16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes

I seem to have been getting very good germination results on
my saved and fermented seed for the past 8 to 10 years. I'd say 80% is less than average--I expect to get much better.

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.

This year I had 9 of 64 varieties that didn't germinate. I replanted the varieties I had extra seeds for using the same procedures (I know it's insanity to expect different results repeating the same procedure.). I put these on my plant stand facing a southern window. Most have come up. I think the difference is the heat from the sun warming the pots. When 55 varieties grow and 9 don't, it's tempting to blame the seed.

Hate to burst the bubble but when you do find it ,it wont tste like you remember it anyway.

You are bursting my bubble....but how come it won't taste the same?

Thanks for the link , Dave . I was thinking about prevention versus cure . Is that possible ?

All tomato diseases are primarily prevention oriented. There are no real "cures" once the disease is established. But there is no blanket prevention for all diseases either and if we sprayed on all the various mixes that would be needed to try to prevent everything we'd likely kill the plants. :)

Daconil fungicide sprayed weekly from the first day of plant out has a pretty good record at preventing fungus diseases or at least stalling them. But it does little for bacterial diseases and nothing for viral diseases. Copper sprays can 'help' prevent bacterial problems but does little for fungus and nothing for viral diseases. See the problem?

And there are many preventative environmental controls that folks would argue are as effective as using fungicides. Things like planting the more resistant varieties, increased spacing between plants, off-season soil treatment, positioning to improve air circulation in among the plants, heavy mulching, drip irrigation, increasing sun exposure, etc.

So again that all depends on what disease we are talking about? What diseases are prevalent in your garden, your area, your region? What have you had problems with specifically in the past?

The link I gave you gives some recommendations for each of the many diseases but sadly there is no "one for all". If there was we'd all be using it.

Dave

My fans are on a timer, they run for 15 minutes every 2 1/2 hours, and I keep it running as long as the plants are under the lights.

Betsy

I transplant mine up to their necks in the garden so I don't care/bother.

Larry

Thanks az_pamperedchef. It takes a two gallon sprayer though to spray my tomatoes. I think spraying wettable sulfur is a lot cheaper in the kind of volume I need.

You're welcome, thisisme.

We've had excellent success with Better Boy. Hybrids have their pluses. Here's a page that outlines the pros and cons for both hybrids and heirlooms.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hybrids vs. Heirlooms - What's the Difference?

I love the taste of heirloom tomatoes but I like to have a reliable crop of tomatoes for my salsa; I grow Big Beef every year.

how do i decide which ones to use?

****

You must have made some decisions when you selected what to sow seeds for based on what you thought might be best for you.

So stick with those and if you have room grow the others on to about 4 inches if you have room and want to and give them to neighbors, nursing homes, adult homes ( assisted living) and the like, who might be very glad to get them as gifts.

Carolyn

A good temporary "pot" for donation plants is a 16 oz. plastic cup from Walmart or whoever's cheapest. Use kitchen scissors to snip 2 or 3 holes in the bottom edge for drainage.

I print up a slip of paper with the variety name and a brief description.

If you want to be extra-thorough, print easy tomato-growing info from a website.

Over watering a likely cause?

Very much so. It also can cause cotyledons to fall off while still green because the tap root is water-logged.

I grow thousands of tomato plants each year for sale and the thing that retards and/or kills more seedlings than anything else is over-watering. We go through discussions of this topic over and over every year at this time here and consistently over-watering proves to be the cause of the problems.

Everyone does it even when they are absolutely sure they are NOT doing it. It becomes compulsive. If a little is good then more must be better, right? No. When they can be convinced to cut their watering in 1/2 they are always amazed how quickly the plants improve.

Sure plants won't grow if the soil is too heavy but they also won't grow if it is too wet regardless of how heavy it is or isn't because the roots are lacking in air. All the water has forced it out of the soil.

Prove it to yourself. Cut the watering on 1 tray and see how the plants do when compared to those you continue to water as you normally would.

Dave

Will do Dave. Thanks VERY much.

I was also thinking about seaweed, too, but would be concerned with possible salt buildup unless you give it a few rinses with fresh water. Just a thought.

I am in Canada & sent down several varieties of tomato seeds to trial in St.Lucia recently. A Lucian friend was going to grow them in his & my parents garden. Strangley, that gardener has now been chosen to come up to Canada to work for a while - so I have lost my main St.Lucian garden experimentor!

You could try cheating a bit with your compost - put it in a black garbage bag & roll it around to mix it every day. It will be ready VERY quickly in the heat. If you have any wood char from fires/BBQ's you could add a bit to the soil.

Are you in the north or south of the island? If you are close to the rainforest try bringing home some of the soil from that area. It looked quite rich & "hummusy" to me.

Good luck!

I also had little birds rip up the leaves of sunflowers. I wouldn't have believed it either except that I caught them in the act. They were sitting on the stalks and ripping into them until the leaves looked like lace. I really don't know why they were doing that because I don't think there were any bugs on the sunflowers. They almost seemed to be eating them -- I know geese eat grass, but I'm don't know about other birds.

Sorry I don't have an answer for you, but at least we are all puzzled together!

My mom has found birds pulling up marigold seedlings. She was blaming neighborhood kids until she saw it. I wonder if it's part of the nesting/brooding process, since they don't seem to bother the plants later in the season. She replanted a couple of weeks later and they left them alone.

I have direct seeded tomatoes with success in early June in zone 7. I usually set out plants about May 1st, so any head start you can give inside should be fine.

I am in zone 6 and haven't started my mater seeds yet. Last year I did start in March and they got a bit bigger than I wanted before I could plant them, so I am waiting until this weekend to start. One thing I do is presprout the seeds. They germinate very quickly and you can save time by doing that. I put the seeds on a damp paper towel inside a plastic baggie. Maters sprout within a couple days or so.
Keski