How to Prepare Seeds?

12 years ago

Hello all,

I've got an heirloom tomato (a Mr. Stripey) that is ripening fruit now, including one that split early on due to too much rain. Don't plan on eating that one, but it appears to have healed around the split fairly nicely, so I'm going to use it to harvest seeds from for next year. Will also be good practice for when my OSU blue produces fruit.

Found a few contradicting sources on how to harvest the seeds and prepare them for storage, so I figured I'd ask for some direct input.

Generally boils down to two approaches:

1) Open up the tomato, pick out the seeds, put on paper towel/newspaper and dry them on a windowsill for a few days. Store normally (paper envelope, cool dark place, etc).

2) Scoop the seeds and slime out, put in jar, let sit for 2-3 days until it grows mold. Use warm water to rinse out jar over and over until left with just the seeds, dry and store as above.

The reasoning for #2 was that the mold had anti-biotic properties that would protect the seeds from several diseases they could otherwise get. On one hand, I could see that making sense, as the seeds would normally be in the fruit that falls to the ground and rots anyway. On the other hand, the same could be said of any fruit or vegetable, and I've never heard of having to do that for anything else.

So, those with more first hand experience than I, how do I go about making sure I get a good harvest of seeds for next year?

Comments (4)

dickiefickle
12 years ago
"Found a few contradicting sources on how to harvest the seeds and prepare them for storage, so I figured I'd ask for some direct input. "
Probably get the same here /
#1 is good because if you use paper towel the seeds willl stick to the paper
#2 some say put some kitchen clenser them with to disinfect the seeds(dont think mold has any anti bacterial propeties) where did you read that ?
tomncath
12 years ago
...dont think mold has any anti bacterial propeties) where did you read that ?

Oh boy, you've just started World War Three. Ever heard of penicillin? It was derived from MOLD! One significant fear in hospitals is that frequently the use of "big gun" antibiotics will result in a fungal infection, which does often happen.
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digdirt2
12 years ago
The Seed Saving forum here has a good FAQ on how to clean, save, and store tomato seeds.

Your #2 above is the standard recommendation usually given here.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Lots of how to save seed discussions
trudi_d
12 years ago
I wrote that Tomato FAQ from the Seed Saving Forum but no longer recommend fermentation. I now prefer and recommend a soak and scrub with powdered sanitizing cleanser--Ajax or Comet or similar product. Fermentation can work well, yet it takes several days and can be inconsistent, and for a beginner it can be frustrating because of the many variations and days, temperatures, to cover or not, to add water or not, yada, yada, yada. The Sani-Scrub, as I call it, is very simple and takes only 35 minutes--and in there is a half hour break for you while the seeds soak in that cleanser.

Here is a link that might be useful: How to Clean Tomato Seeds (Sani-Scrub)