Just about all of my plants are doing really well except for one forgotten tomato plant. It got tucked behind some other containers slightly out of reach and while it got lots of water it was never pruned and ended up with three main stems coming from one really weak joint right at the base of the plant.
The competing growing tips steal sugars that should be going into the fruits and the stems were starting to split and physically weaken the plant as they get heavier. Plus since this tomato was growing in a container, there was far too much competition for water and most of the tomatoes were developing blossom end rot. One lateral stem had only vegetative growth so I pruned it right off, however, I had a different plan for the other lateral stem.
Tomatoes easily grow adventitious roots from their stems, and since this lateral stem was growing along the moist surface of the soil it had already grown the beginnings of a number of roots. Since this lateral stem already had healthy vertical growth that was taller and healthier than the central stem I wanted to turn it into its own plant. So I pruned it from the main plant as close to the original stem as possible then removed all foliage except the pair of leaves directly below the flower, burying as much stem as possible to anchor a good root structure. I also pruned and repotted the original tomato plant deeper than it was before to cover the wound and encourage more root growth. With the second one I'm really just waiting till the 3 tomatoes on the plant ripen and then I'll scrap the rest of it, its way too stressed already!
I tend to read alot before doing anything, this is my first intuitive gardening decision based solely on my own knowledge, so we'll see how it goes! Hopefully I'm right and the transplant will thrive :)
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