Seed saving help needed (heirloom tomato seeds)

[SW in IL]

I went to a demonstration/talk yesterday where the lady was talking about seed saving and used a tomato as an example. She talked of 2 ways to do it - 1 way was putting the tomato seeds in a jar with water, letting it get moldy on top, scraping off the mold, adding more water, etc. The other way was to lay the seeds out on a paper towel to dry. So, I decided to try it. I had a couple of heirloom tomatoes that I was using at dinner, so I pulled out the seeds and spread them on paper towels (3 types of tomatoes - 3 paper towels - description of each written on the paper towel).

 

I do remember that she said if we don't do the jar with water, mold, etc. that only 60-70% of the seeds will sprout, but that the paper towel method was much simpler (and simple is good).

 

But now, looking at them, I think I missed something. My seeds have all kinds of tomato gunk stuck to them. Some of them seem to have like a pouch around them. I don't remember if I was supposed to clean off the gunk (and, if so, how) or pick them out of their pouches (and, if so, how) or what I was supposed to do.

 

Can someone please help? I'm really hoping to give these to my future father-in-law to plant in their garden next year and I don't want to screw it up (and look like even more of a city girl than I am).

 

Thanks,

Sue

[OrganicAnn]

Just continue to let the paper towel and tomato to dry out. Once they are completely dried out, we put the paper towel in a zip lock bag or a jar (mason/baby food).

 

If you had it to do over, you might rinse off the seeds. Also I find it is helpful to spread out the seeds on the paper towel. That way you can cut up the towel and plant each section towel and all.

[klmama]

I scraped my seeds onto a 3x5 card and let them air dry for a couple of weeks. The tomato flesh just dried out along with the seeds, and none of them molded. Then, I put the card into a labeled envelope inside a jar. The jar went in the back of the fridge until the next year. The seeds sprouted just fine.

[Joshin]

I do the jar method but I have never had mold. Yuck! My way is to put the seeds in the jar then fill it up with warm water. Cover the jar with cheesecloth or a paper towel. I stir the contents once or twice a day and soak for about two days, or until the pulp rises to the top. Then I skim off the pulp, drain the water and dry the seeds on a towel for a week or so.

 

I tried to dry without soaking once and it just didn't work, the seeds started to rot. I think it was too cool and humid in my house.

[Erica in OR]

We did the paper towel method without scraping all the pulp off and had pretty good germination rates the next couple of years. The pulp eventually dries up. We stored the dried towel and seeds in an envelope.

 

Erica in OR

[SW in IL]

I ended up rinsing them (they were all in a couple of glops on their paper towels) and now have them all spread out on new paper towels.

 

Thanks so much for the advise... I love the idea of using index cards and might try that next time. Seems like it would be an easy way to keep track on which seeds are on which card.

 

Sue