Saving Whippersnapper Seed

[daveyboi]

I have had two attempts now at saving Whippersnapper seeds which have both failed.
I have been following the instructions below but when rinsing I end up with nothing in a fine hair sieve. Any suggestions will be welcome as to an alternative method.

seed collection?
same as all tomatoes, squeeze a tomato 'til the pips are in a small glass / bottle / whatever,  add a little water, leave to start rotting.
lift off mouldy crust, then put remaining stuff into fine sieve, and rinse under the cold tap 'til clean seeds are all that is left. dry on kitchen paper, label and store / give away.

( the rotting process is best way to avoid Tomato Mosaic Virus being passed on, also Tomato / Potato Blight)

[daveyboi]

[Jeannine]

OK, can you see seeds in the fruit when you slice it open?

If yes and they are not there when you rinse I would guess you are leaving then too long and the rot is eating away the seeds.

So .. lets try again.. if you have seeds in the fruit

Don't use a bottle you need a wider area. Use a small margarine tub or something like that.Don't cover it.

Squeeze the insides of you tomatoes into the dish only mix water in if you have to.LLeave it in a warm place it will begin to smell and a mould will begin on the surface, when the mould just covers the surface after about 2/3 days , tip the  WHOLE THING  into a fine sieve . Then under a gentle running tap agitate it with your fingers, the mould crust will break up and begin to disperse, gently rub the stuff against the sides of the sieve until gradually you are left with just seeds in the sieve. If you leave it too long during fermentation the seeds may rot or they may begin to germinate.

OR  after the three days you can add water to the mass, saya pint ,agitate it then let it settle, the good seeds will drop to the bottom and you will be able to gently pour off  the  water, mold,bits of junk etc  which will be floating

OR you can put your fresh tomato pulp in a blender with  a fair amount of water and agitate it for a minute, the garbage will come off and float and the seeds will fall to the bottom, the machine will,not hurt the seeds. Gently pour off the floating stuff and get the seeds from the bottom.

Dry on paper plates or coffee filters but not on tissue or paper towel as it sticks.

While they are drying on the paper plate, rub your fingers in them to break up lumps now and again, don't dry in sunlight or in the oven .It will take a few days.

If you still don't manage it I will put an illustrated explanation on for you.

I suspect your problem is when you have been chucking out the mouldy crust the seeds have been going with it or as I said in the beginning you are leaving it too long

Try to have a goodly amount when you are fermenting them.

This should do you.

XX Jeannine

[daveyboi]

Thanks for the information I will try again .

I think the second time I left them too long as it was a few days before it started to get a mould.

[saddad]

and if all else fails... I could send you some... I use an egg cup to ferment mine...  :-X

[kypfer]

For the last 10 years or so I've saved my favourite tomato seed (Sunrise) simply by scooping a few seeds from a ripe fruit on the chopping board onto a sheet of paper towel, where they've been spread out and left to dry. Once dry, the paper is simply folded up, labelled and put in the seed-box. Come planting time, the seed are separated, scraps of towel and all, and sown "normally" ... no rinsing, washing, fermenting etc. etc. and few or no failures when the seed is collected from a REALLY RIPE tomato that has ripend on the plant.

I would recommend at least trying this method with a few seed of your own ... just to see if it works for you. Other people I know use the same method, with different varieties, admittedly only for relatively small amounts of plants, with similar success.

If you were saving seed on a commercial basis, ie hundreds of seeds rather than a dozen or two, more involved methods would be justifiable, simply to ease the handling of the quantity of seed. For the "average domestic requirement" the paper towel seems to work just fine.

[daveyboi]

Thanks for the suggestions I will try that if the third attempt fails or as a backup method anyway.

[Jeannine]

The paper towel IS just fine I agree but the fermentation kills off blight  spores too which is such a major problem even a small chance of getting it is best not risked, so it is really better to do the longer way if you can.

XX Jeannine

[galina]

daveyboi, 
there are instructions on seed fermenting at the bottom of this page.  The RealSeeds company encourage seed saving and give instructions.  You need to scroll down all the way:
http://www.realseeds.co.uk/tomatoes.html
HTH

[daveyboi]

Thanks galina
I had already read that the other night.
It is a good site with interesting articles as well as seeds.

[daveyboi]

Just let you all know I left the seeds for 4 days and then washed them off and this time I got seeds  ;D

However they did not go mouldy in this time frame but there was slight signs of fermentation.

Thanks everyone for the tips and I have a few seeds over if anyone would like them.

[Jeannine]

Well done and ten out of ten for perseverance..just make sure they are really dry before storing them XX Jeannine