Kitchen Garden Forum

I would like to collect some seeds this year, to sow next year. As I have never tried this before,
any advice and tips would be welcome
Many thanks

Check if your variety is a heritage, or an F1. F1s will grow, but won't necessarily be the same as the fruit you have this year.

Squeeze the seeds out of a very ripe fruit from a good strong plant.
Half fill a jam jar with a lid with water and put the seeds in.
Leave them on a windowsill for a few days and shake the jar daily.
The seeds will sink to the bottom when they have lost their jelly coating.
Pour them out into a sieve and run clean water through them. (Be careful not to lose them down the drain!)
Tap them out onto a plate and leave them for a few days in a sunny place to dry out well.
Then packet them in an envelope and write on what they are and the date.
Keep in a cool, dry dark place and they will keep for a few years if you don't sow them all the first year.

The other method is to squeeze the seeds onto kitchen paper on a plate. Space them out and dry them. Store them the same as the other method. Then just tear them off with a bit of kitchen paper when you want to sow them.

I like the jam jar method best as you get nice clean seeds, and you know the seeds should all be viable if they have sunk to the bottom of the jar, as the others that won't grow float and should be thrown away.

I've done both of PPs methods and they both worked.simples..

I champion the fermentation method, the first one. The result is seeds of sparkling viability and vigour. The jelly that coats the seeds in the tomato fruits contains chemicals which inhibit germination (thus preventing the seeds from germinating within the fruit, presumably). If these are digested away, so much the better.

I should add that you can save viable seeds from unripe fruits, provided they're full sized, of course.

I did an experiment with Passiflora seeds some time ago. Their seeds are notoriously erratic germinating, sometimes taking up to three months or even longer to emerge. After fermenting the seeds, I found that every single one came up at the same time after ten days.

Dear PLUMPUDDING,

Thank you for your easy to follow instructions, tomato seeds collected and sitting in jars of water in the kitchen window as I type. More clutter to annoy my OH

I will have to give the kitcken paper method a go as well.

Hi Donedigging,
I have taken a tomato that has dropped to the greenhouse floor and left by mistake squeezed the seeds out and washed them in a sieve rubbing the seeds round the sieve under a running tap which will remove the jelly coating. This takes about 5 minutes and left to dry on top of the boiler for a few hours and then left to completely dry out for about a week at normal room temperature.
I have not had any failures using this method or trouble germinating them.
JB.

Good Morning Johnboy,

Thank you for that, I will try this out as well.
Does this method work for cucumbers as well?

( Less clutter = happier OH! )

donedigging wrote:Does this method work for cucumbers as well?

Yes

Thank you Alan