found some gorgeous wee tomatos at the supermarket today, wasnt prepared to pay $7 for 15 wee toms but the vege guy marked them down to 50c cos half were squishy.now whats the best way to dry them for seed! leave them whole! take seeds out! dry in oven! slow dry in hot water cuboard! these r gonna be my summer gems.
veejay13,
Aug 3, 1:38am
Take the pulp (and seeds) out, fold in a paper towel and place on a sunny windowsill (if you can find one this awful weather lol).Leave to dry out. Perhaps the hotwater cupboard would be the best place.
purplegoanna,
Aug 3, 1:48am
great thanks ive done 2 marg lids out of some,.
tjmc,
Aug 3, 3:49am
Ooh that sounds wonderful PG - I love chancing upon finds like that.Have you ever popped down to the clevedon markets on a Sunday and seen the vareties of tomatoes that they have there!Great seeds also from Running Brook Farms.
purplegoanna,
Aug 3, 4:42pm
they're called European devines and they're similar in shape to the oval acid free toms but these are about the size of a small bantam egg and are red and yellows
lythande1,
Aug 4, 12:52am
+1, doesn't even have to be especially sunny.
matthews4,
Aug 4, 2:16am
I just spread them on a paper towel, write on it what is - small red, pear shaped yellow, large red, etc, and leave to dry on window sill.will still do that at this time of year, as have a big fire,then fold them up, and put in old envelope, label tomato, and year.tomato are the easiest things to grow from saved sead - 9 out of 10 grow.Don't know why people pay so much for plants, as so easy to grow.Even older seeds will grow.Never buy packets anymore, just save seeds from toms we have enjoyed. - mostly our own.
tehenga288,
Aug 4, 4:21am
+ 1Just place the paper towel with the dried seeds stuck to it on some soil and cover with seed raising mix and you should get dozens of plants.
purplegoanna,
Oct 4, 7:45pm
news to all put my first few home dried tomato seeds down and ive got beautiful little crop of green hairs coming up.now just got to find homws for all the wee tomato plants.ill have to get my trust paper seed mould maker out and start putting them all in their own little bundles.
kateley,
Oct 4, 9:08pm
you sent me some of the seeds and I've had a great success rate with them.Have got little plants about 2 inches high. (one has quite a different leaf to the rest - will be great to see what sort of fruit I get. Thanks again for your generosity
fiona98,
Oct 5, 4:56pm
How long does it take for the seed to come grow/germinate, I am new to planting seeds and I planted some 5 days ago and still no show.My flower seeds have come up :)
purplegoanna,
Oct 5, 5:13pm
no worries, im super duper glad they germinated.and now hoping desperatly theyre not some weird thing that wot grow true to fruit.
kateley,
Oct 5, 7:01pm
that's half the fun of collecting your own seeds!
kateley,
Dec 19, 4:57pm
mine have got lots of cute little tomatoes on them - they're quite long and similar in shape to a butter nut pumpkin (iykwim)
purplegoanna,
Dec 19, 5:05pm
they were originally the size of your thumb almost mini capsicum in shape.but yes slightly longish.my plants arnet the best due to lack of water.can you post a pic!
gardie,
Dec 20, 11:42am
What a great thread to follow!I also grow my tomatoes from seeds - I do still buy seeds when I read about a 'new' plant that is supposed to be superb.I have one that was given to me a few years ago.I was told its a heirloom plant and appears to be acid free but I couldn't guarantee that. It fruits heavily, grows big and meaty and tastes great.This year though I'm trying 3 that I haven't before - mortgage lifter (I know, I'm behind the times!), bloody butcher (I liked the name) and mini belle for pots (a suggestion from a gardener).i've seen fruit on them and can't wait to try them although with this weather, it will still be some time away. Those tomatoes kateley look very interesting!
purplegoanna,
Dec 20, 2:12pm
yip thats the shape but theyll hopefully grow fatter.thats fab thankyou so much for posting.
mottly,
Dec 20, 3:47pm
I bought some of those too - it was good, they'd been refrigerated, so had their 'winter'. I just squeezed them onto a seedling tray of potting mix, and now have hundreds of seedlings! Been giving them away to all my mates, still got about 40 left though!Hope they don't grow into beefsteak, or something like that lol!We just squeeze them onto a handi towel and leave it to dry on the top of the fridge - (for next year) but make sure you pop them in the fridge for a week or two before planting :)
astroflight1,
Dec 20, 9:00pm
Best to ferment them in a glass, or let nature do it.Drop a whole tomato on soil in a little pot and cover with leaf litter.In nature, fallen tomatoes ferment.Just drying them is not the best way to go about it.
my pro-tip is when the seeds are cleaned up, a great place to store them is in an old berocca container, cos it has a desiccant tab built right into the lid. Love that! They're rat-proof too so safe in the garden shed
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