Last Call: How To Save Tomato Seeds

Many gardeners are harvesting the last tomatoes of the year.  In this post, I explain which tomato seeds to save and how to properly condition and store them.

Before we get into the details of how to collect and save your seeds, I want to cover which vegetable seeds are good candidates for seed saving.  Let's begin by discussing what I mean by "good candidates."

Open Pollinated Versus Hybrid Seeds

When you buy seeds from a catalog supplier or garden store, those seeds are either open pollinated or hybrid.  Open pollinated seeds are ones that come from a single parent and will produce the same variety when planted in subsequent years.  For example, if you plant a Brandywine tomato seed, the tomatoes you get from that plant will be Brandywines -- the shape, size, texture, flavor etc. will be the same, year after year.

On the other hand, hybrid vegetable varieties are created by cross-pollinating two different varieties.  The reason people do this is to produce a new variety that has favorable characteristics derived from each of the parent plants. 

However, unlike open pollinated seeds, if you then plant seeds taken from a hybrid plant, the next generation will not necessarily produce fruit which is similar to it's parents.  For example, "Big Beef" is a hybrid variety sold by Johnny's Selected Seeds.  The parent tomatoes used to create this hybrid (and other hybrids) are considered trade secrets, so I can't tell you what is used to create the Big Beef.  What I can tell you is that you'll need to buy new "Big Beef" seeds each year in order to faithfully reproduce this tomato.

Can you harvest hybrid seeds, plant them and grow vegetables?  Yes, but remember they will not produce vegetables that are exactly like the ones you want.  So the first requirement for seed savers is that the seeds come from an open pollinated plant.

Self Pollinated Versus Non-Self Pollinated Seeds

Some plants like tomatoes, peppers, lima beans, and okra are self pollinated.  This means that the male and female parts of of the plant are contained in the same flower.  These vegetables do not require an insect pollinator or the wind to create fruit.  They do it on their own.

Self pollinated plants are great candidates for seed saving because with self pollination, you can pretty much be sure that the seeds you save will produce vegetables in the next generation that are the same as the parents.

At this point, I hear you saying that you're confused because I just told you that if you selected open pollinated seeds you would be able to save seeds which will produce plants that are the same as the prior generation.  Well, here's the rub....

If you buy open pollinated seeds that are not self pollinating and plant them in your garden, insects will carry pollen to the flowers that are not necessarily from the same variety.  In effect, the insects may create a hybrid variety and, as I mentioned, the hybrid will not exhibit the same characteristics as the parent. 

Squash are a classic example of a non-self pollinating variety.  Below are photos of a female Boston Marrow squash flower where you can see the beginnings of a fruit.  To fully mature, it needs to be pollinated by a male flower which is also shown.

 
 

If this Boston Marrow is pollinated by a flower from the same variety, you will get true Boston Marrow seeds.  But more likely than not, it will be pollinated by some other variety of squash growing in your garden or in that of your neighbor. 

Commercial seed growers eliminate the possibility of hybridization by growing just one variety in a given area, making sure that there are no others in the near vicinity.  This is impractical for home growers, so hobbyists save seeds by covering the female flowers with a plastic bag and then hand pollinating them with a male flower of the same specie.

Since hand pollinating is a bit of a chore, I generally opt to buy most of my seeds from a reputable supplier like Baker Creek, Territorial Seed Company or Burpee.  However, I do save tomato seeds because the ones I buy are open pollinated and tomato seeds are self-pollinating -- no hand pollination required.  This makes saving tomato seeds much easier than other vegetable types like squash or cucumbers. 

How To Save Tomato Seeds

Saving tomato seeds is really quite easy.  Here's all you need to do:

• Pick a ripe or overly ripe tomato from which to take your seeds (no green tomatoes as the seeds are not fully mature)
• Squeeze out the seeds and some of the juice into a container like a plastic cup or glass jar.
• Add an equal amount of water so that you double the total quantity of seeds and water in your container.
• Allow this mixture to sit in a warm, dark place such as your garage .  (Below, I explain why you do this) Add water as needed to prevent your seeds from drying out.

• After 5-7 days days, the juice and water mixture will have fermented and there may be some mold on the top of the liquid.
• Skim off the mold and put the seeds into a colander.  Wash thoroughly with tap water.
• Place your seeds onto a dish towel and let dry for several days.
• Store your seeds in a cool dark place till you sow them in the spring.
  

Fermenting the tomato seeds may seem strange, but there's a reason for this madness.  You may have noticed that when first harvested tomato seeds are surrounded by a clear gelatinous substance.  This substance actually prevents germination while the seeds are inside the fresh tomato.  In nature, this substance is removed when the tomato falls to the ground and and rots away.  So the cup and water used in the above procedure is a way of replicating this same natural process.

So, if you still have some ripe fruit on your tomato plants, now is the time to save the seeds.  Remember, you only want to save tomato seeds from open pollinated (non-hybridized) tomato varieties.  If you have any doubt as to whether a variety is open pollinated or hybrid, just do a Google search on your variety and I'm sure you'll find the answer.  By the way, open pollinated seeds are also sometimes referred to as "Heirloom" seeds.

Once dried, I store my seeds in 2 inch x 3 inch coin envelopes.  You can purchase these from any office supply store.

Comments

[Michaele]

Excellent information and perfect timing! Thanks!

[Harry L]

Thank you for such a detailed and thorough guide/explanation, shall be bookmarking for future reference :)

[Poached Pear]

Such a great method of saving tomato seeds ..Everyone should go with ur blog for sure ..This will be a perfect thing ..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds8xyK-r65M Like that liquid a lot ...its so pure and mild too..