Cloning a Cherry Tomato Plant

I gave some of my Sun Gold Cherry Tomato seedlings to my spouse's co-workers. Unfortunately, there were more co-workers than there were available seedlings.

When I was transplanting my Cherry Tomato seedlings (see this blog entry), I noticed that a couple of the seedlings had side shoots near the bottom (see picture to the right).

Since these side shoots were going to get covered with soil, I decided to cut them off and use them to clone more plants for my spouse's co-workers.

The picture to the right shows one of the side shoots in my hand.

The picture to the right shows the side shoot in a 4" container.

As long as the soil mixture stays moist, the side shoot will develop roots and will create a new plant.

Shriveled Winter Melon Seedlings

The picture above shows Winter Melon seedlings that I started in early February. I started 8 seeds and all germinated.

Unfortunately, the weather is too cold for them. Four of the seedlings have already died.

The ones in the picture germinated last.

I bring the seedlings inside at night, but they need warmer weather.

I started another set of seeds today, in case these die as well.

Two Month Old Cherry Tomato Seedlings

It's been two months since I started my Sun Gold Cherry Tomato plants (see this blog entry) and they are doing very well.

The weather in February was to cold to leave plants out overnight. In the early morning the temperature can drop down to the high 30'sF/low 40'sF.

Depending upon the weather, I have been either leaving the plants outside during the day or putting them on a window sill facing the sun when it is cold.

I am hoping that the weather warms up enough that I can transplant the plants soon. Last year, I was able to start transplanting in mid March (see this blog entry)