants. Sue

May 12, 2008	#3
PaulF Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Brownville, Ne Posts: 3,296	A couple of years ago, I lost the top half of a Kosovo and created an accidental dwarf. It topped out at about two feet tall and produced regular sized fruit, just not as many as usual. The plant died earlier than normal, too. I guess the stress was just too much. __________________ there's two things money can't buy; true love and home grown tomatoes.

May 13, 2008	#5
carolyn137 Moderator Emeritus Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a Posts: 21,169	Sue, I can't remember if you grow everything in a greenhouse or outside or a little of both. My question being, would you still have time in your zone 3 to take and root some cuttings from those damaged plants which are really quite big and should have ample lateral branches ( suckers) to take from. __________________ Carolyn

May 13, 2008	#8
dice Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: PNW Posts: 4,743	I broke off the growing tip on a Marmande seedling that only had one leaf a few weeks ago. Now it has one leaf and two tiny branches. I think that is pretty much the norm for what tomato plants do when they lose their growing tip. I also took cuttings from the tops of a few different cultivars that I started really early this year and put them in water. The original plants started growing side branches from the crotches of leaves and are quite healthy. I will probably trim them down to 2-3 main stems for the season and cut off other side shoots. (I am seriously trying pruning this year, to avoid overcrowding.) Cutting the fried tops off may slow them down a little until new growing tips develop (some kind of plant hormone is produced there that is produced nowhere else in the plant), but if they already have side shoots, no problem there. __________________ -- alias Last edited by dice; May 13, 2008 at 07:23 PM. Reason: typo

May 12, 2008	#2
robin303 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Austin, TX Zone 8b Posts: 531	How big are they. One thing about tomatoes they do put off secondary’s. Couple yrs ago I waited for the 6th leaf set and topped it off into two vines.