Grow tomatoes from cuttings and you get a free, exact clone of a plant you already love. One grower, therustyone, learned that lesson the hard way one summer. Their cuttings sat in hot, shady soil with rooting hormone and never took root at all.
Most tomato cuttings do not need that much help. Veteran grower Alder Burns puts it simply: tomatoes root easily.
This guide covers why that is true at a biological level. It also covers where to cut and whether hormone actually helps. It covers the real timelines growers report, including the different goal of keeping a favorite plant alive all winter.
The short version
Nearly any healthy tomato stem section will root, given moisture and warmth. Peer reviewed research shows a functional root system can form in just seven to nine days under good conditions.
Real growers report timelines closer to two or three weeks in less controlled settings. That still beats starting from seed. No rooting hormone is strictly required, since tomatoes already root unusually well on their own.
Cuttings serve two different purposes. Most people take them mid season to multiply a variety fast. Others take them in fall specifically to keep a plant alive through winter indoors.
Why tomato cuttings root so easily
Tomato stems carry a head start most vegetables do not. North Carolina State University Extension explains that small white bumps on a healthy tomato stem are adventitious roots. That is the earliest stage of root development.
Extension notes tomatoes tend to form these bumps when stressed. They cause no harm to the plant. That built in tendency is exactly what makes cuttings work so well.
A peer reviewed study published in BMC Plant Biology traced the actual process inside a cut tomato stem. Root forming cells organize within three days. They develop into root structures over the next two days, then push through the stem’s outer layer soon after.
Under the study’s controlled conditions, that whole process produced a functional root system within seven to nine days. The plant hormone auxin drives it, concentrating precisely in the cells that will become new roots.
Where to cut for the best results
Suckers are the shoots that grow in the crook between a leaf and the main stem. They are the most common source of cuttings. This site’s dedicated guide to tomato suckers covers identifying and removing them in full at our tomato suckers guide.
Suckers are not the only option, though. Any healthy stem tip, four to six inches long, roots just as readily.
A member named Pusang Halaw described a rough season on a permies.com propagation thread. Over twenty plants needed replacing. They mixed stem tips and suckers, and rooted several.
Alder Burns, replying on the same thread, made an important distinction. Cuttings taken from suckers sometimes flower later than cuttings taken from the main stem tip. A rooted sucker can behave more like a young seedling than a piece of a mature plant.
Does rooting hormone actually help
Therustyone’s failed attempt on Houzz raises a fair question. They used Rootone powder in hot, shady conditions and got nothing.
Whether the hormone caused that failure is impossible to say from one account. General propagation research offers a clue, though. A study on chrysanthemum cuttings, a different easy to root species, still found value in hormone.
Combined with longer daylight, it beat no treatment at all. No comparable published trial exists for tomato cuttings specifically. That gap is worth stating honestly rather than guessing.
Tomatoes already root readily without any help. Most experienced growers on forums skip the hormone step entirely and still succeed.
Water rooting versus soil rooting
Both methods work to grow tomatoes from cuttings, and real growers report different timelines for each. On the permies.com winter propagation thread, a member named Jay Colli described rooting stem cuttings in water. Ten to fourteen days did the job.
They then moved the cuttings to potting mix for about another week before they were established.
Alder Burns took a rougher, faster route out of necessity, after losing hundreds of plants to a late freeze. Cuttings placed straight into a cold frame established roots within two to three weeks. That was enough to replace nearly the entire lost crop.
Water rooting lets a grower watch root development directly, which appeals to beginners. Soil rooting skips a transplanting step. It also tends to produce a sturdier root system, since roots skip the water to soil adjustment.
The other reason to take cuttings: keeping a plant through winter
Tomatoes are tender perennials, not true annuals. Frost kills them, but the plant itself does not have a fixed lifespan.
That fact drives a second use for cuttings, entirely separate from multiplying a summer crop. A member named Mary Beth Alexander shared their experience on the permies.com winter thread.
