What Happens When You Transplant Tomatoes 3 Different Ways?

We're back in the Test Garden to answer a question everyone's curious about: What’s the best way to transplant tomatoes?

In this backyard science experiment, we put the three most popular methods to the test: the buried tomato method, the surface tomato method, and the trenched tomato method. Join me as I find out which one works best! 🍅

IN THIS VIDEO

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TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Intro & Transplanting Setup
04:55 - 2 Week Update
06:49 - 4 Week Update
07:52 - 6 Week Update
09:15 - Final Result & Digging Up

DISCLAIMER

[joshuahoyer]

Pro tip when planting sideways in a trench: lay the tomato plant sideways a few days to a week before planting. Over time, the plant will naturally bend upward to reach toward the light. No forced bending that risks snapping branches or the whole leader!

[shannonrobinson]

We bury deep, not for extra roots, but to put root ball deeper to help keep it cool and prevent drying out. We don’t get rain in summer, only irrigation with mostly 100f+ temps.

[GainingDespair]

I really love the fact you wait to release these until the end.

Because I thought this was exciting than got disappointed I would have to wait 2-3 months for the results yet here they are.

Nothing better than instant gratification

[heidiwheeler]

You know what I tried this year, with raging success?? I planted ONE tomato plant in a 1 gallon container and let it grow. When a sucker was around 12", I snipped it at the base/main stem and transplanted it using the trench method into my raised beds. They looked a little rough for about a week, but then they absolutely TOOK OFF. They are, by far, the healthiest tomato plants I have EVER had, and its so bizarre that they didn't have a single root when I placed them into the ground. I also did not use rooting hormone or anything special. They are absolutely thriving, and I was able to turn one tomato plant into easily 10-15 plants.

My plan for this summer is to let my tomato plants grow and as they get taller and more tired, clip a sucker and plant it in the ground right next to the original plant. As soon as it begins to take off, I will remove the old tired tomato that may or may not have fungal or pest damage at that point. I think it's going to work out great!

[_crazy_dogs]

I plant in raised beds. I always use the trench method for my tomatoes. I will place the root ends of the tomato towards the middle of the bed with the tops towards the outer part of the bed. By the time I plant on each side of the raised beds, all of the root balls are in the middle of the bed. As the plants get bigger and leaf out, they shade their roots. This allows for targeted watering in the middle of the bed. I have really good results with this method.

[jeniferdietz]

Grandma said (50 years ago) that you plant in a trench so that the roots are warmer being closer to the top. She was an organic gardener and was constantly reading about new techniques.

[MaryAnnNytowl]

3:12 oh, I know EXACTLY why, LOL! Around here, there's areas where the bedrock isn't very far down. Planting at an angle will allow the same kind of bare stem for more root growth, but we don't have to try to bust rock to do it.

You didn't need to angle the top so sharply. Go at a very gentle angle, and allow the plant to straighten its growth by itself – which it WILL do.

[acparker]

My father once described his experience planting tomatoes when he was a boy in the late twenties-early thirties. Many farmers in the town he grew up in contracted to grow tomatoes for a nearby cannery. Starts were grown in the Moapa Valley (Logandale and Overton), north of Las Vegas, then dug up in mid to late May, rolled, bare root, in damp burlap and sent over 400 miles north by boxcar or truck to the cannery, who distributed them to the contract farmers in Weber and Davis Counties in Utah.

My father would be given a bundle of plants, which were at least three feet long, then he would lay them down in a furrow, kicking dirt over all but the last six or eight inches, then lay down the next. That was repeated, bundle after bundle, until the furrow was full, then the field, then on to the next field until all the starts were replanted.

There are still some tomatoes grown in large gardens for local markets and restaurants and the town still celebrates Tomato Days, though most farms have shifted crops at least a couple of times in 100 years, soon to end with housing developments.

