Just curious, appreciate the help.
Tomato seed saving
I did search the forum and did some reading, do you have to do the old ferment thing with saving tomato seeds. Last year I saved some from a yellow plum by just drying them out a couple did sprout, but I only saved a few - I just let them dry out. Is is bad, or is there some benefit to doing the ferment thing!
Just curious, appreciate the help.
Just curious, appreciate the help.
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dustyrivergardens
- Green Thumb
- Posts: 617
- Joined: Sat Dec 03, 2011 8:32 am
- Location: Holbrook Az. zone 5b
Do it the easy way by putting the tomato in the blender on low speed for about 10 seconds. Have the blender half filled with water warm or cold. let the seeds fall to the bottom for about 2 minutes. Pour the water out slow. The last few teaspones of water will contain the seeds. I semply pour the remaining water on to a paper plate with a sheet of paper towel. I spread the seeds out and place under a fan till they dry. I put the paper towel and seeds in a plastic bag and that is it!
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I attended Mother Earths festival at Seven Springs last year and they were talking about saving tomato seeds and said the method you mentioned was not necessary!. I think it ruins more seeds that helps them!
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I attended Mother Earths festival at Seven Springs last year and they were talking about saving tomato seeds and said the method you mentioned was not necessary!. I think it ruins more seeds that helps them!
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carolyn137
- Full Member
- Posts: 50
- Joined: Mon Oct 10, 2011 5:38 pm
- Location: upstate NY, zone 5
To be honest about it nothing needs to be done with saved tomato seeds, but there are reasons for doing something.
When I first joined SSE in 1989 I'd get seeds sent to me on paper towels, TP, you name it, but are there advantages to using other methods of saving seeds? Yes, I think there are.
There is fermentation as well as treating with oxi-clean and similar, as well as using TSP ( tri-sodium phosphate) as well as various other acid treatments but I prefer fermentation for the following reasons.
It does remove the gel capsules around the seeds which have a germination inhibitor but that doesn't affect germination when we sow seeds. it's part of the life cycle of the tomato such that when fruits fall to the ground as cold weather nears, it keeps the seeds from germinating until conditions are OK for seed germination. And for many of us that happens in the Spring and we then see those seeds giving rise to what we call volunteers.
I've sowed seeds right out of a fresh fruits with 100% germination with no problems, but this was in the Spring, inside, where conditions were excellent for sowing seeds as I do all my seeds in the Spring.
What's most important about fermentation to me is that it lessens the number of tomato pathogens from the exterior of the seed coat such that seedborne diseases are then less of a problem. Notice I said lessen, not remove entirely, but infection is a quantitative process so the fewer the pathogens on the exterior of the seed coat, the better.
To date almost all bacterial and viral pathogens are found in the endosperm of the seed so no treatment other than hot water treatment can inactivate them, and loss of seed viability is also a problem with hot water treatment. It isn't something to do at home and if you look at certain seed catalogs you'll see that there;s often an offer to do that treatment, usually large scale farmers are the ones who request it, for an increased cost.
The other consideration is that we know from the work of Dr. Helene Dillard who, when she was at the USDA plant station in Geneva, NY, had grants from either Campbell or Heinz, I can't remember which one, to study which pathogens can be found on the seed coat.
To date several of us have found no data at all for seeds processed using the 0xi-clean methods. Maybe it does help remove some exterior pathogens but there's no info to say so.
yes, doing fermentations can be messy and smelly, but almost all of my tomato friends continue to use it b'c it's natural, it helps remove pathogens from the seed coat and it does remove the gel capsules which if not done leaves the seeds sticky. So what you wind up with are nice fluffy beige seeds, the same as what you'd buy, and that's b'c most commercial seed is processed by fermentation.
Hope that helps, especially for those who trade seeds and/or list their varieties some place.
Finally, I consider fermenting seeds to be a rite of passage for almost all tomato growers.
Carolyn
When I first joined SSE in 1989 I'd get seeds sent to me on paper towels, TP, you name it, but are there advantages to using other methods of saving seeds? Yes, I think there are.
There is fermentation as well as treating with oxi-clean and similar, as well as using TSP ( tri-sodium phosphate) as well as various other acid treatments but I prefer fermentation for the following reasons.
It does remove the gel capsules around the seeds which have a germination inhibitor but that doesn't affect germination when we sow seeds. it's part of the life cycle of the tomato such that when fruits fall to the ground as cold weather nears, it keeps the seeds from germinating until conditions are OK for seed germination. And for many of us that happens in the Spring and we then see those seeds giving rise to what we call volunteers.
I've sowed seeds right out of a fresh fruits with 100% germination with no problems, but this was in the Spring, inside, where conditions were excellent for sowing seeds as I do all my seeds in the Spring.
What's most important about fermentation to me is that it lessens the number of tomato pathogens from the exterior of the seed coat such that seedborne diseases are then less of a problem. Notice I said lessen, not remove entirely, but infection is a quantitative process so the fewer the pathogens on the exterior of the seed coat, the better.
To date almost all bacterial and viral pathogens are found in the endosperm of the seed so no treatment other than hot water treatment can inactivate them, and loss of seed viability is also a problem with hot water treatment. It isn't something to do at home and if you look at certain seed catalogs you'll see that there;s often an offer to do that treatment, usually large scale farmers are the ones who request it, for an increased cost.
The other consideration is that we know from the work of Dr. Helene Dillard who, when she was at the USDA plant station in Geneva, NY, had grants from either Campbell or Heinz, I can't remember which one, to study which pathogens can be found on the seed coat.
To date several of us have found no data at all for seeds processed using the 0xi-clean methods. Maybe it does help remove some exterior pathogens but there's no info to say so.
yes, doing fermentations can be messy and smelly, but almost all of my tomato friends continue to use it b'c it's natural, it helps remove pathogens from the seed coat and it does remove the gel capsules which if not done leaves the seeds sticky. So what you wind up with are nice fluffy beige seeds, the same as what you'd buy, and that's b'c most commercial seed is processed by fermentation.
Hope that helps, especially for those who trade seeds and/or list their varieties some place.
Finally, I consider fermenting seeds to be a rite of passage for almost all tomato growers.
Carolyn
Everyone has their way of doing things and if they work do it! I just don't have the time to do things especially when I have so many seeds to save! I also like experimenting above the norm! Gardening to me is a common sense thing and new ways makes it exciting! The net has made gardening even more exciting with pictures and so many more places to get seeds!
This is why I use the fermentation method. Trust me, once you try it, you can actually SEE the difference in your seeds. It's not overly stinky or gross. Think about it like this. In nature the seeds would sit while the tomato rotted around it. Right? So you're kind of allowing the same thing to happen. Give it a shot and see what works best for you.carolyn137 wrote: What's most important about fermentation to me is that it lessens the number of tomato pathogens from the exterior of the seed coat such that seedborne diseases are then less of a problem. Notice I said lessen, not remove entirely, but infection is a quantitative process so the fewer the pathogens on the exterior of the seed coat, the better.
Carolyn