People seem to have a lot of luck growing out campari seeds from storebought tomatoes. It's possible you'll get a hybridized parent plant though. I'd bet you'll be successful if heat doesn't do it in.

I'm growing a campari and it seems to hold up to heat rather well. If it gets too hot for it to produce tomatoes in mid-summer, you'll still have the fall.

I've grown Campari from seed and got a tomato much like the original. But grow4free's correct: there's a possibility the parent plant was crossed with pollen from another variety.

Yes, it's absolutely not too late to start seeds now and get tomatoes this summer (assuming the weather's not so hot that it prevents pollination). The hybrid Campari is considered "mid-season," and chances are that your plants will be also.

Supposedly if you pick Camparis too early, they have that little bit of white core, so you may have to experiment to learn when to pick them so as to have the least white core.

When you say "garden mix soil," I hope you mean a "mix" rather than anything that uses the word "soil." Dirt (whether from the ground or out of a bag) is bad for plants in containers; it doesn't provide good drainage. So make sure you use something with a name like "seed starting mix" or "potting mix." Ideally it shouldn't contain any fertilizer.

Thanks for the responses!

How are you all having the seeds germinate? Do campari seeds germinate by putting them in the small containers with potting soil and water in depth about 3 times their size ? Any special needs for them? ferment? dry and wait one year? etc

In the winter, do you bring them indoors or grow plants each spring time? Do they survive below 50 degrees?

thanks!

Yes, I start them in styrofoam cup I pick up off the ground. Then I advance to a 44oz cup from the convenience stores that I pick up off the ground. Then I put it in its final pot or in the ground. I just give it a little water every day.

As for the seeds, there is nothing special. You can stick them right into the ground from out of the tomato although it is probably better to let them dry. Fermenting is not necessary unless you want to get fancy.

You can grow them in winter if you are so inclined if you bring them indoors and have enough light. Most people just grow in the spring and keep them around until the cold kills them off or the heat in the summer.

No special needs except for a little fertilizer every now and again. That can be fertilizer you buy at the store. Compost tea you brew up with a bag of compost or composted manure. If you want to get cheap and really radical and give them a top-notch fertilizer, you can even use your own pee if you dilute it down to 10% or so.

Comparis can get really big so you will need a big pot to grow it in. At least a 5-gallon bucket.