Saving Your Own Tomato Seeds

Old gardeners love their vegetables. There are so many wholesale plant seeds. Mine are the sweet yellow cherry tomatoes, sliced in half and scattered into salads. It’s very easy to save your tomato seeds from one year to the next, cutting the seed bill and, in time, creating plants perfectly suited to your growing conditions. Let’s find out how to do it with several simple tools.

Most tomatoes hold a hundred or more seeds, so you only need a few fruits for seed saving. Seeds from f1 hybrid varieties, which are bred from two parent varieties, won’t produce the same type of tomatoes next year, so only save those from traditional, open pollinated tomatoes, sometimes called heirloom or heritage varieties.

Collect your seeds from fully ripe fruits. Cut the tomatoes open with wholesale gardening tools, then scoop out the fleshy pulp containing then seeds into a glass jar. Smaller tomatoes can just be burst and squeezed out. Top up with a little water and label the jar with the name of the variety.

The gel surrounding the seeds inhibits germination and must be removed. Leave for 2 to 5 days to begin fermenting. This will break down the seed coat while killing off many of the harmful bacteria and fungi lurking on the seeds.

Check and gently swirl the jar every day. The seeds are ready for cleaning when the pulp floats to the top. A surface layer of scum may also develop, while most of the seeds will have sunk to the bottom. Carefully skim off the pulp, then tip the liquid and seeds into a strainer. Water the seeds under running water, using the back of a wooden spoon to carefully remove any remaining material stuck to them. Spread the seeds onto paper towel to remove most of the water. Now transfer them to a no-stick surface such as a glass chopping board or tray. Dry the seeds in a warm place out of direct sunlight. It will take two to three weeks for the seeds to completely dry out. Gently scrape the seeds into labeled paper envelopes. Store them in a dry place at a cool steady temperature.