Sowing seeds from fresh tomatoes

[Primrose]

Last year I came across a lovely bright orange tomato in a market stall and kicked myself for not buying any at the time to save for seed. They've now reappeared. I still don't know what variety they are but I've bought some and want to sow some seed from them.

I know it's getting a little late for sowing tomato seed so can I speed up the process by simply squeezing some seeds out onto compost in the hope that they will germinate, or do they have to be dried first? Tomatoes often self seed in my beds & compost heap, but I'm unsure how long their "transmogification" process has taken before this happens.

[alan refail]

Hi Primrose
Give 'em a good wash and sow now.

[FelixLeiter]

The gel which surrounds tomato seeds in the fruit tends to inhibit germination. This is removed by digestion when the tomato is eaten, or (more conveniently for the gardener) left to decompose. Squeeze out the seeds and pulp from your tomatoes into a jam jar or similar, add half again of water, stir and then leave this mess to ferment for several days. A nice scum rises to the surface, after which time the healthy seeds will have sunk. Remove the scum, poor off the water and dry the seeds out on a cloth or kitchen towel. Sow the seeds straight away and they should germinate well.

There is a risk, when saving seeds from shop-bought fruit, that they are of F1 hybrid origin. That is, if you raise plants from these they may throw mongrel offspring. Most commercial tomato varieties are F1 hybrids, I should warn you.

[alan refail]

Morning Primrose

What Felix advises is good for saving lots of seed for later sowing. But if I wanted to get sowing immediately, as you do, I'd just wash the gel off the seeds and sow fairly shallow straight away. Every summer ripe fruits drop under my plants and germinate very quickly in the heat and damp (without any washing and sowing help from me).

What Felix says about F1 hybrids often does not apply to solanaceae such as tomatoes and peppers. Over the years I have been growing Sungold F1 almost all the self-seeded plants have produced true to type. Some years ago I saved seed from one of those four inch long orange peppers you sometimes see in supermarkets. This is almost certainly an F1, but it always comes out as four inch long orange peppers. I save seed from some every couple of years to keep the (unknown) variety going.

Best wishes and best of luck
Alan

[Johnboy]

Hi Primrose,
To get rid of the gel around Tomato seeds you can rub the seeds around the inside of a fine kitchen sieve and just keep doing this under a running tap. You will not harm the seed by doing this as I have been practicing this method for donkeys years with exceedingly good results.
You will easily know when the gel has been cleared.
JB.

[Primrose]

Thanks for all your advice. I'll be trying the quick washing and sieving technique this morning and will keep my fingers crossed for some spectacularly red, yellow and orange mixed tomato salads later in the summer.

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Primrose, you might never know if we get early blight, they might all be harvested whilst still green.

[Johnboy]

Hi OH,
It's being so cheerful that keeps you going!
JB.

[Primrose]

Just to report that I've washed, sieved and sown the seeds and they're already peeping through.

As I've used a fresh bag of compost for these, although they're rather late, I'm hoping I won't have the same "stunted, blue shaded" tinge that I've got with my other tomato seedlings.

[alan refail]

Hi Primrose

Glad to read of your success

Isn't it amazing how quickly tomatos germinate at the right time for them and not when we're trying to push them early in the season?

[Primrose]

Yes, and the ironic thing is that some of them are not much further behind than my current "retarded" ones which I sowed back in mid April.

[alan refail]

Some years ago I saved seed from one of those four inch long orange peppers you sometimes see in supermarkets. This is almost certainly an F1, but it always comes out as four inch long orange peppers. I save seed from some every couple of years to keep the (unknown) variety going.

IMG_0113.JPG (24.9 KiB) Viewed 6673 times

Here's a dozen from this year's crop. Not quite as pointy as the supermarket original, but very consistent - and very orange.

[Johnboy]

Good morning Alan,
A very nice selection of peppers and although they may not be quite the same as the original I bet they taste just as good.
I think this coming year we should all have a crack at growing things from
the supermarket shelves that we actually like.
There is a tomato called Aranca and I want to see just how they turn out because they have a very particular flavour which is much to my liking so I shall grow a few plants and see what happens.
My travels this year has meant really a year off from growing anything other than the standard things and as I hope this coming year to be far less hectic than the last two years I will get to doing some serious growing again.
JB.

[Urban Fox]

[quote]I think this coming year we should all have a crack at growing things from
the supermarket shelves that we actually like. [/quote]

My favourite tomatoes from the supermarket have been Piccolo and Red Choice. I thought it wasn't worth saving seed as they were bound to be F1 varieties.

But after reading this thread -- what the heck I think I'll give it a go next year.

[Tony Hague]

I have brought back seeds out of a couple of tomatoes bought at the market in Quimper, Brittany; one looks like Orange Russian 117, the other is a long pointed paste type that I can't quite identify. I'll be trying them next year.