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I have round cherry tomato plants in grow bags. Recently while shifting the position to a better one, one of the plants got snapped to 90 degrees with half of the circumference of the stem broken. I quickly taped it with some plastic cello tape and small sticks supported by a larger stick as shown in picture. It has been 2-3 days now and the plant continues to grow Asif nothing happened. Will it affect my plants later on? Is there hope of regeneration? Will there be less nutrient input into my plants? The tape is not put tightly around the plant

Thank Youenter image description here enter image description here

Also wanted to say that the plant is now starting flowering. enter image description here

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If it hasn't started to wilt in 2 or 3 days, enough of the vessels that transport fluids up and down the stem must still be undamaged so the plant can function.

In the long term as it grows more, it will probably be weaker than undamaged plants, but in general plants don't "instantly die" because of minor damage.

Even if the stem had completely broken off, the plant would probably grow again from buds below the break or from the root, but that might not be much use to you if you want a good crop of tomatoes from it.

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  • Thanks! Wanted to know if the broken part will fix again
    – Jeff
    Commented Jan 12, 2019 at 11:20
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    In my experience with tomatoes, the plant will callous over the broken part of the stem over time but will not heal in the sense that the break will be replaced by healthy stem. I find your solution of taping the stem back together interesting - my gut tells me that it could actually make things worse because you're risking rot, but it also tells me that it may act like a graft and work well. I'd like to know which happens :) Good luck!
    – Jurp
    Commented Jan 12, 2019 at 15:29
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    I'd get that tape off there, and replace with 1" strips of worn cloth, such as an old shirt. Lord only knows what chemicals are in tape nowadays. Sometimes a break heals, sometimes not. Yours looks pretty good.
    – Wayfaring Stranger
    Commented Jan 12, 2019 at 17:20

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