[MorePranaGardens]

In North Texas we sometimes lay tomatoes on their side because of hard clay. To bend them, we lay them on their side a couple of days before planting so they turn up to the sun.

[Mase]

Trenching has been really great for me with volunteer tomatoes. They usually don’t sprout up exactly where I want them and can get pretty long pretty fast. I can use trenching to relocate where they come up out of the soil, increase root mass, and it transplanting a long tomato it works especially well. Reduces top foliage losing water until the plant can get established in its new home.

About 50% of my yearly tomato production comes from volunteers so it ends up being significant.

[arnoldmmbb]

The experiment patch in the garden has been a great idea

[LogicalNiko]

Planting tomatoes sideways has two advantages over deep planting. First the roots are spread over a larger area and so the tomato gets more overall nutrients from the top layers of soil (the most biologically active, and generally more water availability, tomatoes are not deep feeding plants). Oddly the carbon and Cherokee varieties are deeper rooting varieties tending to extend feeders to occupy 10-16 inches. They do generally naturally limit themselves to 5-6 feet however.

Second is only for large scale growers, it can be done quickly with tomatoes in a row. Commercial growers take a piece of pvc pipe or something similar and bend all the plants in a row to the side. They then wait for the plants to naturally curve upwards before putting in their supports. Some places bury the bent over stem, others just ensure the stem is touching the ground and let nature handle itself. The additional roots also have advantages when using tension based support systems as commercial growers are not going to be as careful to ensure each plant is properly tensioned, so the extra roots also help resist a bit of tugging.

The additional roots do less of a role in nutrient absorption vs moisture absorption (although they both can do a bit of both). However commercial growers like these methods for stability. The plants a noticeable better rooted to the ground and thus are less prone to damage in a large field.

[joshuahoyer]

I always plant ours sideways, and we get amazing results! The shallower planting trench means the base roots stays away from zones that could potentially become more anaerobic in our clay soil, plus it enjoys more surface heat like your pro tip mentioned.

[dodiebondwood]

I had an old Italian next door neighbor many years ago, he taught me the trench method. 💛

[Vacationist]

I did this same experiment 30 years ago and got the same results. It has saved me many hours of digging over the years. I now practice "No till gardening" and stopped digging holes more than a few inches deep with great results. It is also important to loosen those roots to get the plant to grow new ones. One of the reasons I started following Epic Gardening is that everyone else on the internet is afraid to loosen roots, but most plants really like it to stimulate new root growth. Even cutting the root ball (if rootbound) just stimulates most vegetables to grow. There are a few plants that don't like it, but most of them are flowers or plants with a large tap root.

[danw]

One thing I remember from my hort science class long ago -- roots need air to thrive! The more the better. That's partly why roots of almost all plant roots grow shallow and laterally rather than straight down and deep. We're taught to add mechanical aeration, soil amendments, expanded shale or whatever it takes to loosen it. Why? To add air pockets and increase the 02 ratio at the roots. It makes no sense to bury a plant so deep it can't breath.

[lamgardn]

I started trenching rather than burying a few years ago because I heard that the roots like the warmer soil temperatures closer to the surface. My tomatoes have done well with this method, and it saves me from digging a hole to China. They seem to do their best later in the season. It would have been interesting to see your results farther into the season.
Oh, and it's okay to leave the plant lying sideways above ground. In a day or two it will be standing straight up! Amazes me every time!

[thomaskrafft]

In cold climates we use the trench method because in the effort to extend our growing season the soil is cold when we transplant right after last frost. This keeps roots as warm as we can. It works!

[bingster-]

I asked an Amish farmer if he planted them deep he said "don't waste your time with that nonsense just put it in the soil and water it in". Still if I have leggy starters I go deep with them. I shop at a couple different Amish greenhouses and they are always eager to answer your questions about growing.

[JeffClow]

Fascinating and surprising results. A unique ‘look’ at what’s happening below the surface. Extremely well done experiment and recap.