If it was some sort of rare unusual variety where good seeds weren't available otherwise I might give it a try in the hopes that the seeds were insulated enough for at least a few of them to have survived and so will germinate.

That cold the odds are against success but it's your choice.

Dave

Thats what I thought too Dave. Thanks for the "seedy" response!

As Dave said above and I agreek, I too might attempt it if I were the only one who had seeds of a variety or seeds were rare and hard to get, but I'm doubtful it would work.

Quite a few folks have posted here and elsewhere about putting fruits in the freezer for later processing and what happens is that when the seeds are in contact with organic material, as inside a frozen fruit, ice crystals form and disrupt the seeds.

But no harm trying it if the seeds are hard to get or if you're the only ones with seeds for the varieties you're growing.

Carolyn

I forgot (read lost) some tomatoes in my freezer for well over a year. I compost in place as much as possible and had tomato seedlings up the yingyang. These were several varieties, but all open-pollinated--one of those get-'em-off-the-counter deals.

We get freezes here and I always have volunteers, from the fruits that I failed to collect.

and had tomato seedlings up the yingyang.

We get freezes here and I always have volunteers, from the fruits that I failed to collect.

The issue is the percentage of germination you may get from frozen seed vs. the work/time involved in processing and saving them.

Of course you may get some volunteers from a drop frozen tomato or a few survivors of fruit frozen in the freezer. That isn't the question.

If you are content with 5 seeds out of 500 germinating - go for it. If like most dedicated seed savers you prefer at least a 50% germination rate and would be disgusted with less than 10% rate then don't waste your time.

Dave

Nearly all seeds in the wild (up here in KY) get frozen not just once but multiple times and still manage to germinate. In fact some seeds require a freezing. I've had volunteer lettuce, tomato, squash, amaranth, ground cherry, and Lord knows what else that I know the parent seed had to be frozen multiple times through the winter.

Can't recollect any volunteer beans from the previous year though.

if I wanted to save seeds of those, I would anyway. Especially if I didn't have any more to use. I'd try to save about 50% more than I usually would want. But then after saving them, I'd label them as seeds from tomatoes that froze and then do a germination test on them and see what percentage sprouted. Take 10-20 seeds and put them in a wet paper towel and put them in a baggie in a warm place and see how many sprout. Then you'll know the percentage. and note that on the pack of seeds so you know how many to plant.