Seeds from unripe tomato question

[Earl K]

I had 2 beautiful Campari tomato plants doing great untill 2 weeks ago.Due to an unusual freeze here in sunny florida,they froze to death.There were quite a few tomatoes not affected from the cold,some were near thier ripening point but just not quite.My question is-Can i get good growable seeds from unripe tomatoes?I want to grow more and somebody wanted seeds from those plants.Any and all advice is appreciated

[Duh_Vinci]

Earl,

Would something possibly grow out of those seeds? Possibly, I really don't think the seeds would mature enough, and may not provide a plant that is as strong as you would get from a seeds of fully developed in the mature fruit.

I have about 50 seeds of Campari saved from this year's store tomatoes (F2 seeds). Fermented and fully dried by now... So if you want more seeds to get you started again, let me know, I'll be happy to share, just let me know...

I'm definitely growing them again - long keeper and great for canning and pickling!

Regards,
D

[applestar]

If they're frozen, then I'd say there's no chance.

But if you have green perfect tomatoes, I'll tell you a little story

I kept those marble-size to maybe pecan nut size green tomatoes, along with breaking color ones and full-sized green ones, when the frost came around and it was time to strip the tomato plants. I had them in paper lined cardboard boxes, colanders, etc.

Today, I discovered another colander of tomatoes that I'd totally forgotten about. These USED TO BE the tiny hard green ones that I never expected to color up. After picking out the bad ones, I was left with some perfect little tomato raisins (Principe Borgheses) as well as Sugar Plums and the volunteer Cherries. All 1/2 to 1/3 normal size, and orange-red, some feeling much lighter than they should be.

I parboiled a handful of them, then sauteed in oil until the skins split and the tomatoes popped, and was surprised to see what looked like alfalfa sprouts when I started crushing them. Some of them had sprouted seeds inside!

So apparently, they CAN ripen from green and hard to the point of growing viable seeds. Some of them were cluster tomatoes and might have drawn the needed nutrients from their sibs. Whether these seeds are as good as the seeds in tomatoes ripened under the peak growing conditions is another question.

[Earl K]

D,thanks for the info,I was really concerned cause i knew you wanted to try to grow from the seeds of a tomato grown from the seed of a store bought?if that sounded right?I only have two that were close to ripening so they will go into the dark for a few days to see what happens. Apple,thanks for your info.they were not frozen,just a couple little ones that rotted and fell already.I guess i will wait to see what happens with them.thank you both again Earl K

[TZ -OH6]

If the green tomato has begun to turn color the seeds are fine. If you are really rushed, you can get seeds to grow from immature green tomatoes as long as the green fruits are not so hard that the seeds get cut when you slice the tomato. This info was given to me by a tomato breeder.

[Duh_Vinci]

TZ - learn something new every day! And the more I think about, those "ripe tomatoes" we buy (Campari) were probably not collected at their fully ripe stage either... So, thank for the info, good to know!

Earl, thank man, appreciated indeed, now that we know, if you could save few seeds - that would be great!

And speaking of seeds, just counted Campari seeds - I have more than I though. I have 10 little packets of 10 seeds each, so if anyone wants them, I'll be happy to share, just PM me with your address...

Also, have 10packets of 8 seeds of "Kumato", dark brown tomato, little smaller than the tennis ball fruits, good, rich flavor, saved from the store bought fruit. Very attractive little guys. Have not grown those myself yet, but will this year. Same for these, if you want some seeds, just PM me...

Some info about "Kumato" here and here

Regards,
D