Bobo Bonobo® wrote:
>
> On Jul 8, 2:35 pm, "Janet Bostwick" > wrote:
> > "Paul M. Cook" > wrote in ...
> >
> >
> >
> > > "Arri London" > wrote in message
> > ...
> >
> > >> "Paul M. Cook" wrote:
> >
> > >>> While cleaning out my tomato pots and trimming my plants I noticed my
> > >>> yellow
> > >>> pear had 2 main branches of 4 that had broken spots. It looked like the
> > >>> branch had been twisted like a dish rag aka wrung out. The leaves were
> > >>> still alive but the breaks did not look good. It looked like the plant
> > >>> had
> > >>> tried to grow downward against the tomato stakes trying to make them
> > >>> grow
> > >>> upwards. The breaks were brownish looking and seemed really week. I
> > >>> went
> > >>> ahead and cut them off losing 1/3 of my plant in the process and most of
> > >>> my
> > >>> young tomatoes.
> >
> > >>> Did I over react? I was thinking those limbs would never be viable and
> > >>> a
> > >>> drain on the plant in the end. Plus I was worried about bug
> > >>> infiltration.
> > >>> Will it recover? Sure doesn't look good at the moment.
> >
> > >>> Paul
> >
> > >> Might have overreacted a bit. When dealing with broken stems of plants,
> > >> we normally try straightening them out gently and then taping over the
> > >> weak part to support it. It often (but not always) is enough for that
> > >> stem to recover and grow normally.
> >
> > > Yeah, I thought about that. Though about making a splint for it. The
> > > vascular system was damaged but the stalk was not dead. I'll do that next
> > > time. I'm hoping it is early enough in the season that it won't matter.
> > > Already the emplt space is filling in with leaves from the other stalks
> > > but they don;t look like they'll be growing any buds soon.
> >
> > > Paul
> >
> > If it is early enough in the season to make it worthwhile, you can cut a new
> > edge on the broken piece, put it in water and in about a week it will have
> > new roots. In my experience, the old tops on new roots are fairly robust
> > growers once established.
>
> Or cut the edge, dip it in Rootone and stick it into the soil. Keep
> the soil damp around it for a week or two and it will root. Then it
> will grow another shoot from that rooting.
>
> >
> --Bryan

We've done that too. It also often works well enough.