Tomatoes With Taproots

barkeater · June 28, 2006

I found one disadvantage of direct seeding vs. traditional transplanting. Unless the taproot is broken, the tomato doesn't develop the lateral roots like in the traditional way.

I have a cherry tomato planted out 30 days ago the day after it germinated in a pot. The taproot was undisturbed, and it was growing beautifully, almost a foot tall.

We had very strong winds, 20-25 mph, yesterday. Today the cherry is lying on its side.

Apparently, those lateral roots also serve to "anchor" the stem so it can stand erect. I don't know if there is any damage caused, maybe this just shows the natural vining that would occur in nature.

June 28, 2006	#1
barkeater Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: NE Kingdom, VT - Zone 3b Posts: 1,439	Tomatoes With Taproots I found one disadvantage of direct seeding vs. traditional transplanting. Unless the taproot is broken, the tomato doesn't develop the lateral roots like in the traditional way. I have a cherry tomato planted out 30 days ago the day after it germinated in a pot. The taproot was undisturbed, and it was growing beautifully, almost a foot tall. We had very strong winds, 20-25 mph, yesterday. Today the cherry is lying on its side. Apparently, those lateral roots also serve to "anchor" the stem so it can stand erect. I don't know if there is any damage caused, maybe this just shows the natural vining that would occur in nature.