Saving tomato seeds

[Sue]

Can anyone supply details of how to please.

I've been given an un-named plant by an elderly gardener who used to travel the world with his job and collected the seed a few years back.

This is a cordon variety that only sets trusses down 1 side of the stem, so you turn that side into the greenhouse once it starts flowering. If you keep it well watered and feed twice weekly, the trusses then continue to grow producing more and more fruit and you can eventually get 50 tomatoes per truss (allegedly!)

Anyway it's looking promising so far and if it is as good as it sounds, I want to keep some seed for next year. If anyone's interested I'll try and save some extra to send to you as well - I'll let you know how is goes and how the tomatoes actually taste in due course.

Sue

[sandersj89]

Not tried it myself but have heard good reports of this method.

http://www.seedfest.co.uk/tips/tomatoes_seedsaving.html

Jerry

[Tigger]

I had some Sicillian tomatoes last year (grown from seed brought back the year before) and kept the seed to use this year. As the plants are growing well and fruit is setting, I'll risk passing on the process.

Choose a few ripe tomatoes. Scrape out the seeds and put them in a fine sieve. Wash well. Lay out sheets of kitchen towel and space out the seeds, individually, on the paper. Make sure there's a little space around each seed.

Let the paper dry thoroughly, then fold it up and store in an air tight jar, preferably with a sealed lid. Store in a dry, dark place.

Next year, lay the sheets of kitchen towel onto trays of moist compost, or cut the paper up around each seed and sow in the usual manner - paper and all. I did both this year and they were both successful.

If you've got any spare seed, I'd love some.

[tricia]

Hi Tigger - that's how I save seeds too. Never had any problem, be it with pumpkin, squash, tomato, capsicum (peppers) or chilli seeds.

[Carole B.]

There's a trick you can use to remove the slime from around the seed and that's to put the scooped out seeds in a jam jar with a little water and leave it for just 3 days,it will start to go mouldy,then wash in a sieve and lay out to dry either on paper (which they will stick to)or on a saucer or plastic lid.When dried right out store somewhere cool and dry for the winter,I use 35mm film pots which seal down tightly,ask at Jessops or any film developer and they will usually save some for you if you're digital!
The slime is there to stop the seeds germinating inside the tomato and can inhibit germination if left on the seed.I used the above method last year and had superb germination this spring,much better than bought seed,which explains why I have 2 big beds of tomatoes instead of 1 this year!

[Sue]

Just an update to say the mega-tom was a great success. We got 7 trusses of cherry tomatoes before the plant hit the greenhouse roof and I stopped it and they did all form on the same side of the stem. Each truss was about 18 inches long and produced loads of fruit. I think the 50 per truss was a bit optimistic - we got 20 to 30. Nice sweet but acid cherry tom taste and toms about the size of Gardeners Delight.

I'm currently fermenting the seeds as per the web site Gerry recommended so if anyone else wants a few to try next year, please shout.

I've also got some original Blue Lake climbing french beans from the same man. They were grown and saved by a woman he knew for around 50 years and are not the same as those sold now. Nice plants with purple stems and the leaves open purple, then go green. Loads of yield with no extra watering at all. Again, have got a seed crop ripening so can supply a few to anyone who is interested.


Sue

[retropants]

Hi there Sue,
Those toms sound fab, and the beans sound lovely too, purple leaves and stems? My favourite colour!!! If I may be so cheeky as to ask for a few of each for next year? That would be fab. Shall I pm you?
very many thanks in advance from a very cheeky retropants!

[Tigger]

Can you add me to your seed recipient list please. Happy to swap for something you would like.

[Sue]

Hi Tigger and Retroplants. Chantal has already pm-ed her address to me to nab some beans, so please do and I'll post the seeds as soon as they are ready.

I'd be in the market for chilli seeds or beans you grow for drying if there any swappsies going.

The old lady who saved the beans for so long was apparently very anxious they didn't just fade out of existance when she was gone, so the more the merrier

Sue

[Sue]

Attention Retropants, Chantal & Tigger - your seeds are on their way to you - enjoy

Anyone else want some? If so, pm your address to me.

Sue

[Chantal]

Thank you Sue

[Tigger]

Thankyou Sue. That's very kind of you.

[Allan]

I don't wash the 'slime' off my tomato seeds, just spread them out to dry in the kitchen towel and they grow all right.
Allan

[Sue]

I am by nature totally with you on that one Allan

I did wonder about being lazy, but I thought as I was offering seeds to the other forum users I had better do it properly

The website I was recommended to consult said the slime contains hormones which inhibit seed germination, so you get better results if you soak it off. Next year however, I shall go back to my idle ways and try saving the seeds without the jar of fermenting guck stage. You get so many, its not that much of an issue if some don't come up.

Sue

[Johnboy]

Hi Carole,
I decided to do a comparison experiment and took the seeds of one of my Gardeners Delight and washed a few as you suggested and dried a few off by simply placing on kitchen paper.
I then selected 6 seeds from both categories and placed them between moistened kitchen paper and put them on the mantle shelf above the boiler.
I can now tell you that at 10pm last night one of each were to be said on the move and by 5am this morning all 12 had germinated, that's 6 of each.
I appreciate that one Swallow doesn't make a summer but it looks like there is no difference in germination times.
Perhaps somebody else might like to try as a comparison.
JB.