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Vegetable Gardening

Tomato seed saving

10 years ago

I just came on this excellent gardenweb article:
http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/tomato/2005025852004159.html
which is a bit scary where seed saving is concerned. Up till now I've
relied on the statement that "tomatoes rarely cross," but maybe I've
been naive to trust in that.

I wonder how many seed savers and swappers take the recommended precautions. I never have done. So long as the fruit & seed are for my own use I guess it's no big deal, but if I swap seed I hate to think I may be misrepresenting its purity.

What do others think & do about this?

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Comments (3)

digdirt2
10 years ago
This is a frequent discussion over on the Growing Tomatoes forum here not to mention on all the Exchange forums, and it depends on the trader and what their goals are so it is negotiated in advance. As long as your seeds are labeled properly as pure or OP then no one can complain.

Most who trade actively, if the variety is of particular importance to them, will bag blooms, label their seed as such, and only accept those that were bagged and labeled as true/pure.

Some traders don't care all that much and are willing to accept possible CP seeds as long as it is labeled as such - open pollinated.

Where folks tend to get upset is if they are offered seeds labeled as a specific variety but NOT marked as open pollinated.

If saving for yourself it is your choice. If heavily trading and high quality is a concern for you then bag blooms and ask for the same.

Another issue in trading is if the seeds were disinfected or not and labeled as such.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: FAQ - How to prevent cross pollination
vanisle_bc
Original Author
10 years ago
Dave:

Thanks for the clarification clearly expressed. You've raised a whole new issue for me; disinfection. Can you point me to some info?

Also, do you know of any cross-border security techniques - x-rays or ?? - that might affect traded seeds?
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Wow, ya'll are quick! Thanks, I'll check them out! (I forgot there is a seed saving forum, lol) I wrote the FAQs in the Seed Saving Forum, and to this day is you google "how to save tomato seeds" the first link to pop up is my FAQ on fermentation, but I have long since abandoned fermentation because it can have inconsistant results, especially with beginners, who complain about duration of fermentation, the appearance, the cups sitting for days and attracting flies, etc. I now only clean tomato seeds with a sanitizing soak and scrub--and that is the 'easy tomato seed saving' method in the link above from WinterSown.Org. The process is 35 minutes, start to finish, with a half-hour break within that too. T
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digdirt2
10 years ago
Can't help with the cross-border issues. AFAIK most just mail them in a standard envelope through the regular mail.

As for disinfection, there are several methods. The FAQ here on How to Save tomato seeds covers one and "disinfect seeds" search on the Tomato forum will pull up discussions about others.

Personally I use the 1:10 chlorine bleach misting method after the seeds have been fermented and just before they are spread out to air dry.

Dave

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