My tomato plant! Waaah!

I planted some veggies in containers this year on my deck, and it's worked out great. I have two different plum tomatoes, a green pepper and a hot pepper plant. On the rail I have basil and rosemary. My idea is to make salsa! On the deck is great, it's sheltered up there, gets plenty of sun, no slugs or other pests to eat their leaves, etc.

The biggest of my two tomato plants, it's been kind of leaning over the side of the container and I've let it do that, should have bought a support awhile ago. It came with a stake that bent way over early on. Last night I got the bright idea to prop it up with something. And *snap* didn't I break the damned stem!

It's not broken all the way through, and the plant won't be a total loss if the parts beyond the break don't survive. But most of it will be a loss. Beyond the break is where most of the tomatoes are, including the first one that's started to turn red. :( I was hoping it would grow back together since the broken bits are pressed together by its leaning over position, but it doesn't look good. The plant beyond the break is looking wilted.

Does anyone have any advice?

no advice for the plant (sorry), in my experiences with plants, once it breaks it's done... but if you pick the tomatoes and put them on a window sill they will ripen if they're not still too green.. i've done that at the end of the season before, they come out very nicely :) good luck

I'm not much help with the break, but I did have the problem of my tomatoes wanting to hang down, especially after a wind storm. I ended up stringing dental floss (cause it's stronger than thread, anything that is strong would work) between the rails like /\/\/\/\ and I've been intertwining the leaves and branches with the floss as much as I can to help them grow higher. I considered doing another row of floss in the opposite direction so it's like XXXXXXXX but they seem to be held pretty well with the first row.

Zonny, do you have a pic of the break ? I'm assuming it's the MAIN stem and not a secondary one ? If the stem is really beyond repair you can cut it off the plant and hang it upside down, the tomatoes will still ripen. I'm not sure if you have much more growing time left in your gardening zone, but if this had happened earlier in the summer, the plant would be able to regrow a secondary stem.

Muggos: You aren't afraid the dental floss will cut through branches with the weight ?

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Originally Posted by muggos0101

I'm not much help with the break, but I did have the problem of my tomatoes wanting to hang down, especially after a wind storm. I ended up stringing dental floss (cause it's stronger than thread, anything that is strong would work) between the rails like /\/\/\/\ and I've been intertwining the leaves and branches with the floss as much as I can to help them grow higher. I considered doing another row of floss in the opposite direction so it's like XXXXXXXX but they seem to be held pretty well with the first row.

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Good idea about the dental floss . Never thought about using floss for this. And we have some that we got for free (coupon) we could use.:top:

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Originally Posted by Tbites

Muggos: You aren't afraid the dental floss will cut through branches with the weight ?

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i'd be more concerned with the minty taste transferring to the tomatoes :P

lol so i did this yesterday !!! i have about 4 in pots, and 8 in one small garden plot, 8 in another shady garden area. the ones in the pots are MASSIVE!
Advice I have for anybody growing tomatoes....My advice from working a summer on an organic garden/nursery.

STALK early and well. - I failed to do this, like always this summer. I always start with 1 bamboo stalk and it works for a while until the thing becomes massive. You can't put a regular tomato stalking wire round thinger majigger on them once they get too big. It just becomes a struggle. So if you haven't already, do something like this.... Attachment 131103

this is how i did mine, but with way ghetto-er ties. I used twine and just kind of attached the heavy stalks and did some wrap arounds and just went at them.

so i advise doing that before it gets any bigger....but first,

heres some copy pasted advice i found from this gardening forum: http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/l...424308027.html

"It may sound silly, but you can try rigging a "splint" onto it until it can heal back again. Just line up a popsicle stick on each side of the break and use some electrical tape to wrap around it. That way, the stem can stay stiff and straight while it works on growing back together again. Believe me, just tying up in place doesn't work well because any decent gust of wind will end up bending it back down again.If the break was too sharp or severe, then I doubt it will be able to heal again though--since the vascular system that carries the water and food to and from the plant won't be able to maintain its turgor pressure and will just end up like a leaking garden hose until the broken part ends up going limp and dying off.
It's worth giving it a shot though. I personally always feel sad whenever my own plants get hurt and try to do whatever I can to patch them back up again."

thats what i think too lol. Try and fix it with a splint or even twine. if it doesn't look like its working....

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When I break them I stick them in water and they will regrow roots in only a few days, then I pot them up and let them develope a root system before planting out again. It beats starting over from seed. If your patch doesn't work and it starts to wilt badly, I recommend salvaging it in water." then i would do that- but don't have too much faith, considering its late in the summer and i usually kill most of the toms i try and transplant, but its always worth a shot.

looks like fried green tomatoes for supper! :(

Sorry about your plant, the splinter idea sounds good. My MIL has some cool tomato plants that grow upside down...in a special planter. Might try this next year..i love tomatoes!! Good luck with your plant OP.

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Originally Posted by Tbites

Muggos: You aren't afraid the dental floss will cut through branches with the weight ?

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I would never use anything on my plants that I wouldnt use on my gums! Besides, my tomatoes live outside during crazy end of world type storms :P. They're tough as ****!

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Originally Posted by GoJays

i'd be more concerned with the minty taste transferring to the tomatoes :P

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It only touches the branches anyway :P

They are only cherry tomatoes, but they seem fairly happy in a container.

Attachment 131354

I had a dahlia snap at the base and I taped it together with electrical tape and it survived! Perhaps give that a try.

It's probably too late in the season to do this, but when I pruned off branches of my tomato plants, I'll often stick the sucker or branch into moistened potting soil. Keep it in a protected spot and it should root within a week. Voila, a new plant.

My trellis system for my tomato plant is the Florida Weave. Look it up online, there are lots of pictures. I had the poles in early, but left the stringing up a bit late, but it looks alright now.

We were away for a few days, and while some of the leaves have yellowed, my plant doesn't seem totally dead. You wouldn't be able to see the break; the plant was leaning over at about 90 degrees, so when I picked it up it broke, but when I put it back down, the parts are back together. I'm hoping they'll connect again, but will not pick it up to see. It still has a tomato that's getting red on it and a bunch of green ones, so I'm hopeful!

My other tomato plant, it has a reddening tomato on it but it doesn't look very good. Hoping I'll have a tomato harvest; no doubt I'll have pepper, the hot peppers especially are doing well.