We had some very delicious cherry tomatoes from our local supermarket. If we plant the seeds from those tomatoes, what are the chances of actually ge tting some of the seeds to sprout, or are the seeds likely to be infertile because the tomatoes are some sort of hybrid?
The seeds are indeed viable. My mother would use the seeds from cherry tomatoes to get tomato plants in a large flower pot on the balcony of her apartment.
However, many tomato varieties are indeed hybrids. While that does not prevent the seeds from being viable, it does mean that the tomatoes you get from the seedlings might not be the same as the tomatoes that produced the seeds.
On Saturday, April 18, 2015 at 10:20:23 AM UTC-5, snipped-for-privacy@sbcglobal.net wro te:
f we plant the seeds from those tomatoes, what are the chances of actually getting some of the seeds to sprout, or are the seeds likely to be infertil e because the tomatoes are some sort of hybrid?
Do I have to dry them for some period of time before planting??
I do not know about drying them. I do know that tomatoes often sprout in compost derived from sewage sludge, so it is possible that the jelly-like coating should be removed.
No. Saving tomato seed is very easy. The way to save tomato seed is to scoop the seeds into a glass or jar and add a bit of water to cover them. Let them sit on the kitchen bench for a couple of day then the pour the seeds and water into a sieve and run cold water over them and most of the sticky residue will rinse off. Dry on some paper towel and then tear of bits of the paper towel adn plant the seeds and paper et Viola! New tomatoes.
Oh, indeed, they can sprout and grow, but unpredictably so in both viability and breeding true.
I am a devoted composter and have gotten great "volunteers" from the winter's store-bought tomato leavings that have contained seeds in what has gotten spread on beds come spring.
Boron
If we plant the seeds from those tomatoes, what are the chances of actual ly getting some of the seeds to sprout, or are the seeds likely to be infer tile because the tomatoes are some sort of hybrid?
Fran, would this work (paper towel) for poppy (flower) seeds? The instruct ions are to mix the TINY seeds with sand before planting. I could go down to the beach & get some sand, but am intrigued with the "bits of paper towe l. Workable?
HB
Hybrids will produce but rarely true to form.
Only if you intend to save them, if planted immediately drying is not necessary.
If your beach is at the ocean, you must first rinse all the salt out of the sand. Just be careful where you drain the rinse water so that you do not salt-poison any garden soil or septic system.
Indeed. My aunt had a ragged compost heap of indeterminate age at her house and by July it was invariably covered by tomato, cucumber, melon and other plants which popped up on their own. Non-hybrid fruiting plants which don't produce viable seeds don't last long in a natural setting.
No seedlings last long here unless I protect rows with chicken wire cages, soon as seeds sprout the crows snatch every one.
t. If we plant the seeds from those tomatoes, what are the chances of actu ally getting some of the seeds to sprout, or are the seeds likely to be inf ertile because the tomatoes are some sort of hybrid?
ructions are to mix the TINY seeds with sand before planting. I could go d own to the beach & get some sand, but am intrigued with the "bits of paper towel. Workable?
THANKS!!! Opaque me never THOUGHT of that angle!!! \\HB
I don't think so Higgs. The paper towel works with the tomato seeds because they dry onto the towel after the fermented goo has been washed off. It's easier to tear up the towel than to try to peel off the seeds. I think that poppy seeds added to sand and spread like carrot seed would work if you wanted your poppys in a row but otherwise I'd just broadcast the seed where you want it to grow.
*&^%$#@$%^&*!
Yet another case of my not thinking outside the +&*^$@#%$* box!
Who, in fact, ever SAID the &%@#%^*&$poppies have to be in a row!
Sigh!
Thanks, Fran.
HB
Glad to be of assistance:-)) Sometimes, for some reason, the bleeding obvious escapes us all. I had such a moment a few days ago.
I have a strange feeling that you two are replaying a conversation you a year or two ago.
The trip through the compost isn't even needed. I get a lot of volunteers from unnoticed dropped fruit in the garden. I try not to let those survive long, since I try to move the tomatoes around year-to-year. It lessens the chances of disease problems.
You may be right!
Though it was assumed that I am perfect (by whom?) I do have this vulnerability where I go beserk when I realize I've missed the obvious, or have been thinking in established patterns. I, who preach critical thinking on every street corner !!!
Must calm down...tomorrow.
HB
Actually, I allow the volunteers that come up in one of my usual tomato plots (tulips in the spring, tomatoes in summer). In fact, I see many volunteers already up among the tulips.
I have found that such volunteers are extremely hardy and quite disease-resistant. Survival of the fittest.
That tomato plot is atypical in many ways. I rarely put in transplants, but past-frost sow from seeds once I pull up the tulips in that bed. I consider these tulips as annuals.
I pop a few seeds into each of the many holes I make with as I move along the bed. The tomatoes are grown quite close together with the foliage getting extremely dense as the season progresses.
Never had a disease problem up there, always had great success with the kind of planting that all my gardener instincts tell me is wrong.
Here are a few pickings of late season grabs from that bed last year.
I always dry my seeds on paper towels or paper napkins. However I'm very careful when selecting 'tomato seeds'
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