So do you remove the first fruits to set right after they appear? How many do you remove? **** I can't speak for anyone else but heck no, I don't remove the first fruits to set. I've waited how many months of cold, snowy bitter weather to taste those first fruits so no way am I going to delete/discard/demolish or otherwise get rid of them. And with few exceptions I gave up growing earlies many years ago. I'm not one to look for those first fruits at all, especially on earlies, I wait until some of my early mid-season ones start ripening fruits. And unlike some above who find that first fruits don't always taste the best, that's not been my experience with most varieties and I really do think it might be related to where someone, in a geographic sense, is growing their tomatoes as well as weather conditions, and the way folks grow their tomatoes. And no, lets not take this long thread into ways of growing tomatoes for there are at least 20 K threads here about that already. LOL Carolyn

Well, let me tell you. This require some surgical specializion. Just as not every doctor can do hear or brain surgery, so not every gardener can separate three 2 feet tomato plants grown in a 12" pot. Then just like surgery, there will be no 100% guarantee. If I havd to do it, firt I would prune them to minimal size couple of days before. Them have my garden spot, glove, and knife (very sharp one)ready. 1- Water the pot thoroughly. Better yet immerse it in water. 2- Take it out, lay it down on its side, and try to separate one of them , by slight shaking.I would cut some of the tangled roots as I continue. 3- Immediatly bring it to the garden spot(that has been prepared). 4- While holding the plant from its stem, try to keep the roots mostly vertican and spread while filling around/between the roots with good fine moist soil and packing it gentlty, until the plant can stand up on its own. 5- Water it thoroughly, so that the soil snuggs the roots, add more soil. You hav to get the air out and in order to do that the soil has to replace the air. Continue withe the second and third one. P.S. watering and feeding the plant prior to surgery is important, since it will not get thirsty and/or hungry soon.

Hmm that's a good point Kathy. I was thinking that it would be an inexpensive way to get more plants and thus more fruit during the time that they would grow, but I guess that depends on how long it takes them to get to the fruiting stage after having been cloned. I certainly wouldn't want to slow the progress of the mother plant, but if the cloned plant would set at least some fruit before the first frost, or hard freeze if that is the case, that would be more than I would have if I hadn't done it right? I definitely plant to save seed as well, but I'm just looking at how to get the most out of the few plants I will be able to buy. I was also thinking I might be able to over-winter the pants in the basement, which has a fairly cool and consistent temperature, if not much light. Haven't looked into that yet, I figured I need to get through the planting, tending and harvesting part first! Also, the issue with starting from seed is that I don't have the room for that. Although, if the in-laws are ok with using the basement for storing plants over the winter, they might be ok with using it for seedlings... but then there's the issue of buying lamps and bulbs and what not... which is more $$ *sigh* This gardening thing is turning out to be far more expensive than I thought it would be lol But I'm not discouraged, if anything, I'm more motivated. I like finding ways to do things unconventionally on the cheap :-) sure my results might not be as good as if I had done it the "right" way, but at least I get results just the same. Hopefully gardening can be approached this way as well as everything else I've had success with.

As far as I understand, a tomato flower is basically a female flower wrapped with a male flower, so it is an all-in-one. Unlike some uhhhh, other stuff, there are no male or female plants. I don't believe tomatoes are photoperiod sensitive for their reproductive cycle, but they do need a minimum amount of light to do well, and I assume they need darkness for at least a couple hours a night. I am in the process of growing cuttings off Black Cherry and Red Currant. Only cuttings from indeterminate plants will grow a new plant, the nature of determinates makes them unsuitable. Make sure you root a growing tip, not just a set of leaves.