Starting tomatoes from a tomato slice - again

[Sanna]

I just have to do this again! Last year I was Growing Cherry Tomatoes from Tomato Slices (follow the link to see that experiment from a slice to over 100 Cherry Tomatoes). This year, I have decided to grow a regular sized Tomato Plant from a Tomato Slice. (Not that I actually need any more tomato plants.. but i just have the urge to grow food from Kitchen Scraps..)

This is how I do:

1. Take a Tomato, make sure that it is nice and red and mature.



2. Slice it in 1,5 cm thick slices.



3. Put some soil in a pot, bucket or plant starter. I use my Homemade Self Watering Seed Starters. Place the Tomato Slice on the soil.



4. Cover with about 1 cm of soil.



5. Put some plastic over the pot to create a good climate for the seeds to sprout.




When the seeds have started to sprout you have two options:
- If you want to have one or two strong plants: Cut all the sprouts of except of one or two
-. If you want several plants: Carefully separate the sprouts in different pots

I will keep you posted here. To have more guidance through all the steps, see my post from last year: Growing Cherry Tomatoes from Tomato Slices

[Sanna]

Update, update! The Tomato Slice planted one week ago has been working hard. Look how fast it's sprouting.

[Sanna]

There is now several seeds sprouting from the Tomato Slice. I don't want to end up with 31 plants like I did last year, so I will have to cut some of the sprouts of this year. Amazing how much power there is in one Tomato Slice! 

[Sanna]

It's now about 3 weeks since I planted the Tomato Slice, and it's time to repot the three small Tomato Plants that has been sprouting. I'm sure that there would be more plants coming of this slice if i left it alone for a few more days, but I don't want to end up with 31 Tomato Plants like i did last year. 

This is how the small Plants looked before replanting today.




This is how they looked when I tipped them out of the seed starter:





I did separate them very carefully and planted them in separate pots.



I'm now expecting them to grow like any other Tomato Plant.

[Sanna]

The three Tomato Plants coming from the Tomato Slice are growing fast, and looking good. There are two new plants showing in one of the pots (see the first picture below). I don't want them to compete with the main plant, so I will cut them of.

[Sanna]

It's now one month since last update on this topic. The three Tomato Plants are coming along fine. They have beautiful leaves and look healthy. They are still in the same Pot as they were one month ago but they need to be transplanted to a larger Pot soon.

[Sanna]

Moved one of the three Tomato Plants outdoors to one of my Mini Greenhouses today. I transplanted it to a bucket with holes in the bottom, since this Greenhouse has a Self Watering water reservoir:







If you want to see what my Mini Greenhouse looks like and how the Self Watering Reservoir was done - follow this link: Mini Greenhouse with Self Watering Reservoir.

And also, as you might notice the Tomato Plant is a little bit "thirsty" on the picture. I usually don't water the Tomato Plants at all for a few days before I plan to transplant them. The reason for this is because the stem gets easier to bend - which makes it easier to bury part of the stem if the Tomato Plant has been growing to tall and leggy. If you have this problem, you can check out this previous topic: How to fix tall, thin and leggy Tomato Plants.

[Sanna]

Update! Big and Beautiful Flowers are coming on the Tomato Plants started from Sliced Tomatoes. The Plants are looking good. The stems are solid and leaves are looking good. Excited to see the first Tomatoes within a few weeks.

[Shuang15]

Hi, thanks for your post and updates. I feel the urge to plant tomatoes after reading your post. Thank you so much. Will try it this weekend after I get myself nice juicy tomatoes from market on Friday!

[Sanna]

Thank you so much! I'm very glad to hear that the posts are inspiring! Would love to see what type of Tomatoes you choose and how they are growing! Don't hestitate to start a topic and share the progress with other growers. It's all about inspiration and learning from each other. 

[Shuang15]

Hi Sanna, I've just put my sliced tomato into two different pots. I'm trying with two slices. And had plastic covered on top. I want to ask the purpose of covering with plastic? It's quite cold here in western Australia. I'm having them under cover in my gazebo. But do they need to be under sun for sprouting? Sorry with all the questions but I'm a newbie in gardening. I have absolutely zero knowledge in it, except weeding . Haha.

[Sanna]

Questions are good.

The reason for the plastics is to give the seeds a good climate to sprout. Make some small holes in the plastic to allow it to breathe a bit. It needs about 22 degrees Celsius and light to sprout. You should have it indoors if it's cold outside. You can place it in a sunny window or under a lamp. 

You should not water it every day, just keep an eye on it so it doesn't dry out. The plastic cover helps to keep the humidity right. Keep the plastic on til the small sprouts are about 1-2 inches/a few centimeters tall.

[Ava R.]

Are we supposed to water it when the tomato is still in there?

[Sanna]

You don't have to water it, unless it dries out. It should be fine if you have a plastic cover.

[Ava R.]

Ok I'll water it.

[ljstoodley]

this worked really good for me, much to my surprise. I am a serious skeptic, but tried the method anyway not expecting it to work. Was totally surprised at how well it worked, and how many of the seeds in the tomato slice sprouted. I am a convert to this method for sure now.  

[Ava R.]

I have had 4 sprouts but 2 died because of extensive heat. Oops! I will let the sprouts grow larger untill they are ready to be separated.

[Sanna]

this worked really good for me, much to my surprise. I am a serious skeptic, but tried the method anyway not expecting it to work. Was totally surprised at how well it worked, and how many of the seeds in the tomato slice sprouted. I am a convert to this method for sure now.  

Very glad to hear that! Thank you! It might not be the most efficient method, but it's a bit more magic than drying up seeds.  How many Plants are you keeping?

[Ava R.]

I now have about 8 sprouts emerging! I am keeping all

[Ava R.]

Im nervous to separate the seedlings. How can I separate them carefully?

[Sanna]

Im nervous to separate the seedlings. How can I separate them carefully?

Congratulation to your Tomato Sprouts! I separate mine by carefully tilting the Seed starter and move the Soil Lump (with the Slice and the Seedlings in it) to a tray. I then carefully crunch the Soil Lump until it cracks and I can take the Seedlings with my fingers and carefully separate them. Try not to touch the roots. Plant them a bit deeper than they were growing before, so that the two leaves are just above the soil. It will regrow new and more roots from the stem.

[Ava R.]

I have tons of sprouts, I dont want them to die!

[Ava R.]

I estimate I have around 15-20 sprouts

[Sanna]

Update!

I now have both Tomatoes and more Flowers coming on my Tomato Plants that I started from Slices. 





It is obviously a quite tall Tomato variety and the Plant has been growing a lot over the last few day's. I have been out of town and came home to Tomato Plants looking like this:



I hade to remove Suckers, and also decided to cut some of the leaves of. I also topped the Tomato Plant (just cutting the top of). This will allow the Plant to focus on producing Tomatoes and making sure that the Tomatoes that are already on their way will get enough nutrients to grow as much as they need during the rest of the season. The Plant looks a bit sad after this treatment, but It will be better of in the long run and produce more Tomatoes that get enough time and nutrients to ripe.



I then moved the Plants back into my Homemade Mini Greenhouse and into my Pallet Collar Mini Greenhouse that I bought a few years ago.

Homemade Mini Greenhouse 
(see post with more pictures and DIY instructions: Homemade Mini Greenhouse)



Pallet Collar Mini Greenhouse
(see post with more pictures here: Pallet Collar Mini Greenhouse)

[Ava R.]

Its amazing how fast they grow!