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#114911 Aug 20th, 2007 at 02:07 PM
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Hi, all. I've never really grown tomatoes before (watched my Dad, he's been gone for 21 years). For several years Ed and I have bought boxes of mixed heirloom tomatoes at a local farm stand. Some, not all, are truely excellent. Can I save the seeds (if so, how?) and grow toms that will be true to the fruit we ate and enjoyed?
See? Thanks to y'all I'm "branching" out; secure in my succulents, willing to try something else.


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only if you manage to plant them far enough away from each other that they can't cross polinate. Or if you think you can hand polinate them before they cross polinate.

For me it's to difficult because the tomatoes have a tendency to put out a bunch of blooms all at the same time. So if I want to harvest seeds I stick to growing only one type at a time.


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tkhooper #115695 Aug 21st, 2007 at 12:24 PM
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assuming they are indeed open-pollinated fruit, yes you can save seeds from them, but there's no way of knowing that they didn't cross-pollinate and will come true from the saved seed. wouldn't hurt to try though if you like them that much. there are hundreds of commercially available varieties though that you can be relatively sure will grow true.

to save the seed, cut the tomato in half(around it's equator) and squeeze the seed and gel into a container. stir it every day or so if you want. after about a week a fungal mat will develop on top at which time just rinse all of the mold, etc out of the container. then set the seeds on a paper towel or paper plate to dry for a week. thats it. then just make sure to store them DRY! they'll last for years if stored correctly

johnCT #116616 Aug 23rd, 2007 at 05:02 AM
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Thanks. Since I have no way of knowing what grew near the ones we like, I think we'll eat the tomatoes now and buy seeds next year.


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