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Saving Tomato Seeds

PtMD989

PtMD989

I didn’t want to hijack another thread about saving Pepper seeds.
What is everybody’s preferred way to save tomato seeds. I’ve only saved them on a paper towel and had good germination rates that way. I recently heard about fermenting tomato seeds, can anyone walk us through that technique?


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From "The New Seed Starters Handbook." If it's not legible, I'll transcribe it for you. I have not used the technique.
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That's pretty spot on, and how I've done it myself both at home and on a farm that processes and sells tomato seed stock. Only difference was using mason jar vs. 3 gallon bucket.  The more overripe tomatoes provide more tomato "juice" to allow fermentation, if there isn't enough juice you can use a tiny bit of water, you want the seeds just covered. To much water though and you don't get proper fermentation, cover with a paper towel or napkin to prevent fruit flies. I only stir the first day or so, then leave them to ferment and allow a fungal mat to form. Once that happens scrape the mat off, drain any liquid and rinse seeds thoroughly and allow to dry completely.
 
Do all the seeds start off floating? Then sink to the bottom as the gel coat breaks down? Or do the good seeds immediately sink to the bottom?About 99% are floating after a few hours into the process.


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Most of the seeds should sink, don't worry about them and they should be good if you have a ripe tomato.
 
I don't ferment anymore unless I'm in a rush or I'm saving seeds from multiple varieties. Fermenting is to remove the gelsac from the seed. The gelsac acts/is a sprout inhibitor to delay sprouting till next season so the plant will continue growing, it's just natures way to keep a seed from sprouting at the wrong time and keep a variety going.
 
 
You can speed up the process if you put about 2 cups of water in a bowl, dump in the seeds and whisk it a few times and you'll see the greenish gelsacs floating around. Don't worry about damaging the seeds and whisk the hell out of it. Dump out the water a few times to clean it and continue till only the seeds are left, after that just dry them like normal and they'll be good. I dry my seeds on a paper plate with a coating, not the real paper plates.
 
I still use the whisk even if I ferment, the seeds come out cleaner faster.
 
Good Luck!!!
 
What type of tomato seeds are you saving?
 
Rajun Gardener said:
 
 
I don't ferment anymore unless I'm in a rush or I'm saving seeds from multiple varieties. Fermenting is to remove the gelsac from the seed. The gelsac acts/is a sprout inhibitor to delay sprouting till next season so the plant will continue growing, it's just natures way to keep a seed from sprouting at the wrong time and keep a variety going.
 
I still use the whisk even if I ferment, the seeds come out cleaner faster.
 
 
Click to expand...
 
Definitely more benefit to it than just removing gel coat. That can be done with high pressure water or a mesh screened strainer and a spoon if people aren't concerned about it or short on time. The number one reason to ferment seeds is to remove any pathogens on the seed coat it self. Whether done via Fermenting, Bleach or Hot water treatment its good practice for disease prevention and especially for those that are involved in seed trading.
 
I do agree with that statement and it's a good point to make to inform everyone about the importance of saving good seeds.
 
I would hope that everyone has enough sense to know that a plant with disease isn't a candidate to save seeds from but I assume too much sometimes.
 
The moral to that story is "Don't save seeds from plants with disease".
 
If you're worried after using my method add 1 tsp of bleach to 1 qt of water and let them soak for 30  minutes then dry them out.
 
I know seeds can carry disease but for 99% that save seeds I would think that if your plant has something not right then just throw it out.
 
I doubt anybody that saves pepper seeds uses the heat treatment or any other method to prevent pathogens and it's not a big problem.
 
If you want to be safe goggle heat treatment method, oxyclean, tri sodium phosphate and bleach method. All work and that might give you peace of mine but always go back to "Don't save seeds from plants with disease".
 
Just my 2 cents and thanks for bringing that up NorCaliente916!
 
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