saving seeds

[tracie]

I have sungold toms at the moment growing well. I usually buy plants because mine always go leggy, but next year I am going to try again. The seeds are expensive to buy. Does anybody know the best way to dry and save your own tomato seeds and what sort on germination rate do you get.

Thanks


Tracie

[Johnboy]

Hi Tracie,
Sungold is an F1 Hybrid. The seeds from your crop will not breed true so nothing would be gained by saving them. The reason for the high price is because they are F1 Hybrids. There are several yellow/orange coloured tomatoes on the market which may be just as good that are not F1's and you could then save the seeds so try growing a few other varieties next year to see if there are any you would like.
JB.

[alan refail]

Tracie

As Johnboy says, you will not get Sungold from saved seed. Unfortunately other orange/yellow varieties will probably not be a patch on Sungold for flavour.

My suggestion is this: do your sums.

I too hate the thought of "expensive" seeds. But are Sungold seeds really all that expensive (they must be cheaper than buying plants)?

I buy 10 Sungold seeds for £1.50
That makes 15pence per plant
Suppose I get 2 kilos per plant from July to November
That makes tomatoes 7.5 pence a kilo
A Bargain!

Try the calculation on my favourite cooking tomato San Marzano for which I bought 300 seeds for £1.49, and you have a real bargain.

Alan

[Chantal]

I'm growing Sungold again this year (my favourite cherry tomato) and they went very leggy because of the heat in April.

I let the side shoots grow to around 4" and then cut them off, stuck them in pots and now have a batch of beautiful 8" high clones of the original.

I've kept the original plants too and have lots of free plants.

[Johnboy]

Hi Chantal,
Well done that girl! That's what is called good plantswomanship!
There is a tomato Aranca on sale in the supermarkets at present which as far as I can tell is kept growing as it's means of propagation. There is nowhere to buy seeds as far as I can find. The offshoots of the plants are grafted onto rootstocks and grown that way?
Aranca is the best tomato for taste that I have ever bought from a supermarket. I bought two lots grown in UK bearing the Union Jack but the third lot were grown in Holland. I buy tomatoes from a supermarket at least one, if not, two weeks before eating and at least these do ripen.
Alan,
I do not see that what you have said about yellow/orange tomatoes that are open pollinated is necessarily correct. Sun Baby is exceedingly sweet and in fact too sweet for my taste. I was given a couple of plants a year or so back.
This is what Nicky's seed say about it:
One of the best yellow tomatoes to be bred for flavour. Being thin skinned it produces high yields of cherry-sized tomatoes for outdoor or cold glass production. Indeterminate (cordon). Tasty cherry bite sized fruits.
Still rather expensive at £2.30 for 25 seeds but if people manage to like them then it could be £2.30 divided by the rest of their life!!
Quite a bargain
JB.

[tracie]

thanks for all your help, I have tried plands from side shoots before and was dissapointed in the crop. I did not get as many toms as I did from seed by a long way.

think I will have to look out to see if I can get some cheap seeds.

Regards

Tracie

[alan refail]

Maybe time to revive this ancient thread.

For the third consecutive year I have grown on a self-seeded Sungold plant which appeared in the polytunnel border. This year I potted on a seedling which appeared where the Sungold were last year and planted it with the other tomatoes. As in the previous two years it has produced perfect orange Sungold fruits, and is a much sturdier and more productive plant that the ones I sowed at the beginning of March.

I shall save seed from it and hope to get good Sungold next year.

[Nature's Babe]

Sounds like you have a non F1 replicable sungold Alan, lucky you. I tried sungold this year, but found it too sweet for my taste. I like a more tomatoey sweet sour balance.my sungold have been cropping well, but the skins split easily when picked if i let them get a little too ripe.

[Nature's Babe]

If you want cheap seeds Tracie some places like my local supermarket sell them half price at the end of the season, they are usually fine for the next year.

[alan refail]

Sounds like you have a non F1 replicable sungold Alan, lucky you.

Now you have me foxed! Could you explain?

[adam-alexander]

Hi Tracie,

Information on saving seeds in general have a look at this website:

http://www.realseeds.co.uk/seedsavinginfo.html

These people sell a wide range of heritage seeds too

[Nature's Babe]

Hi Alan. Well if its sungold FI, and it seeded itself if it is coming up pretty much the same each year instead of variations of the F1 parent genes another couple of years reproducing the same plant it should be pretty stable, especially as you said it was sturdier and more productive than the original ? Seems like you have a winner there, that was my reasoning ...perhaps I misunderstood you?

[alan refail]

Hi Alan. Well if its sungold FI, and it seeded itself if it is coming up pretty much the same each year instead of variations of the F1 parent genes another couple of years reproducing the same plant it should be pretty stable, especially as you said it was sturdier and more productive than the original ? Seems like you have a winner there, that was my reasoning ...perhaps I misunderstood you?

NB

It seems I am misleading you. I was referring to three separate plants in three separate (and consecutive) years, which self-seeded. Each time I have let one grow on it has produced perfect Sungold fruit. I intend to save some seed from this year's self-seeder and see what I get. Sod's law suggests it won't work - but, nothing ventured...

I was merely asking for clarification on your phrase "non F1 replicable sungold", which is a term I have not encountered before, though I think I see what you mean now.

Having grown Sungold for many years now and experienced the problems you mention, may I suggest my trick for tasty, unsplit fruit?

a) Don't overwater
b) Let plenty of sideshoots grow on without stopping
c) Pick while somewhat underripe and eat after a day or two

[Nature's Babe]

Yes, I have learned to pick them slightly underipe, it does help, this year they are in large pots, next year I will plant in the border which will help to even out the watering, during the drought despite shading the sun dried them out pretty quickly. Other varieties didn't split but they did. I did pick off the sideshoots as one does, will try letting the side shoots grow next time.

[PLUMPUDDING]

Knowing it is an F1 I saved a few seeds, thinking that it must have come from a good flavoured cross anyway. The resulting plants have been more of an orangey red, but have a very good flavour, so it is worth a try. Just don't expect an exact replica, but enjoy what you get. You may be lucky like Alan.

I too think the Sungold taste better before they get too ripe when they still have a bit of tang to them.