Put them into a sieve, add a few shakes of ajax powdered cleanser and then scrub/rub them with the bulb from a turkey basster, rubbing them well against the sieve.

Rinse them well, pour into a glass of water and pour off the seed gel and coats, the good seeds should remain at the bottom of the glass. You can repeat the treatment again if you need to. The ajax powdered cleanser does have clorine in it so that will do a lot to kill most of the pathogens on the exterior of the seeds, just like fermentation would.

After the seeds are clean knock them out onto a paper plate, spread them thin to one layer, and set the plate on top of the books in a bookshelf where they can dry for about a week or so. I like the bookshelf because I have cats--otherwise, if they found a plate of seeds they would lay down on it.

T

I suppose there's no harm in reminding new members to read the FAQ's (such as for the Seed Saving & Tomato Forums) before posting a question? ;-)

Trudi, I can't help noticing that you recommend the _fermentation method_ in the Seed Saving FAQ's - and I agree with that post. While fermentation takes longer, it improves germination & is safer than using chlorine products. I am _not_ saying that the cleanser method doesn't work (not having tried it), only that fermentation has a proven track record.

Ranjana, there are several existing FAQ's on this issue, and some very good threads (one of them is linked below). A GW search will show you many more. You will note that there is considerable disagreement, between those devoted to various schools of thought.

Personally, I recommend the fermentation process; it is fairly fool-proof, and has become the standard for tomato seed saving. It does, however, require a fairly large amount of seed & juice to be effective. If you are saving only very small quantities & do not intend to share your seed, other methods may be more appropriate for you.

To the methods listed under the FAQ's for cleaning your seeds, I recommend adding your blender as the last step. It will remove any clinging debris (or chlorine, if using the cleanser method), and may be all that is necessary if you want to clean, say, one tomato's worth of seed.

Place the seeds in the blender, and fill with water. Use your lowest speed; the tomato seeds are small & hard, and most will not be harmed. Pulse briefly several times (longer if processing a whole tomato). Then allow to settle for a few seconds; the good seeds will sink to the bottom. Pour off the water slowly - most of the bad seeds & debris will follow the water, while the good seeds remain in the bottom. If the solution is thick, pour off a little water, refill to top, and stir; otherwise, some good seeds may be lost. Add water & repeat the process until the seeds are clean, then pour through a fine-mesh strainer.

There are also many drying methods; I drain as much water as possible from the strainer with a paper towel, then pour the seeds out onto a tray lined with newspaper. Spread the seeds out with your fingers, and continue moving them around until they no longer stick together (if you have a ceiling fan, I have found it to be very helpful in accelerating this process). Then remove them from the newspaper, and place on a hard surface or screen to finish drying.

If you have forced-air heat, the dry winter air indoors should remove enough moisture to allow long-term storage. Package your seed in mid-Winter, and store away from heat, light, and moisture.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato seed fermentation

AFIK, fermentation doesn't improve germination.

I agree that fermentation does not necessarily improve tomato seed germination. Before knowing about that method for cleaning, I simply dried the seeds with their clinging pulp, gave them a 10 minute dip in a 1:10 dilution of a hypochlorite bleach, and then redried them for room temperature storage: it's hard to improve on the 100% germination I got. Maybe the need for fermentation depends on the variety; mine were Abraham Lincoln's and an unknown orange tomato from a local market.