Harvesting Heirloom Tomato Seeds

Above photo is from a free public domain image site

Where I live at, it is now nearing the end of the growing season. In addition to preserving the produce from my garden, I am also harvesting and saving heirloom seeds for next year's garden. While heirloom tomato seeds are sort of icky to save, none-the-less, they are easy to harvest and store and the process is pretty straight forward..

If you are saving seeds from tomatoes that you have grown, choose only the the best looking tomatoes from the healthiest plants. Wash the tomato and cut it in half across the middle (think the “equator” of the tomato). Using either a spoon, or your hands, scoop or squeeze out the seeds and liquid from the tomato, reserving the seeds and liquid in either a glass or plastic container.

Cover the container with plastic wrap and with a knife or pin, punch a small hole in the middle of the plastic. The hole is so a little air can get out of the container and help with the fermentation. Place the container in a warm, sunny spot. I use a window sill which works out great. Each day give the container a little swish around. If you remove the plastic wrap and put new plastic on, don't forget to punch a hole in the top of the plastic wrap.

After 3-4 days, nature will take over and the top of the tomatoes will start to look scummy. This is what you want to have happen. The whitish scum is the fermentation which will separate the seed from the slimmy membrane around the seeds. This also helps to destroy any possible tomato diseases that can live in the seeds.

With a spoon, carefully remove the fuzzy scum surface. Fill the container with water. The good seeds will sink to the bottom and the bad seeds will float. Discard the bad seeds. Pour the contents into a fine sieve strainer. Rinse seeds well. Once the seeds have been completely cleaned off, place seeds onto a plate that has been covered with wax paper and spread them out into a single layer. Allow the seeds to dry for a few days, stirring the seeds daily so that the seeds will dry all over. Make sure to spreed the seeds back into a single layer after each stirring. You will know that the seeds are dry when they easily slip across the wax paper when the plate is slightly tilted.

Once dried, you can store the seeds in either a paper envelope or a plastic bag. There are those that caution against using plastic to store seeds, but I haven't had any problems in doing so. Just make sure that if you use a plastic bag, to allow the seeds to completely dry before storing them. Otherwise mold and rotting can take place. Paper envelopes will adsorb any remaining moisture. Label bag and store in cool place out of direct sunlight.

Thanks for reading and visiting my blog. :-)