It only partially snapped but this is the main stem. Google said to tape it up with painters tape and secure it with a stake. Went out to check on it a few hours later and of course the whole plant has drooped. What do I do? Keep it the way I have it or stick the broken stem in water to grow the roots out and re plant?
by ResponseLoose4295
17 Comments
It will probably heal itself but fret not, you can just cut it where it broke and that little sucker will take on full duty of the growth.
I had one I broke and I wrapped it in saran wrap tight, but not enough to cut into it, then taped it and supported it. It healed and kept going the whole year!👍🏻
Time heals all (or most) tomato wounds. Make sure that the broken segments have good contact before adding the grafting tape. Support the area above the taped portion. Good luck! 💕
Saran wrap tight with moist paper towel. Droop is from the disruption in moisture uptake. Like others have said, it will either heal itself or shoot roots from the nodes by the second sucker above.
You might be able to replant and bury the whole stem so the break is well below the surface. Mound up the coil around it and baby it for a while.
The best solution is to remove the first 2 branches with leaves just above the break and bury the entire plant, carefully, up to the next branch w/ leaves, with the undisturbed break under the soil, and supported by it.
It will grow new roots everywhere that is touching soil below ground level, and it will slowly heal the location of the break, if it doesn’t get disturbed too badly during the replanting. Now you will have the benefit of both replanting the top portion, but also have the benefit of keeping it supported by all the roots and stem below it.
Tape it with painters or electrical tape and quite often it will heal
I did it once and I saved it the same way, the difference is that I made it tight, like staking a broken arm. In this way the top part of the plant could still get nutrients and heal. After a few weeks the stem was all healed and the plant grew again like nothing had happened.
Tomatoes heal, they can be even grafted (you can check some videos online about how to graft tomatoes). The important thing is to ensure the top is tightly secured to the bottom.
Edit: forgotten word
I think it would be better to cut it completely and put the stem in soil.
It will most likely make new roots.
And the other stem will prob put off new growth so now you have two tomatoes.
Add a dab of honey in the wound when you tape it like others described. Worked for me a few years ago and that plant even outgrew and outperformed all the other tomatoes! There is hope. Good luck 🙏🏻
That sucker sprouting out of the joint could become your main vertical stem if the original one doesn’t heal.
This is such a nice and helpful sub. Once i run into every problem as a new gardener i will know exactly what to do lol
This happened to me today too! I’ll be reading the advice in the other comments here.
I just buried mine at the snap last year after a particularly rough storm, and that thang never missed a beat!
I have a cherry tomato plant that a racoon broke for me in a similar manner not long ago. I did tape it, and I laid it down on it’s side in a little trench I dug in the pot leaving only the top of the plant exposed. Before I covered it back up, I gave it some rooting hormone powder in the same trench. That plant is doing just fine today. not as healthy as the unbroken one next to it, but it started growing and is healthy again.
Cut it off, take it inside, and root it in water under a grow light until it has nice long roots (change the water daily and I added weak fertilizer to it once the roots started growing), then plant in potting soil and harden off again and plant in your garden. This happened with one of my tomato plants and after a few weeks it was like nothing had ever happened. But for me, just putting it in soil didn’t work. It became very wilted. It worked much better rooting it in water under a grow light.
The sucker underneath will also grow and you will have two plants.
Just cut it, it’ll grow a new leader.