Ya know those growths between the stems on tomato plants that ya pinch off? I heard somewhere that you can cut and pot em and leave them in the house over winter. A possible fast spring start? Would you dare re-plant them in the garden or just leave them in the pot? Anyone do this?....Kirk

-- Anonymous, September 10, 2001

Answers

I tried this last year and the results were disappointing. They struggled along (and got whitefly) and got VERY lanky and spindly due to the lack of sunlight, even tho I had them in the sunroom with supplemental lighting.

I have been reading over on GardenWeb and found something about this that suggested that the only real way to maintain them with good stocky growth over the winter is to get metal halide lights (expensive). They will produce big bushy beautiful plants, according to the person who did that, but they got no blossoms or tomatoes all winter. It sounds like a kind of expensive way to go, but if you've got the room to experiment with it, there are some stunting sprays that you can get through professional greenhouses that keep the plants from trying to become vines. I don't know how they work, have heard that they're hormones.

-- Anonymous, September 10, 2001