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- Feb 2, 2014
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It is about the time for our tomatoes to come in. Did they all produce to your expectations or were some flops and others winners? I am lucky enough to have room to play around and experiment with different varieties of tomatoes. I always plant the old standbys but I am always looking for the perfect, most prolific disease free tomatoe so I plant varieties I have never heard of, both determinate, indeterminate, hybrid and open pollinated. Every garden is different, different soil, different climate, different sunlight, different history, different everything. What grows well in your neighbors garden doesn't necessairly mean it will do the same in yours. So, when you stumble across a tomatoe that does much better than others do you hope you can find it next year or do you save the seeds?
Most tomatoes, at least in the southern US are hybrids meaning they have been crossed with 2 or more other varieties and when you save seeds from them you may or may not, probably not, have them come true, but sometimes you end up with a tomatoe that is absolutely outstanding. There are many so called hybrids that have been produced for so long that they will come true every time thus becoming an heirloom. There are literally 100's of heirloom tomatoe varieties to choose from. So, after growing a healthy great producing tomatoe, what to do? The main thing you look for is its earliness. How long from setting out the plant to a ripe tomatoe. We all want the earliest tomatoe so we can grow more of them for a longer time. Second in importance is size. By size I mean I want the biggest 3 oz or 8 oz tomatoe possible, and for me number 3 is the taste. I don't think I have ever had a bad tasting tomatoe, the worst tasting was still delicious.
So how do you save the seeds? What I do is wait for my first best tomatoe to completely rippen on the vine. Then I slice it in half and dig out the seeds with a spoon and eat the rest. I put the seeds in a fine mesh collander and run cool water over the seeds gently stirring them until most if not all of the clear goo is washed away. Then I spread them out on a little piece of wax paper and let them dry in the sun for a couple of days until completely dry and then store them in a paper envelope. I don't use plastic because if they aren't completely dried they will mold in plastic.
Most tomatoes, at least in the southern US are hybrids meaning they have been crossed with 2 or more other varieties and when you save seeds from them you may or may not, probably not, have them come true, but sometimes you end up with a tomatoe that is absolutely outstanding. There are many so called hybrids that have been produced for so long that they will come true every time thus becoming an heirloom. There are literally 100's of heirloom tomatoe varieties to choose from. So, after growing a healthy great producing tomatoe, what to do? The main thing you look for is its earliness. How long from setting out the plant to a ripe tomatoe. We all want the earliest tomatoe so we can grow more of them for a longer time. Second in importance is size. By size I mean I want the biggest 3 oz or 8 oz tomatoe possible, and for me number 3 is the taste. I don't think I have ever had a bad tasting tomatoe, the worst tasting was still delicious.
So how do you save the seeds? What I do is wait for my first best tomatoe to completely rippen on the vine. Then I slice it in half and dig out the seeds with a spoon and eat the rest. I put the seeds in a fine mesh collander and run cool water over the seeds gently stirring them until most if not all of the clear goo is washed away. Then I spread them out on a little piece of wax paper and let them dry in the sun for a couple of days until completely dry and then store them in a paper envelope. I don't use plastic because if they aren't completely dried they will mold in plastic.