They overwintered cloned plants for years in a cold Zone 3b or 4 climate. South facing windows were all they used.
They repotted repeatedly through winter and hand pollinated the flowers indoors, since no insects were around to do it. Most years brought ripe tomatoes by April.
One year ended differently, though. An unexpected June freeze killed the transplants right after they moved the plants back outside.
Other members on that same thread reported real success too. May Lotito rooted sun sugar cherry tomato cuttings and had fruit again not long after transplanting. They called the process easier and faster than starting from seed.
A member named Bryant RedHawk noted that indeterminate varieties kept in a heated greenhouse can behave as true perennials. They keep flowering and fruiting continuously without ever going dormant.
What actually goes wrong
Rooted cuttings are not immune to normal tomato problems. Pusang Halaw’s propagated plants from the permies.com thread struggled with a whitefly infestation. Only three of several rooted cuttings ended up producing full sized fruit.
Freeze risk is the other major failure point. It can show up as an early fall cold snap catching an outdoor cutting. It can also show up as a late spring freeze, like the one that caught Mary Beth Alexander’s transplants.
Keeping newly rooted cuttings indoors, or in a sheltered space until nighttime temperatures are reliably safe, avoids both problems. Cuttings taken from suckers can also simply take longer to flower than expected, per Alder Burns’s observation. That is normal, not a sign of failure.
Putting it into a plan
To grow tomatoes from cuttings, cut a healthy stem tip or sucker at four to six inches long, using a clean tool. Strip any leaves that would sit below the rooting medium, whether that medium is water or damp soil.
Keep the cutting warm and out of harsh direct sun while it roots. Expect roots within one to three weeks, depending on conditions. Once a solid root system has formed, transplant into potting mix and treat it like any young tomato plant.
For a full walkthrough of everything a tomato plant needs after that step, see this site’s complete growing guide at our how to grow tomatoes guide.
Frequently asked questions
Can you really grow a new tomato plant from a cutting?
Yes. A healthy stem tip or sucker roots readily in water or soil. It produces an exact clone of the parent plant, usually within one to three weeks.
Do tomato cuttings need rooting hormone?
Not necessarily. Tomatoes already root unusually well on their own. No published research specifically confirms hormone improves results for this species, and many growers skip it entirely.
How long does it take tomato cuttings to root?
Peer reviewed research found a functional root system forms in just seven to nine days under controlled conditions. Real growers on forums report a wider range, often two to three weeks.
Can tomato cuttings keep a plant alive through winter?
Yes, since tomatoes are tender perennials rather than true annuals. Growers report success rooting fall cuttings and overwintering them on a sunny windowsill. Hand pollination is needed indoors, since no outdoor insects can reach the flowers.
Is it better to root tomato cuttings in water or soil?
Both work well. Water lets a grower watch roots develop directly. Soil skips a later transplant step and tends to produce a sturdier root system.
Bottom line: growing tomatoes from cuttings works because the plant is built for it, forming root tissue along its stem well before any cutting happens. A healthy four to six inch stem tip or sucker, kept warm and moist, typically roots within one to three weeks. No rooting hormone is required. Real growers use the technique both to multiply a favorite variety fast and to keep tender perennial plants alive through winter indoors. For the whole growing picture beyond propagation, see our how to grow tomatoes guide.
SOURCES
North Carolina State University Extension, Caldwell County: Tomato Talk. https://caldwell.ces.ncsu.edu/2020/07/709844/
Chen, Wang, and colleagues: Auxin Regulates Adventitious Root Formation in Tomato Cuttings. BMC Plant Biology, 2019. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12870-019-2002-9
North Carolina State University, Horticultural Science: The Use of Indolebutyric Acid and Photoperiod on Rooting of Chrysanthemum Cuttings. https://hortscans.ces.ncsu.edu/uploads/t/h/the_use__545d3625065cd.pdf