Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)
Easy to save
Family: Solanaceae (Nightshade)
Pollination: Self fertile, perfect flowers Populatuion Size: Minium one, preferably four or more Isolation: Easy. Time, Distance (3m between varieties) Cross pollination: Low risk of cross pollination by insects. Processing: Fermentation method Viability: 6 years We are lucky to have over 200 varieties of tomato growing in the Nelson region. It's a summer favorite that most gardeners enjoy growing. Since about 2008 Nelson has had the Tomato Potato Psyllid, a disease carrying insect that has caused lots of problems for the nightshade family. Something that would be useful is to identify which tomatoes are the most psyllid resistant in our region. Crop protection with natural repellents (e.g. neem oil), chemicals and screens has been met with various levels of success.
There are two main groups of tomato. Indeterminate tomatoes are the most common and will continue to produce new tomatoes throughout the season. They tend to grow very tall and benefit from lateral pruning and solid staking. Determinate |
Hot tip - Watch out for rains when the seeds heads are ripening |
GROWING FOR SEED SAVING
Seeds should be sown in September/October and kept protected from late cold snaps. Several varieties may be grown in the home garden but try to keep as far apart as practical. Prepare a well composted area with lots of organic matter. When transplanting tomatoes the seedling can be planted deeply as it will grow new roots where the stem is covered with soil. Tomatoes like to be kept evenly watered throughout the season and can be quite thirsty in the middle of our hot summers. Most varieties benefit from support in the form of cages or stakes and indeterminate varieties benefit from pruning laterals and lower leaves.
COLLECTING SEEDS
When fully ripened (slightly past the normal point of picking) the tomatoes can be selected for seed saving. Try to get disease free fruit that represent the variety well. Tomato seeds need to be processed away from the gel sacks that protect them using the fermentation method. The seeds, pulp and tomato juice should be squeezed into a container and mixed with a small amount of water. This mix should be left in a warm location for 3-5 days, stirring occasionally. A white mold will often form and the mix may bubbly slightly(this is a good thing). After a few days fill the container with clean water and stir, the good tomato seeds will sink to the bottom and the rest will either float or remain suspended. Several rinses are needed to thoroughly clean the seed. Once clean the seed should be dried as quickly as practical, the best way to do this is on a hard surface, like a plate, rather than getting them stuck on a paper towel as some people recommend. A dry tomato seed should snap rather than bend.
STORING SEEDS
Without their gel sack tomato seeds will store in a cool, dark dry place for at least six years often many more. Do not freeze tomato seeds but the seeds can be stored in the fridge to help them last even longer.
mature Letuce flowers are made up of lots of florets, which each conatin up to 25 seeds. The flowers mature from top to bottom over a few weeks and ripen in the same order. The flowers contain both male and female parts and will readily self pollinate with good seed set. They do however open breifly and cross pollination by insects during this time is possible, although the risk is low. Isolation can be achieved easily by only having one variety flowering at once, a 6m seperation from all other lettuces flowering at the same time should provide reasonable isolation. It is also easy to physically isolate lettuce seed flowers by wrapping in horticultral fleece or a fine insect mesh, no insect pollinators are required for good seed set.
Between two and four weeks after flowering the seed will become ripe and naturally fall from the seed head. One of the main problems with saving lettce seed is that the seed will easily rot if the seed head gets wet during the ripening process, either protect it from rain or if you are in for damp week the entire plant can be pulled up and hung in a shed to finish ripening. As the seed ripens over a period of a few weeks, you can visit the seed head every other day and shake the loose seed into a clean bucket, or, once the seed is starting to become loose the entire seed head can be cut and left to ripen in the shed for another week or two. Once dry, the seed head can be shaken into a bucket or threshed onto a tarp to remove the seed. In some varieties the seeds may need to be rubbed free.
The collected seed can then be cleaned by winnowing, seiving, or shaking from one container to another to seperate the chaff elecrtostaically. Cleaning lettuce seed is a dusty process and the dust can irrate the lungs, try not to beathe it. Once clean the seed should be dried throughly, labeled and returned to the seed library.
Seeds should be sown in September/October and kept protected from late cold snaps. Several varieties may be grown in the home garden but try to keep as far apart as practical. Prepare a well composted area with lots of organic matter. When transplanting tomatoes the seedling can be planted deeply as it will grow new roots where the stem is covered with soil. Tomatoes like to be kept evenly watered throughout the season and can be quite thirsty in the middle of our hot summers. Most varieties benefit from support in the form of cages or stakes and indeterminate varieties benefit from pruning laterals and lower leaves.
COLLECTING SEEDS
When fully ripened (slightly past the normal point of picking) the tomatoes can be selected for seed saving. Try to get disease free fruit that represent the variety well. Tomato seeds need to be processed away from the gel sacks that protect them using the fermentation method. The seeds, pulp and tomato juice should be squeezed into a container and mixed with a small amount of water. This mix should be left in a warm location for 3-5 days, stirring occasionally. A white mold will often form and the mix may bubbly slightly(this is a good thing). After a few days fill the container with clean water and stir, the good tomato seeds will sink to the bottom and the rest will either float or remain suspended. Several rinses are needed to thoroughly clean the seed. Once clean the seed should be dried as quickly as practical, the best way to do this is on a hard surface, like a plate, rather than getting them stuck on a paper towel as some people recommend. A dry tomato seed should snap rather than bend.
STORING SEEDS
Without their gel sack tomato seeds will store in a cool, dark dry place for at least six years often many more. Do not freeze tomato seeds but the seeds can be stored in the fridge to help them last even longer.
mature Letuce flowers are made up of lots of florets, which each conatin up to 25 seeds. The flowers mature from top to bottom over a few weeks and ripen in the same order. The flowers contain both male and female parts and will readily self pollinate with good seed set. They do however open breifly and cross pollination by insects during this time is possible, although the risk is low. Isolation can be achieved easily by only having one variety flowering at once, a 6m seperation from all other lettuces flowering at the same time should provide reasonable isolation. It is also easy to physically isolate lettuce seed flowers by wrapping in horticultral fleece or a fine insect mesh, no insect pollinators are required for good seed set.
Between two and four weeks after flowering the seed will become ripe and naturally fall from the seed head. One of the main problems with saving lettce seed is that the seed will easily rot if the seed head gets wet during the ripening process, either protect it from rain or if you are in for damp week the entire plant can be pulled up and hung in a shed to finish ripening. As the seed ripens over a period of a few weeks, you can visit the seed head every other day and shake the loose seed into a clean bucket, or, once the seed is starting to become loose the entire seed head can be cut and left to ripen in the shed for another week or two. Once dry, the seed head can be shaken into a bucket or threshed onto a tarp to remove the seed. In some varieties the seeds may need to be rubbed free.
The collected seed can then be cleaned by winnowing, seiving, or shaking from one container to another to seperate the chaff elecrtostaically. Cleaning lettuce seed is a dusty process and the dust can irrate the lungs, try not to beathe it. Once clean the seed should be dried throughly, labeled and returned to the seed library.