Contents
How to get seeds from a tomato
It is not necessary to buy them in the store, since it is not at all difficult to get seeds from a tomato on your own. But this is very beneficial for the future harvest. Your seeds will allow you to keep your favorite variety and even improve the results.
What is the best way to prepare tomato seeds?
Self-collected seeds have advantages over store-bought seeds:
- they are large and viable, have a high germination rate;
- plants from them grow strong, disease-resistant;
- retain the properties and high yield of their favorite variety;
- give a quality guarantee.
How to get seeds from a tomato – you need to choose healthy and undamaged fruits
Seed collection is carried out exactly in the middle of the fruiting period. To increase your harvest next year, use some tips:
- take fruits from those bushes that are most developed and correctly formed, fruitful;
- must comply with the description specific to the variety. If they differ in any way, it may be a different variety or a mixture of the two. Weak and low-yielding plants will grow from the seeds of the hybrids;
- the strongest and most disease-resistant seeds can be harvested from the fruits growing on the stem itself;
- we take tomatoes large, ripe, without damage and signs of disease.
The seed from the rotten fruit will germinate even before drying is complete, it is not suitable for growing seedlings. The same applies to late blight disease, the plants will turn out to be weak and sick.
How to release seeds from tomatoes correctly?
We decided on the choice of fruits, now you need to correctly collect the seed material. To do this, we will perform the following actions:
- cut the tomato across, take out the seeds, place them in glassware – they should ferment for 3 days. We leave them at room temperature;
- We remove the mold that has appeared on the surface in 3 days; mix the contents of the container. We remove those seeds that have surfaced. They are empty and will not sprout. We stir until they stop floating up;
- the remaining seed material is selected and the strongest. We rinse it with water, filter it and rinse it again;
- lay out to dry on film or paper. Then the resulting material is placed in gauze bags, where they will continue to dry.
For further storage, pour the seeds into paper bags, close. In order not to be confused, we sign the variety and the year. We leave in a dry and dark place, can be stored at room temperature if the air humidity is low. Planting is best next spring, but they will retain their germination ability for 4 years.