tomato seed saving

[yardfarmer]

Greetings gardeners, chronic lurker yardfarmer here to ask a question.

How ripe should a tomato be to pick and save the seeds?

We are having a very good season for tomatoes , two of the fruits are ripe, which is very early for this part of Or, so I want to save the seed from one of these. They are open pollinated, don't have a name since the seed was given to me and I didn't ask.

I've grown maters for close to thirty years and never saved a seed. With this plant producing a ripe tomato in late July it should be given a chance to see what happens next year.

By the way, I lurk because I work. Don't do much internet at work; but have logged in a few times, it is frowned upon to internet at work. DW works later than I so I get to prepare evening meals at home more often, and don't go online much.

Thanks...

 

[NwMtGardener]

We dont mind if you lurk, as long as you dont laugh at us! Haha, just teasing. I havent done much tomato seed saving, but its my understanding that you just want them ripe, not green. So if you'd eat it now, i'd feel comfortable saving the seed. Have you read about the "fermenting" technique of putting the seeds and pulp in some water, and leaving it for a while? I have some campari seeds on my windowsill right now fermenting, i heard a lot of good things on these Campari tomatoes, and that people have successfully grown them from seed, so when i saw some at the store i decided to try it. Just do a search on the forum, or google, for more info on the fermenting technique. This is the first i've tried it, and its only been a few days, so i dont have a lot of info for you. But congrats on ripe tomatoes this early, awesome!

 

[Ridgerunner]

The way I save tomato seed is to let the tomato get fully ripe, then put the seeds on a paper towel and let it dry. That's the same way Dad did it many decades ago, except he put them on newspaper. I never heard of the fermenting technique until I came on this forum. If you let the tomato get really ripe, I guess it ferments inside the tomato.

After it dries out really well, I rake the seeds one at a time off the paper towel and put them inside a glass jar with a tight lid. I want them to be in an airtight place. They need to stay in the dark too. Then keep it at normal temperatures avoiding heat especially until you are ready to start them. With that gel they will be glued to the paper towel when they dry. I don't worry at all if a bit of paper towel sticks to the seed. It won't hurt it.

 

[wsmoak]

I wanted to save tomato this year and so consulted the oracle (Google) for the correct method. Ew, I have to put the pulp and seeds in a jar with a little water and let it mold?!

Okay, I did that. Yuck. I must have left it too long because what I finally rescued from that mess didn't really resemble tomato seeds. Wrong color, some had started to sprout...

All that went in the trash and I tried again: I put the pulp and seeds in a mesh strainer and I rubbed them around under running water to get rid of the pulp and the gel coating on the seeds. Then I spread them on a paper towel to dry.

It worked -- I got 100% germination (6 of 6) a few weeks ago when I started some to go into the greenhouse for late fall tomatoes.

-Wendy

 

[so lucky]

What is the advantage of fermenting the seeds?

 

[digitS']

I do it just as RidgeRunner does. Last year, I fully intended to use paper plates instead of paper towels and forgot . I just think it would be easier to unstick the seeds. Once again this past March, I was sowing tomato seeds with paper towel fiber stuck to them. However, it didn't seem to interfere with the sprouting . . .

The purpose of the fermenting, as best as I understand it, is to get the gel off them. Rinsed in water, they should come out as clean as a whistle! I know that some seed-savers use bleach water on the seeds as part of the rinsing.



This is a fairly arid climate and seed on the shelves in the basement seem to do just fine. I've yet to find mold on stored seed. Messy and stuck to paper - they do what they are supposed to do for me.

Steve

 

[Smiles Jr.]

Since I use so much heirloom stuff I learned to ferment my tomato seeds long ago. The fermentation is supposed to simulate nature when the seed falls to the ground and the tomato flesh rots. It somehow changes the chemical makeup of the seed to survive the winter better. When I do my viability tests in the late winter I usually get around 90% germination which to me is great.

I have three old aluminum window screens that I use for drying my seeds and it totally eliminates the paper towel problems. I pour the yukky water and seeds on the screen and spray water from a pump sprayer to rinse. It's important to rinse thoroughly. Then I set the screens up on bricks on a workbench in the barn and direct a small electric fan on them. In 24 hours my seeds are very dry and ready to go into marked envelopes. All of my envelopes go into an "old yard sale piece of junk" steel toolbox to keep the mice out. The box goes on a shelf in the barn where it is allowed to freeze and thaw over the winter. To me the freeze/thaw thing is important.

 

[yardfarmer]

Thanks for the responses, much appreciated. Thetomato feels a liitle mushy so it will be picked real soon. I will look into the fermenting process, perhaps there will be enough seeds to do both methods.

NwMtGardener; I won't laugh at anybody unless the're funny. By the way I was born in NW Montana in the small town of Libby, ever been there? We went back to Libby for the logger days last year, but missed it this year.

 

[catjac1975]

I saved blue tomato seeds last year for the first time, though I have saved many types of flower seeds. I did not protect the flowers from cross pollination so I did not know what I would get. They are beginning to ripen and look the same as last year. I took several very ripe tomatoes, squeezed the seeds onto several layers of paper towels, and left them in a sunny window sill to dry. I waited several weeks for them to dry, then peeled them off of the paper towel. I stored them in a dry place, in an envelope. When I planted them I over planted them. I got plenty of seedlings, but frankly don't recall if it was a high germination rate. I know it was plenty for me.

 

[Kassaundra]

I have been fermenting the seed as well and drying on a paper towel. Those that are drying on paper towel why is it you are taking them off??? I just fold it over on itself to form a pkt, the seeds stick to the towel great and stay put, I label the outside of the towel once dry and store the seeds like that