When hobby gardeners harvest tomatoes, they also have valuable seeds in their hands. In view of the sparse selection of varieties on the market, it is all the more valuable. Find out here all the important steps to turn tomato seeds into germinable seeds.
pulp undesirable
Harvest only fully ripe fruit if you want to get tomato seeds from it. If you grow varieties that are firm to seeds, they offer the best chance of success for unchanged offspring.
- Halve the tomatoes with a sharp knife
- Scoop out the seeds and the pulp that sticks to them
- Pour into a container and pour over lukewarm water
- Cover with cling film and place in a warm place that is not in full sun
- over the next two days, the fermentation process separates the pulp from the seeds
After the separation is complete, pour the mass into a sieve and rinse thoroughly with clear water. Now take a seed between two fingers, feel the rough seed coat. To dry, spread the tomato seeds out on kitchen paper or a filter bag. The individual grains must not touch each other.
Proper storage maintains germination
After you have obtained your own seeds from tomatoes, there are still a few months to go before sowing. To ensure that the seeds survive this waiting period, two factors play an important role: darkness and drought. The following three variants for storage have proven to be excellent:
- in an opaque screw-top jar
- in small paper bags in the dry cellar room
- leave on kitchen paper, fold up and store in an airtight container
Whichever version you choose; don't miss the clear caption. When you start sowing seeds on the windowsill or in the greenhouse next spring, you will be grateful for this forward-looking measure.
Can be kept for up to five years
Since you can harvest 30, 40 or more seeds from a single tomato, there is a lot of interest in shelf life. If you give the seeds a cool, dark and dry place to store them, they will remain viable for five years. For this reason, we recommend always adding the year of harvest to the label.
tips and tricks
Anyone who is not sure whether the tomato seeds are still germinable after a few years of storage can carry out a germination test. Kitchen paper is spread out on a plate, a few seeds are scattered, moistened and covered with cling film. If after a few days at the warm window seat at least half of the seed sample has come up, the seed can still be used.