I'm wanting to save some Tomato seeds from the garden this year. Whats the easiest or best way to do this Thanks
Saving Seeds
- Thread starter chimneyman
- Start date
Wobblyshot1
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2010
- Messages
- 3,513
All you need to do is select a good tomato. Two or three might be better.
Allow them to ripen fully and then sqeeze the pulp, juice and seeds into some kind of container. Will be just a tomato slurry after you do this. I usually use a pint canning jar and then cover it with a coffee filter and rubber band to hold it in place. This will keep the flies out which will prevent maggots in your slurry.
It needs to ferment for a week or so in the jar. The reason for doing this is to break down the gel coating on the ripe tomato seeds. Failure to do this will result in low germination.
After this fermitation process you just go to your water tap and add water. Swirl it around and you'll notice the seeds will go to the bottom of your jar. Carefully pour the liquid off leaving seeds on the bottom. Repeat this step until all you have is clear water and seed.
I then carefully pour the seeds off onto the paper coffee filter allowing them to throughly dry. In the past, I've just fold them up in that same filter, labeled them and put the in a cool dry place till next spring.
Allow them to ripen fully and then sqeeze the pulp, juice and seeds into some kind of container. Will be just a tomato slurry after you do this. I usually use a pint canning jar and then cover it with a coffee filter and rubber band to hold it in place. This will keep the flies out which will prevent maggots in your slurry.
It needs to ferment for a week or so in the jar. The reason for doing this is to break down the gel coating on the ripe tomato seeds. Failure to do this will result in low germination.
After this fermitation process you just go to your water tap and add water. Swirl it around and you'll notice the seeds will go to the bottom of your jar. Carefully pour the liquid off leaving seeds on the bottom. Repeat this step until all you have is clear water and seed.
I then carefully pour the seeds off onto the paper coffee filter allowing them to throughly dry. In the past, I've just fold them up in that same filter, labeled them and put the in a cool dry place till next spring.
catman529
Well-Known Member
I do it similar to wobblyshot. But I only scoop out the seed gel and add a little water so it doesn't dry up from evaporation. Then after a good layer of mold has developed on the surface, I pour the whole thing into a strainer, run water over the seeds while picking out pieces of tomato, till I just have seeds left, then spread onto a paper plant and let dry completely before packaging.
