assuming you mean late blight or early blight

#1 avoid saving seed from any infected fruit. Its ok to save seed from fruit which do not show damage.

#2 properly ferment and then treat seed in an acid bath* (this may reduce germination some so save and sow extras)

#3 allow the seed to air dry at least 3 days before storing

*1% Hcl for 30 minutes

Agree, there is no problem with saving fruit from unaffected fruit. I just use vinegar (5%) for the acid bath part of the process.

Dave

Partially agree with mulio. Below is a link to my procedure for saving seeds using fermentation. In it, I use standard clorox bleach instead of the 1% HCL (Hydrocloric Acid) that mulio recommends and may be hard for to find. Any standard chlorite based bleach will be fine. I prefer not to use the ones with extra scents and such - just plain bleach - store brands for example.

Fermentation allows fungi to breakdown and consume many microscopic critters. So let the beneficial fungi eat up the bad fungi and then do a clorox rinse. In my procedure, if you think you have a diseased plant, simply extend the clorox rinse to about 15 minutes. Most importantly, after you set the seeds aside to dry, don't handle them unless you first wash your hands with a good soap that contains bleach. The manner in which I "Place" each seed to dry allows me to not have to touch the seeds again until next planting time.

Again, if I suspect disease (and I do this with all seeds I receive in trades), I will subject the seeds I will be planting to a 5-10 minute clorox rinse before planting.

This may not eliminate the really super bad viral diseases, but will increase your survivors from other, less critical, maladies.

Hope this helps.

Ted

Here is a link that might be useful: Saving Tomato Seeds

Very nice Ted.

I agree that clean seeds are the way to go. I do a sani-scrub with disinfecting powdered kitchen cleanser (ajax, comet, et al). Regardless of what method is used, both will greatly (if not completely) remove exterior borne seed pathogens.

T

Here is a link that might be useful: Clean Tomato Seeds

Hcl do the best for pathogens. It is why commercially it is used instead of bleach.

You can get it from any hardware store.

Or you could get the HCl with the help of a little ipecac syrup although the concentration may vary more than desired. ;-)

On the webinar last night they talked about the Clorox soak and also a hot water soak that is used mainly by professionals. One moderator said that Clorox is used by several commercial sources. I use the Clorox soak and have had great results. Ted what ratio do you use? I seen several. I've used both 3 parts water to one part Clorox and also 2 parts water to one part Clorox. I think I may soak longer like you do. Normally i've soaked in the 3-5 minute range. Jay

Elk, we're on the same page. I do not measure exactly, but I usually hit somewhere between 3 to 1 and 5 to 1. My soak is like yours, about 3-5 minutes. I also use Trudi's method on smaller batches - 100 or so seeds. When I use comet with bleach, I usually don't do the clorox rinse. However, the clorox rinse prior to starting seeds in the spring is absolute. All seeds go thru this before they go to seed starting mix. It's a last chance to minimize the pathogens that might be there - kind of a "rather safe than sorry" approach.

One of the best things folks can do is perform regular spraying of their plants with a good fungicide. Organic growing is a neat thing, but organic growers don't have the tools that those of us who will use a minimum amount of chemicals have to fight an ever increasing number of plant and crop killers.

I can only shake my head when I see posts where someone is trying desperately to grow organicly, and their plants are already past the point of no return because of no preventative spraying.

Mulio, my objection to storing HydroChloric Acid in the home is the danger of exposure to children and pets. Yes, I know that 1% solution is not much more than stomack acid, but most homes have laundry bleach or scouring powder which can do the same job and most homes already have a safety practice in place for those commercial products.

Trudi, it will be another good year for your tomato seed list (if you know what I mean).

Ted

Bless you and thank you Ted, and thank you to everyone too who have helped WinterSown.Org by donating their seeds to add to the open-to-the-public tomato list. So far I've filled at least 600 SASEs (though it is likely far more but I'm not trudging up to the attic to check the amount of 100/per bundles of outer envelopes stored in a trunk.) Distribution through the USDA, Vet Admin Hospitals, extensions, schools and foodbanks is likely about another 4000 packs.

In all the SASEs and bundles to organizations I always provide info on the sani-scrub so that everyone knows how to smartly and safely save their tomato seeds; for groups that are organic by ideology or contract I refer them to fermentation. It's important that if we're sharing and trading tomato seeds that we provide info on safe seed-saving practices because everyone will then be inspired to give it a try themselves, then in turn their clean seeds will be shared with others. Goodness begets goodness.

I just came in from a late night walk among my plants. So far I've culled four plants out of the eighty or so that are out there. Two had weird leaves, one was a little wilty, and another seemed to have been victimized by cardinals--I watched them snap the stem with their beaks--I don't know what they were picking at but the transplant's stem was in the way, the poor plant struggled on but I finally took pity on it/me and gave the space over to a robust volunteer. It's probable that by the end of the season I may have to cull a few more for gosh-knows-what, it happens every year, but I take it in stride--part of maintaining a healthy garden is diligently culling the weak and grossly peculiar so that their weak and grossly peculiar genetics don't get passed onto the next generation. That's the way it is here, bottom line is that I have no patience for any prissy plant--if it's weak, if it's gross, it's gone.

Kindly,

T