Not all varieties ferment seeds the same for it depends on the bacteria and fungi, primarily, that fall into the glop as to what the end products are and also depends on the pH of the tomato innards you started the fermention with. And is also highly dependent on WHERE you did the fermentaions b'c high heat has been known to actually cook the seeds making them non-viable

So it could be that the CP seeds were overfermented, but you'd know that, I think, b'c they would be brown to almost black/ And it could be any of the variables I mentioned above.

Speaking, or shall I say writing, ahem, to just the variety you mention, I've never had problems fermenting Cherokee Purple nor its variant Indian Stripe.

Carolyn

But what jumps out at me in your post is "let them ferment for several days". Define "several" as I would never ferment any seeds for several days. More than 1 or 2 is not needed and potentially lethal.

But that would have affected all your seeds not just one variety unless, as Carolyn said, the bacterial count was especially high in that variety.

Dave

One good thong to look for in the fermentation container, I use clear plastic deli-containers, is the appearance of bubbles along the walls of the container. And for sure there has to be a well devloped fungal mat or the fermentation is usually useless.

Carolyn

Tom

Originally, my process had simply been to pick seeds out of a saved tomato , spread them on wax paper, and dry them on a sunny window sill. Seeds had lots of dried gluckie on them, I had a lot of disease carryover, and my germination percentage was maybe 50 to 75%.

Now I have gone to fermentation and have kinda put together a simple repetitive process that works very well for me.

I think good seed saving starts with selection of a healthy looking regular fruit THAT TASTES GOOD! Others have commented on when and where to select the fruit from the plant but I confess I've never got the hang of this.

Every now and then I'll select a tomato for seed that I find later to be "off taste" or poorly pollinated, or diseased when I slice him up to eat and save seeds. So I just have learned to pitch any with questionable looks or taste and select another.

I just use open top small glass jars to ferment in. I wash the seed saved in a small coffee strainer while flushing with running sink water and rub with my fingers. Into the small labeled jar the seed goes with name and start date prominently displayed. I try to reprocess after 5 days. Our lake tap water is very low in chlorination-if I can smell it I'll use rain water and that does work best anyway when I can collect it fresh. I do the fermentation in the airconditioned house--not outside in the sun, and about an inch to 1 1/2" of water is all that is needed. After fermentation the seed is again run into the coffee strainer, held under running tap water and lightly rubbed,
then spread out on labeled and dated wax paper--not plastic or saran--waxed paper releases the dried seed nicely. I find my seed dry enough after a few days on the waxed paper that I can then transfer it easily to a small
clean labeled metal container like a dog or cat food can or even the screw cap that might come with a standard spaghetti sauce jar. I have a bag of containers like these
I store year to year in a plastic bag so it's no big deal.
By going to the metal containers for full long term drying I save MUCH SPACE IN THE HOUSE FOR DRYING ROOM AND CUT DOWN ON SPILLAGE (FROM CLEANING TYPE LADIES, ETC). Secondary drying goes on till late fall/early winter. Then I pack into labeled plastic coin envelopes, and the seeds go into
my freezer.

Extra dry seeds stored in the freezer will hold at up to 75% germination for 5 years minimum and up to 10 or more years at maybe 50% germination. The small coin bags are stored in larger ziplock plastic freezer bags marked appropriately as REDS, PINKS AND PURPLES, YELLOWS, ETC. I think the large ziplock freezer bags tend to stabilize
moisture content at a low and more constant level--anyway it works.

I know this message is a bit long and may not be of specific interest to many but I hope some will get a few ideas to help with setting up a good consistent practice.
Anyway I had a little time this morning.