Long Term Tomato Cloning?

[BettaPonic]

Has anyone cloned a Tomato plant for a few generations? By that I mean cloning clones and cloning them? I have one variety called Lizzano that I have cloned for a few generations. Anyone else do that?

These are photos of my Tomato. All of these are clones of clones from a plant planted exactly a year ago. They are in Coco Coir with Air pots. I use air layering to propagate them while attached to the plant.

[NarnianGarden]

Not for several generations, just taken a few branches off the mother plant... and they grew well.
I think if you have an indet hybrid, and sowing seeds is expensive, then go for it; potatoes are also grown via cloning, aren't they?
Although some growers (here n TVIlle too) say that potatoes grown from true seed instead of cloning have more disease resistance etc., compared to clones.

[imp]

Your air cloning looks good; the little person in the background doesn't look so good, though!

[BigVanVader]

Yeah, you may want to kill the demon monkey child spawn.

[BettaPonic]

That was an elementary school project on John Cabot when I was little. I know potatoes are grown from clones.
The variety I clone Lizzano is a hybrid. The clones give me fruit faster. I have read that clones yield less has anyone heard that?
I grow in Super roots air pots. I love their product and grow most of my plants in these. I also use Coco Coir. I love how their are less bugs in them. I use Growstones. The problem is all of this stuff requires lots of watering. I use inoculants for the roots.
I use advanced nutrients and general hydroponic for my fertilizer.
For the air layering I cover in rooting hormone, put some Coco in the wrap around container, and then put some Jellyfish inoculant.

What methods do you all use?

[slugworth]

I cut off a branch and stick it in wet potting soil.

[NarnianGarden]

I've cloned many indet ones by re-growing their branches (having them in water for some roots before planting in soil), not sure if determinates could give equal yield. The branches/clones definitely grow fast and produce fruit quickly.
How many generations one can do that before seeing some signs of weaknening, no idea, as indet tomato varieties have it in them to grow and go on growing infinitely, until the weather conditions stop the process..
So perhaps it is an endless supply.

[SuntannedSwede]

I would be very interested in the effects of long term cloning- I know that shallots have been reproduced vegetatively for so long that many varieties have lost their ability to flower, or at least are unlikely to flower and produce viable seed, but we're talking like a hundred generations in that case.

[Cole_Robbie]

I've got one plant of Rebelski F1 in the high tunnel now. If I like it enough to grow a lot of it, I am definitely looking into cloning. At $15-20 for a pack of 15 seeds, it would be a lot cheaper to grow from clones. As for quantity breaks for large purchases, Johnny's will cut you the sweet deal of just $3,598.05 for 5,000 seeds.

[BettaPonic]

Best wishes for the high tunnel. What are they growing in?

I've thought about it, but I haven't done it over multiple seasons. I have done a lot of cuttings in one season, though, indoors (when I started tomatoes extra, extra early). I probably did cuttings of cuttings. I even took watermelon cuttings.

One of the main differences between a cutting and a seed-grown plant is that the cutting won't have a taproot, but their other roots might be bigger to compensate.

I think which branch you take the cutting from could possibly make a difference, but I don't know.

Just so you know, the watermelon cutting that survived and fruited after the transplant produced a small fruit (all the watermelons were small that year). I saved the seeds in 2015 and grew those in 2016, and out of all the watermelons I grew, that one produced the biggest watermelon by far. It might be interesting to experiment with seeds from fruits on plants that were cuttings compared with those without cuttings in their ancestry.

[slugworth]

Top a determinate and use that to clone.
I did it one year with the silvery fir tree tomato.

[BettaPonic]

Originally Posted by shule1

I've thought about it, but I haven't done it over multiple seasons. I have done a lot of cuttings in one season, though, indoors (when I started tomatoes extra, extra early). I probably did cuttings of cuttings. I even took watermelon cuttings.

One of the main differences between a cutting and a seed-grown plant is that the cutting won't have a taproot, but their other roots might be bigger to compensate.

I think which branch you take the cutting from could possibly make a difference, but I don't know.

I have heard that the tap root makes a difference. What makes you want to clone? I have a hybrid variety and clone it.

Originally Posted by BettaPonic

I have heard that the tap root makes a difference. What makes you want to clone? I have a hybrid variety and clone it.

I just did it because I wanted to, and to learn stuff. Plus, I could get more plants that way, with fewer seeds. I wasn't growing any F1 hybrids (but I did have some F2 hybrids). I did a *lot* of cuttings, though.

I experimented with cuttings rooted in water and soil, in different conditions. They seem to do best and fastest in seed-starting mix with some potassium sulfate added. I keep them away from bright light for a couple days after cutting them, though (bright light can stunt or kill them if they get it right away).

Peppers were a lot harder to root successfully than tomatoes. You could probably keep them in water for a few days before rooting them in soil to increase the odds of success for peppers, I'm thinking, but I'd need to try it out.

Since 2016, I haven't been taking cuttings, though, since I'm starting seeds in a greenhouse, and I didn't start the plants as early.

[BettaPonic]

I have no luck with cuttings, so I use water.