Yogas
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Saving seeds - help!

My Cherokee purple tomato plant was the first to die from blight. So I decided to save some seeds from my last tomatoes. I tried two different methods:

1. I collected the seeds with their gelatinous material, added water and waited a few days for it to ferment. Then I rinsed them off and laid them on wax paper to dry.

2. I collected seeds and rinsed them in a colander and laid them on a paper towel to dry (yes, they stuck).

The fermented ones now look like they have tiny hairs all over them - is this normal, have they not dried enough?

The ones I only rinsed and placed on the paper towels have to be scraped off but they look more normal.

I assumed the fermented ones would be the best but they don't look right. Any advice or guidance?

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soil
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there fine, if your really worried you can do a germination test with a few if you have extras. but sounds like your fine.

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applestar
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For your own use, you don't even have to scrape them off the paper towels. Just pull them apart with the paper stuck on and plant. :wink:

I don't ferment but push the gel, etc. through the wire mesh strainer, then float the seeds in a bowl of water and pour off any floaters, put back in cleaned strainer to drain then dump on paper towel to dry. Much less sticking involved.

I believe there is a full set of instructions posted in the Seed Saving / Exchange Forum.

TZ -OH6
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Fuzzy is normal, some commercial seed sources, for some reason, have the fuzz removed.

garden5
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TZ -OH6 wrote:Fuzzy is normal, some commercial seed sources, for some reason, have the fuzz removed.
Most likely for marketing....people want pretty over natural :roll:. Though it could also be from the processing method as sometime I will get seed that has the fuzz.

I'm wondering if there are real advantages with fermenting rather than just rinsing.

TZ -OH6
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The few mom and pop places I have bought heirloom seeds they have all been fuzzy, but I just opened a pack of seed from a big company and they look like they have had the hair rubbed off. I expect that is much more efficient for the envelope packing machines, and possibly some of the seed sowing machines I have seen.


Fermentation has been proven to reduce some diseases, but in general it is just the easiest/cheapest way to remove the goo and get clean seeds.
I expect that gooey dried seeds would be more likely to attract insects too.

vermontkingdom
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I always ferment my heirlooms and save the seed. This year I'm growing Cherokee Purple for the first time. I had a very large over-ripe CP that I decided to save seed from. I've never saved all seed from one fruit so I thought it would fun to see how many actually are in there. It's quite amazing.

garden5
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What diseases are prevented/eliminated by fermentation? I'm starting to wonder if the anthracnose that was on the tomatoes that I saved seed from will be passed on to the next generation :shock:. I never even gave a second thought to making sure the tomatoes were disease-free when choosing which ones to save seed from.

TZ -OH6
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I wouldn't trust fermentation. Its like the rhythm method of disease prevention.

For Anthracnose, hot water seed treatment at 122°F for 25 minutes is recommended for tomato seed. But I would go ahead an give them a 15 minute soak in 10% chlorox before the hot water, before planting.

https://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/pp/resourceguide/cmp/solanaceous.php

https://www.umassvegetable.org/soil_crop_pest_mgt/disease_mgt/tomato_anthracnose.html


Were the fruits actually rotting from Anthracnose?

garden5
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Are you saying that you recommend soaking them in the Clorox solution instead of boiling them or to just do it before you boil them?

Also, for both of these treatments, are they to be done before the seed is saved or just before it is planted?

I'm starting to think I'd be better of just getting seed from a healthy tom :p :lol:.

Thanks for all your help.

Oh, and I don't know If I'd day that the fruit the seeds were saves from were totally rotted, but they were infected.



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