Recommended timing of seed procurement for early-ripening, mid-ripening and late-ripening varieties. What tomatoes are suitable? Is it possible to use rotten fruits?
Collection rules and step-by-step instructions for the entire process. The most common mistakes and shelf life of seeds.
What to do if you decide to do this for the first time, where to start, how not to be left without a harvest in the coming year? How to get a fairly large number of seeds? You will find answers to all these questions in today's material.
Procurement time
To obtain a consistently high tomato yield, it is important to choose the right period for harvesting the fruit.
For early ripening varieties - this is the end of July, the beginning of August; for mid-season - the second ten days of August; for late ripening - you need to wait 1-2 weeks of September .
Be sure to take into account the growing region, and adhere to the principle: harvest at the peak of plant growth; it is not advisable to use the first and last fruits.
It is also worth taking the timing into account because this will allow the tomatoes to ripen completely, and you will be able to choose a good bush if you did not do this when planting.
How to quickly collect seeds?
How to collect tomato seeds if you don’t have enough time for the fermentation method? In this case, you can use a more simplified version. You need to take good tomatoes, a knife and a napkin. First, the fruits are cut, then the liquid with the seeds is extracted and distributed on a napkin. The napkin is placed on a flat surface and the seeds are dried for a week.
Important!
Drying seeds in the open sun is not recommended. The sun can burn them or promote germination while the seeds are still wet.
When the seeds are dry, they are carefully separated and stored. It should be immediately noted that such seeds are slightly worse in quality than those obtained through fermentation, but they also give good germination and yield.
Which tomatoes are suitable
The right choice of plant fruits will ensure success in growing tomatoes next year. Only specimens from strong, strong plants are suitable for selection. Tomatoes on such a bush should be similar in size, shape, and correspond to the characteristics of the variety.
Expert opinion
Zamyatina Alla Viktorovna
By profession - livestock breeder, work experience as a veterinarian - 10 years. Studying a second profession - agronomist
Collect fruits from the main trunk or from branches of the second or third order, fully ripened on the bush, without deformations. Due to weather conditions, premature harvesting of tomatoes of milky or blanzhe ripeness is allowed. The seeds ripen in such fruits, just as on the plant.
Some gardeners advise digging up a bush with unripe tomatoes from the ground and leaving it in a warm room to ripen. The quality is expected to improve significantly.
Why are tomato seeds collected independently better?
If you have asked yourself questions about how to prepare tomato seeds from your own tomatoes, most likely you already know the positive aspects of this approach. Of course, with a large selection of seeds on the market, it becomes possible to experiment with crops in order to obtain a vegetable that suits taste preferences.
Self-preparing seeds is advisable when we are talking about the desire to plant the variety you like for several more years and at the same time get good fruits. The undeniable positive aspects of such a responsible approach to collecting seed are presented:
- the possibility of obtaining large seeds, which, after sowing, usually germinate simultaneously;
- a guarantee of obtaining seedlings that are stronger and highly resistant to common diseases;
- the possibility of obtaining a bountiful harvest;
- confidence in using a quality product that has not expired;
- saving money without the need to purchase your favorite variety of tomatoes every year.
To the above advantages we must add the fact that obtaining seeds from tomatoes requires only minor effort and time.
Is it worth harvesting seed material from hybrids?
Tomato seeds are divided into two categories: linear and hybrid.
Collecting hybrid seeds (label F1) is like playing roulette.
The probability of getting a high-quality next generation is very low , since there is a splitting of qualities in the second generation; it is unknown what will grow up.
For this reason, when collecting material, it is recommended to take only those fruits that are obtained from linear varietal seeds; they retain their qualities from generation to generation.
In this case, you can be sure that you will grow.
If you like the fruit, but you don’t know how and what it is grown from, you can collect the seeds and try to grow the plant. If the taste, shape, and size are preserved, it is a variety. In the future, you can safely collect seed material from it.
Other important characteristics of the variety are: plant growth, leaf type, fruit weight, color, size and number of chambers, external shape, quantity in the cluster.
What fruits can you collect seeds from?
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Many gardeners collect seeds from tomatoes, but only some produce a large harvest. Why is that? In order for the collected seeds to produce a large harvest in the future, you need to know which fruits are worth collecting them from. There are a few tricks here.
- Tomatoes can only be harvested from developed, strong plants. It is very important that they are free from diseases and that they are not affected by pests!
- Seed-bearing fruits are picked only from the lower, first branch of the bush.
- The tomato should be ripe, but not overripe. After all, when overripe, the protective shell of the seed is destroyed.
Tomato seeds photo
Interesting!
The largest tomato was grown by American Golden Graham in 1986. His weight was 3.5 kg!
- Usually the most beautiful, large (but not abnormally large) fruits are selected for planting material; one might say, a sample of the variety.
If you select candidates for seed collection in this way, they will bring a large, high-quality harvest in the future.
Collection rules
So, collecting seeds has the following rules:
- Collect fruits in dry weather.
- It is advisable that tomatoes of the same variety grow in the garden to avoid cross-pollination.
- Collect fruits only from varietal crops.
- Pay attention to the quality of the bush.
- If you collect seeds of several varieties, use different containers and do not forget to label them.
- Do not try to collect seeds from fruits of plants that are not adapted to your climate. Even if you received a good harvest this year, there is practically no guarantee of repeat success.
- Remove fruits for seeds separately from harvesting the main part of the harvest.
- Do not collect overripe tomatoes; the likelihood that the seeds will begin to germinate during the drying stage is too high.
