saving tomato seed

[crazii_c]

i saved my tomato seeds last year by sqeezing them onto paper towel. once it had completely dried, i just scrapped of the seeds. i was amazed by the germination results that i got from them.

[ginger ninger]

I thought I'd pop this on here to help peeps with saving tomato seeds.

How to save your own tomato seed !!

Here’s how you can save your own tomato seeds. The seeds & juice are squeezed into a jar with a little water, place the lid on & leave to ferment for 3 days (no more, no less!!). Good seeds sinks, bad seeds float’s, (and, yes, it is supposed to be mouldy & smelly), water is added & poured off several times to clean the seeds, the seeds are then rinsed in a fine mesh sieve and put on a plate to dry.

DON’T FORGET TO LABLE YOUR SEEDS.

Hope this helps!

[zazen999]

It also helps because if there are any lingering diseases, the fermentation helps to kill them off....not that you should save from diseased tomatoes anyway but that's not the point!

[Bren In Pots]

My seeds have started to germinate they've only been in the jar since Thursday so I'll be starting some more off today.

[womble]

It also helps because if there are any lingering diseases, the fermentation helps to kill them off....not that you should save from diseased tomatoes anyway but that's not the point!

I didn't know that, but as you say, I wouldn't save seeds from problem plants anyway.
Interesting though!

[Ruud]

can u save hybrid seeds?

[ragtag]

can u save hybrid seeds?

Who is to stop you?
Seriously, F1 hybrids do not breed true to type, you do not know what you will get. It could be any of the throwbacks in the breeding line before they arrived at the ones you bought, like a weird looking grandmother who had a lovely taste, or a very large or pretty one with not the good taste. I think breeding for hybrids is a complicated business.

[maytreefrannie]

I've some Gardener's Delight and some Brandywine seeds drying out now, prepared by the water method as oulined here. I've saved tomato seeds before but this is the first time I used the soaking for three days system - in fact the first time I heard about it. I found it worked well to separate the seeds.