Saving tomato seed

[bacpacker]

Didn't want to take away from the "what have you ..." thread. With AK harvesting tomatos by the basket full, i thought it would be good to share this little tip. My stepdad shared this with me and I used it with this harvest and it is effective.

Cut open a tomato and scrape out the seeds, which will have pulp and a jell type substance with them. Put all this in a glass jar, pint mason jar works well. Fill it maybe 2/3rds full of water and set it in a non sunny location. Swirl the water around a couple times a day. After two days, drain the water and rinse the seed thru a pretty tight sieve, then put the seed back in the jar and refill with water. Repeat the swirling for the next 3-5 days, then drain and rinse very well. The seed should be pretty clean and ready to spread out to dry.

During the soak and swirl cycles, the pulp and jell stuff will begin to seperate from the seed and you will see that in the water. Hope this helps someone.

[ak474u]

I think they call that "fermentation" I read about that somewhere. I'm gonna try it with a few of ours.

[Vodin]

Sounds correct backpacker. I have done this with all seeds of the vegies I grow. I start em growing in my Aquaponics system in the basement. I use warm to almost hot water as the initial wash I was told this removes the jell faster and with less cycles.

http://i1279.photobucket.com/albums/y534/Vodin136/Basement%20AP/th_IMG_2889_zps9636be87.jpg (http://s1279.photobucket.com/user/Vodin136/media/Basement%20AP/IMG_2889_zps9636be87.jpg.html)

http://i1279.photobucket.com/albums/y534/Vodin136/Basement%20AP/th_IMG_2888_zpsb44ae78e.jpg (http://s1279.photobucket.com/user/Vodin136/media/Basement%20AP/IMG_2888_zpsb44ae78e.jpg.html)

[bacpacker]

Never tried warm water. I have a squash in the basement that is going bad. I'm gonna cut it up and try that with the seed from it.

[realist]

You know that is what I like about this forum if I need something it usually comes up with an answer. I am on the quest to start harvesting my seeds as well as my vegetables. Bacpacker thanks for the information I will let you know how it turns out.

[bacpacker]

Your welcome. It seems to me that all things gardening, like so many other topics, are a never ending learning event. At least thats the way it works out for me. Good luck with the seed saving.

[Socalman]

What is the purpose of removing that jell? I always thought, for no good good reason, that it acted in some manner to aid in the early feeding of the seedling. When I have saved seed, I have merely removed the seed and placed it on filter paper to dry.

[bacpacker]

Ive done that to. I'm not sure it matters totally. But for small seed, really any seed it seems to make it easier to seperate them for planting. Also seems to give a more uniform dry or cure.

[Katrina]

bp, how did you store the squash? DH just planted acorn for us. Last time we had acorn squash, I put it on an open shelf in basement. Needless to say the mice got one of them. So I took an old CLEAN pair of hose and hung them on a nail in the floor joists of first floor.
Kept hitting the head on them but it was worth it to keep the critters away from it. Any suggestions?

[bacpacker]

I store ours in our basement (concrete floor, stays in the 40s mostly thru the winter). We haven't had trouble with mice eating ours.

I never have as good luck storing Acorn squash as I do Butternut. They last maybe 2-3 months. Butternuts last us at least 5 months. I wish we had a root cellar to store the produce in, I would probably get another 2 months or more time.

Hanging them is probably the best thing you have if mice are ruining your squash. Do you trap or put out posion to control them? I put out decon twice a year, in particular just as the temps start cooling down in the fall.

[ak474u]

I've got onions coming out of the ground already, they didn't keep so well in the garage last year. I need to figure out a way to save them this year.

[bacpacker]

Keep them in high humidity and as cool as you can (40's if possible). Also onion type has a huge amount to do with storage time. Sweet onions, Vidalia, Walla Walla, and such) don't last more than a month or two generally. Stonger onions are the ones you want for keepers. Typically yellow onion keep better for me than red's or whites. I can't keep red hardly any length of time, so I just pull them and eat as they grow and not try to save them.

I found and planted some Stuttgarters this year. They are known as a very good storage onion. We'll see how they do.