Step-by-step instructions - how to properly grow tomatoes at home
After selection, we proceed to extracting the seeds and preparing them for long-term storage:
- Cut the tomato into slices to expose the seed chambers.
- Using a spoon, scoop out the seeds into a suitable container (plastic or glass, but not iron, as the oxidation process will begin). You can skip this step and just work with chopped fruits.
- Add a little water and leave for 2 days to start the fermentation and fermentation process. This is necessary to destroy the protective film that prevents the germination of seeds inside the fruit.
There is a high probability that mold will form on the surface, it’s not a big deal, just remove it. Sometimes, especially in cool weather, the fermentation period should be increased to 5 days, but monitor the process, as the seed coat may begin to dissolve.In general, the fermentation process imitates the natural life cycle of the plant and contributes to the disinfection of the material.
- After two days, drain the liquid, add running water, and shake well.
- We calibrate the seeds: those that float on the surface are of low quality, we get rid of them; those that have sunk to the bottom are left behind. A salt solution will also help select quality specimens. To do this, place them in a 3% salt solution and also select only those that remain at the bottom.
- We wash the remaining ones with running water and proceed to drying.
- They are dried in stages: first, they are laid out on a flat surface in a thin layer, then transferred to fabric bags, where the seeds will finally dry. Dry until completely free of moisture. Some people prefer to use special dryers.
Expert opinion
Ulanin Konstantin Grigorievich
Agronomist, work experience in the specialty - 12 years
There are several nuances in drying that it is advisable to take into account: the temperature should be 22-25 C°, humidity 40-60%, no direct sunlight. If you dry it in a cool room, you will get poor quality material.
Method with pulp fermentation
- Cut the tomato into pieces to expose the seed chambers.
Cut the tomato into pieces
Squeeze or scrape the seeds along with the juice with a teaspoon into any container with transparent walls (jar, glass, shot glass).
Remove the seeds from the tomato along with the liquid
Keep the container with pulp and seeds in a dark place at room temperature until fermentation begins and for another 2-3 days. You can cover with gauze or a loose lid.
Place the fermentation cups in a shaded area
Stir the pulp every day to help the seeds separate from it and fall to the bottom. The fermentation process is considered complete when the liquid stratifies: there will be a head of grounds at the top, and clarified juice with seeds at the bottom at the bottom.
A sign of readiness will be the separation of the contents and the clearing of the liquid.
Drain as much of the contents as possible, leaving the seeds behind. Place them on a sieve and rinse.
Place the seeds in a sieve and rinse
Place the wet seeds on newspaper or any paper. When the water is absorbed, transfer it to dry paper and take it to a warm place where there is no stagnation of air, for example, place it on a windowsill or table in a ventilated room.
Dry the seeds on a piece of paper or newspaper
Stir the seeds every day, knead the stuck together lumps.
Two more ways to collect - “for the lazy”
Some gardeners use the fastest way to prepare seeds. Remove, immediately dry (5-7 days) without additional processing and store .
Judging by the reviews, the germination rate of such seeds is only slightly inferior to those prepared using the classical method.
Well, when you don’t want to deal with seeds at all, you can bury a whole tomato in the place where you want to get a bush next year . Dig not too deep, 2-3 cm. Sprinkle mulch on top to prevent winter cold from spoiling the seeds.
Useful tips
There are several recommendations that you can take note of and, if desired, adhere to them. When planting seedlings, determine the healthiest and strongest bushes from which you will collect fruits .
Take care of them more carefully; use cotton wool to protect the flowers from cross-pollination (by wrapping cotton wool around the base of the flower). Although tomatoes are self-pollinating plants, sometimes thrips insects can contribute to the formation of a hybrid fruit on your site.
Already obtained seeds can be disinfected using 72% laundry soap (in the proportion of 1 tablespoon of soap per glass of water). Soak in this solution for 30 minutes.
You can dry the seeds on toilet paper or paper napkins , then store and plant them together with the paper.
Common Mistakes
Let's look at the mistakes that are often encountered when preparing seeds:
- Collection from hybrid plants. Productivity and taste will change significantly.
- Choose the largest fruit that is not typical for this variety. The probability of getting the same large fruits is too low.
- Fans of self-selection can choose fruits of atypical shape, which will also reduce the quality of the seed material.
- Humidity problems during storage. This leads to the formation of mold on the seeds and it no longer makes sense to use them - all seeding qualities are lost.
Pros of homemade seeds
Harvesting tomato seeds at home has a number of advantages:
- does not require funds. Seeds in the store are not cheap;
- allows you to grow vegetables with good immune abilities. The seeds already contain innate immunity, which they inherited from the previous harvest;
- show good germination;
- gives precise confidence in the variety being grown. Sometimes when you buy a bag of grain in a store, you find completely different varieties inside. This will not happen with homemade seeds.
Preparing seeds at home is especially helpful in cases where you really like the variety, but it is rare.
Shelf life without loss of germination
To ensure that the efforts spent on preparing seeds are not in vain, you need to properly store such material. It is better to use a paper or cardboard box or envelope.
Choose a place that is dry and dark, the ideal humidity for seeds is 55%, and the temperature is from 0 to 5 C° (suitable conditions in the refrigerator door). The viability of the material lasts for 9 years, but the longer you store it, the lower the quality, so a period of 4 years is considered optimal.
By learning the harvesting technique, you will not only ensure a stable harvest of your favorite tomato variety, but you will also be able to try to grow your own, choosing the best fruits from the most resistant bushes. Your plants will be more resistant to unfavorable environmental factors, and the germination rate of such seed material is much higher and more friendly.
The quantity of seeds prepared for planting will also please you and save your budget, because store packaging is often very small.
