Grow tomatoes from fresh?

[thesnapman44]

Okay, so a few of us were talking recently about what we have planted right now (veggies), and the crop/s we are expecting, when suddenly, one of them started talking about growing tomatoes. A new way I have never heard of. I would like to hear people`s responses about it, have they tried it, or is it/has it been, successful?

You get a fresh tomato from the store, take a slice of it, let it completely dry out, and then plant it in soil. At this time of the year, it may grow (the seeds are in the sliced part you cut off), or apparently, it will grow for the following year. Right now, I am looking at some empty plant pots I have, and the tomatoes I have in the fridge

[valley]

Hi, Do you mean: put the dried seed into a pot and water it next year? Yep, that should work, or you can plant them next year. If you plant them in soil now you less control of their safety, they might be OK.

[PaulF]

If the seeds are in soil, either the ground or in containers, with moisture and sun, the viable seeds will germinate in a fairly short amount of time and will grow as much as possible for the rest of the growing season. When most seeds are started it will take 8-10 weeks for the seedlings to be big enough to traditionally be planted outside. Then depending on the variety, it will be another 60-80 days to maturity. You do the math from now to your average frost date to see where starting from seed now will get you.

Since almost all grocery store tomatoes are hybrids (and to my way of thinking nothing for flavor) most likely they will not be the same as what was planted. While they may be OK, unless a person has plenty of space and extra time it is not an endeavor I would try. If you have the pots and are willing to try, by all means see what you get.

[rainbowgardener]

I had never heard of this, but it does seem possible that it would work as suggested. To collect seeds from tomatoes they are usually fermented first to get the gel off. The reason for that is that the gel has growth inhibitors in it, to keep the seed from sprouting too soon. So if you are drying it and planting it with the gel on, it might not sprout until next year.

The question is will the seed survive your winter. I would mulch over the planted seed for winter protection.

But I agree with Paul about grocery store tomatoes not being a good choice. They are usually hybrids, so the plants/ fruits will not be the same and grocery store tomatoes are bred for long storage, firmness, etc not for flavor. Go to a farmer's market and get a good heirloom tomato.

[thesnapman44]

Its going to be a close call, but I am going to plant today, and see how things go. As rainbow mentioned, I will mulch them over for the winter protection, when it becomes necessary. The most interesting answer I received from rainbow and paul, was the fact that growing tomatoes this way, will result in a different tomato than what is planted. Its only going to be an experiment, so I am not really concerned about the final result., I.e, dying plant/s, lack of growth spurt etc etc. By the way, we live in western Maryland, so I am not sure of the hardness zone. Many many thanks to everyone who provided me answers to this thread.

[valley]

A worthy project. You plan start the seeds and overwinter the plants, may work where you are.
I hope you keep us up to date letting us know how it works out.
You mentioned mulching, we buried a grape vine in duff from Fir trees and after the snows had gone up came the vine.
Good luck to you.

[michelle83]

I really interested where this goes.. very interesting!

[rainbowgardener]

So did your little sprout here:

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/vi ... 46#p337146

turn out to be a tomato? What has happened since?

[Garf]

When my wife eats a supermarket tomato, she always has some gell with seeds left on the plate. I just put the gell with seeds in a pot containing soil and cover them with a little soil. Within 2 weeks, I get sprouts. The resultant tomatoes are small, but taste good.

[applestar]

Subject: Tomato from fresh?

So this is what is happening with my tomato plant that is cut from a hybrid tomato from the store, and planted.