Seed Saving.

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

Tomatoes.

Take an over-ripe tomato, and squeeze the pips and "embryonic sacs (OS) " into a plastic container, and leave for several days until the soup has a mass of fungus growing in and through it.

the mould serves the purpose of breaking down the embryonic sacs, and destroying bacterial diseases.

Then fill the container with water, and swish is around, washing of the remains of the OS etc.

The bad seeds will float to the top and the good seeds will sink to the bottom. The last thing you need is to be trying to get lousy seed to germinate.

Toss out the bad seed, rinse again, then dry thoroughly, either on kitchen towelling or on mesh in a dehydrator on the lowest setting.

[Wonder-Full]

Thanks for that MT. I was wanting to do a bit of seed saving this year and tomatoes sound a nice way to start.

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

Well, hello. I just saved some seed using what I put up... and drat it, they sprouted. So much for Kay Baxter from Koanga Gardens :D

[Seaweed]

:giggle:She can be a bit flowery at times. Seed to Seed says the same thing if that is any consolation. Did you leave them in the water too long or was it too humid where you left them afterwards? Mine have never sprouted but I will take that back as I need to save a fair bit of tomato seed this year & I don't want to tempt fate!

[3monkeys]

Guess what I am going to do with my next squishy tomato!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you.

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

They sprouted at the same time as the fungus was growing which took three days. When I washed the fungus and remnants off there were these 1.5 mm little roots, and the seeds were fat and round... sigh.

[Seaweed]

Maybe there is a fine line between it being fermented enuf & germinating again? Could it even be linked to length of light as it is still early to be saving seed?

[waiting]

This year I do want to save seeds from my tomatoes, and I'm glad you all will have the science figured out by then. :D There are advantages to it being winter right now!

but, how does one make sure tomato seeds are pure? If I grow several varieties of tomato should they be kept a certain distance apart, or do I do a brown paper baggy thing with hand pollination or do I not worry about it?

MT - sorry about your sprouts. :(

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

I'm going to be relying on the fact that they will be time staggered to keep the seed okay, but even then, if there is some cross breeding, I'm not going to get too upset about it. You never know, it might prove to be better than the original.

The Capri tomatoes are like nothing I've ever eaten before. It's unfair to compare them with ordinary tomatoes, because your acid is what gives you the flavour burst. The Capri are non acid, and the flavour is so subtle. The flesh is firm, and the taste, is so gentle. My husband keeps saying that they are almost another species apart from tomatoes.

The Roma you could consider tasteless, but they cook into relish and paste so beautifully. I've not had any sorendino or blekli yet, so I can't say what they will be like.

Seaweed, so you think I should put the seeds in the fridge?

[3monkeys]

What about other seeds? For eg my spinach and silverbeet has gone to seed. If I leave it will it grow some more or do I need to do something special.

And another dumb question, but when do you dig up onions? After they flower?

[Seaweed]

All the seed saving literature I have read doesn't say to put them in the fridge & whenever I have done them myself, I never had. In fact I have even left them in the plastic house & they've not sprouted. I would suggest trying again. Tomatoes are supposed to be self fertile. The wild varieties like red currant will cross pollinate & some books give distances to keep tomatoes apart. General consensus is to save seed from a truss higher up the plant as those lower down are sometimes subtly different.

3monkeys silverbeet & spinach I just wait until the seed looks done. Then uproot the whole plant & hang it somewhere to dry. Take the seed off & store it in a clean dry jar out of the light. I do have a certain spot in my garden where I had some bloomsdale spinach I got from Koanga. It was pretty piddly in the first year & the horse got in the garden & trod on it & broke it when it was going to seed. I left it all be & the following year I got decent size spinach plants growing in the same spot. It has been renamed horse spinach :D I'd dig onions before they flower. Or whenever they look big enuf to eat. I know once leeks flower it is all over in the eating dept as you may as well cook onion flavoured bamboo!

[Gitti]

With onions we always stepped down the stalk and let it dry. This way it won't go to seeds. When the stalk looks try and almost gone, we took the onions out of the ground and stored them on a shelf inside the shed. They stayed there until it got too cold. We kept them in the basement into winter.