How to Save Tomato Seeds - Two EASY Methods || Black Gumbo

Have you ever wanted to save tomato seeds of that one variety that tasted so delicious? Have you found a variety at a farmer’s market or fruit stand that tasted so very good that you wanted to grow it yourself? I'll show you how easy it is to save seeds so that you can grow your own tomatoes from your own seeds. Seed saving is not a mystery and doesn't require any special gear. Let's get to it!

You may support our channel by shopping the following links:

The exceptional book about tomatoes you must have: "Epic Tomatoes" by Craig LeHoullier (my Amazon affiliate link):
(As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)

Shop at Seeds for Generations:

___

Black Gumbo shares our suburban, backyard, sustainable gardening efforts. We work a small-scale teaching garden, much like the typical Zone 9a backyard garden and raised beds, the kind of gardening accessible to all. We also grow lots of fruit and berries. We tend to take the slice of life approach and hope you will enjoy our family, our dog, our cooking, our adventures, and occasionally some commentary and advice. We love family, joy and friendship, and we invite you to enjoy these things with us!

Please subscribe to our channel:

Follow us on Instagram;

We’d be so grateful if you would like and share our videos if you find them useful. It helps us immensely.

[SauerPatchGardening]

Technical term: mush them around. And thats exactly what you have to do! Love it.

[ab_ab_c]

You are making more work for yourself than necessary. I've saved tomato seeds for years & the quickest & best method that I've used is as follows:

1. Cut the tomato in half.
2. Squeeze or scoop out the gel+seeds into a fine mesh strainer over the sink.
3. Rinse the seeds until all of the gel is gone. Vigorously shake off the excess water.
4. Dump the seeds onto a plastic cutting board or plastic ice cream gallon bucket lid (which is what I use).
5. Spread out the seeds with a finger.
6. Allow the seeds to dry (usually only requires a day or 2 depending on the room temp, but you can certainly wait 5 days, if you wish).
7. Scrape the dry seeds loose from the plastic with a finger nail (which is quite easy to do).
8. Package & label the seeds in a paper seed packet (I carefully opened an old seed packet & traced it onto thin cardboard stock for a template & then use that template on copy paper to make quick home made seed packets). Alternatively, use a clear grocery store produce bag as a storage container, a piece of paper for the packing info (date, tomato variety, etc), & a twist tie. Trim off the excess bag plastic.
9. Put the seeds in a cool dry location (personally, I put them in a Zip-lock bag & put it in the refrigerator & it works perfectly--meaning the seeds last for years using this method).

While the above list looks like a lot of steps when detailed, the most time consuming step is making the paper seed packets--which isn't even very time consuming as I can trace, cut, fold, & tape the seams in less than a couple of minutes per packet).

[amyschultz]

Great information. You had me laughing at " That taste like disappointment " oh, I've ate those before. Good to see you again. Happy gardening

[cindynielson]

Great video. Thanks for sharing all your knowledge. 🍅👍

[adigmon]

I always ferment mine to save and have fantastic germination. I always add a little water. I have also been snipping the suckers off the bottoms of my determinate tomatoes and sticking them in little pots so I have plants ready to go in the ground when my first determinates are done.

[JaniceGordon-ng]

I've simply tossed left over seeds I've cleaned up from the cutting board into a space in the garden, or tossed a 'gone over' tomato into a space in the garden and they sprout the next spring when it warms up. Same thing with Japanese Pumpkins, and various kinds of zucchini or squash. The seedlings I don't have space for, I give to neighbors as a gift.

[jeffsherwood]

Didn't know all of that thanks for the info

[Selma_Farm]

I feel enjoyed to waching your video, greetings from Indonesia

[carynsommersdorf]

Scott thank you so much for this video. I've had good luck just slicing up a tomato and sticking it in a pot of dirt. I have so many roma tomatoes growing in my backyard now. But I wanted to save some of those seeds to plant in the fall. It's getting really hot here in Orlando. I wish it would rain here. So Thank you for this video! Looks like I have a fun Friday night planned. 🤪 I love gardening. 🍅🍅🍅

[vickirickman]

Thanks Scott
You’ll have to do peppers 🫑
Next time Mine never turn out right. Just a thought

That was funny “Tastes like a disappointment” 😆

God bless

[angelaraum]

This is what i did when i was given a tomato & loved the test. Its a big ? what exactly it is.

[lannylancaster]

Thanks for showing a simple process in a simple way. Many overcomplicate things.

[nusulanakiragga]

Thanks Scott for that nice information

[tangell]

hi Scott you sure thank you for the information

[Teardrops-In-The-Royal-Family]

Thank you for your video! Wow, I learned a lot!

[carynsommersdorf]

Just ordered some seeds from the family you recommended. Thanks again Scott for the video!

[GreenThumbGardener]

Love that book. Was very interesting. I like to wash them 😂. I don’t like sticky fingers!

[Diane-kk]

If you have a tomato that is not really red will the seeds grow?

[kath-phlox]

I use the cardboard method if I want to save seed, the seed doesn't stick to it.

[carynsommersdorf]

Can I apply any of these techniques to unripe tomatoes?