Can I just save tomato seeds like this and plant with the paper towel later?
Can I just save tomato seeds like this and plant with the paper towel later?
by npj1564
28 Comments
jhw528
Yeah
MikeDaCarpenter
That’s what I do, except I wash them and set them out to dry in a paper towel. I do it every year with heirloom seeds and they grow just fine every year.
Blakesdad02
My father in law went a cruise somewhere, ive forgotten where. Wife and I pick him up at airport. Wife and kids get t shirts and other touristy bullshit. I got a napkin. Inside the napkin were seeds from a tomato he had on the cruise. He says, Wanna stay in my Will ? Grow these for me. So sure as shit, six months later I cleaned em up, started the seeding process. Much to my and his surprise, they did very well, and im still waiting for him to kick the bucket 😂 So yes, they will.
TBSchemer
I squeeze them out of their gel sacs on the paper towel, and then transfer them to a folded square of printer paper to dry. They stick less to the printer paper, so it’s easier to scrape the dried seeds off and into an envelope.
Known-unkown
Yes
thereslcjg2000
Serious gardeners want you to ferment them first, but I’ve never had any issues just doing what you’re doing.
Miserable-Star7826
My 100 yr old mother in law has saved seeds like this all her life . We still have some that she wiped onto old Japanese orange paper wrappers which also doubled as bum fluff 😅 I have some from the 80’s I’m going to try and grow 😆
Gravelsack
I use paper plates, but yes
soxfannh
Yup that’s what I’ve done with volunteers the last couple seasons worked well.
YeojSeyah
I did this last year. This year they’re growing on the front porch while the majority of the seeds are still hanging out on the side of my fridge on a paper towel
primeline31
You could do this and you can also pick them off and put them in a small plastic zip bag. But here’s what I have been doing for at least 10 years:
Scoop/scrape seeds & jell into a small glass. Add a tablespoon of water, cover with plastic wrap and let sit about 3 days on the counter. It will look awful & disgusting but it’s supposed to. This is what happens in nature, when a tomato ripens, falls to the ground and rots away, so it’s ok.
Take a small colander (with a screen or openings smaller than the seeds) and pour that mess into it. Run cold water over it and all the mess will wash away, leaving clean, wet seeds. Turn the colander over and tap it onto a clean paper towel.
Let that paper towel sit until it’s totally dry then pick off the clean seeds into a plastic zip bag.
Make a slip of paper to fit and write the type of tomato and the month & year. Put it in the bag with the clean, dry seeds, close it and put it in a cool, dry place – I keep mine in the back of my refrigerator’s cold cut drawer.
When prepared & stored like this, I’ve had nothing but success in sprouting them, even 10-12 years later!
Tomato seeds in a sterile seed starting mix will sprout at room temp, but they sprout a little faster in a warm place. Light and moisture are the MOST important thing for tomato seedlings. Once they sprout they need LIGHT.
I use small flourescent lights (think 10 gal. aquarium hood light size) put my seedlings on a small wire shelf and place 2-3 layers of books under the waterproof tray holding the seedling so that they are only about an inch fromthe lights. As they get tall & almost touch the lights, I remove a layer of books.
When it’s warm enough, I put them outside in the day & inside at night under the lights until the nights are warm enough to leave them out.
Pots: I start with re-used cell packs then repot when the second leaves come out into plastic solo-type cups that I melted holes in the bottom of using a cheap craft soldering iron (I do this outside. Melting plastic smells). The dollar stores sell them in colors so you can sort the varieties. I cut label sticks from trashed Venetian blinds & write with pencil because Sharpie markers fade in the sun.
And that’s my method…
boomszoom
Yes it will work. Bonus is you can plant it like that then either carefully separate the seedlings once they germinate or you can just cut the ones you don’t like. Since it’s usually 2ply paper, I’ll separate it and only plant the piece with the seeds stuck on. Way easier than separating each seed prior to planting
Due_Speaker_2829
I do one variety per paper towel with the name on the top in sharpie. Just squeezed right out of the tomatoes. I dry them flat on a tea towel in the sun, then let them hang on a cork board for a few days. I store all the paper towels folded flat in a ziplock bag until the following year. To plant, I just cut a section and drop it into a cup of soil. 100% germination after 2 weeks.
NinaNeutral
Yes
permalink_child
Go for it. Report back.
CurrentResident23
It’s worked for me. Best part is you can just pick off a piece of the paper with a seed and plant it. No faffing around with a packet and picking out just one or two small seeds.
Kiliana117
Would you like to see my stack of stained, folded paper towels I’ve accumulated over the past few years?
Spiritual-Pianist386
I just throw squished heirlooms on the garden bed and volunteer plants pop up every year. I have to thin them out
FishAndRiceKeks
Yup. I’ve done exactly that planting paper towel with seeds stuck to it lol.
Kalusyfloozy
I did some like this and then forgot about them and didn’t dry them properly (they were stuffed in a pocket of my bag) and they got all mouldy and gross and I still planted them and still got excellent germination 😂
mrfilthynasty4141
Id just dry them out for storage but if not storing you can prob just plop them into soil. I store my pepper seeds to replant the following year by drying the actual peppers for making some dried pepper flakes and i just take some seeds out to make it not as hot which gives me seeds to plant. If its not that type of pepper i just remove the seeds and let them dry on a paper towel. Then throw in a little tupperware.
WoolooOfWallStreet
Yeah, I’ve had the tomatoes spew so much juice into the paper towel that it didn’t dry, so the seeds started germinating into the paper towel
shootNshhitt
You can save em that way but I don’t recommend planting the paper towels with it later on.
Medlarmarmaduke
I spread the seeds more evenly than your pic on the paper towel, fold it up and write the variety and the date saved on the paper towel and keep in a dry place
This is how I’ve saved tomato seeds for years!
Icy-Ichthyologist92
I’ve been known to have heirloom caprese salads at restaurants or other places and literally spoon some of the jelly seeds onto a paper towel, come back home, and label them as “Good caprese heirloom at X location”. This year I’m growing two that I had last year and it’s a fun game when you know they’re heirlooms and they passed your taste test! I just tear the paper towel part with the seed, plant it and VOILA! Not 100% germination (try growing when you’ve been salted, and then slathered in olive oil/balsamic) but if you have some space and time, totally worthwhile!
npj1564
Yes and you can write notes on the paper towel…
theshedonstokelane
In uk there is The Real Seed company. They do not sell F1 seeds. Sell loads of interesting varieties. Every packet comes with instructions on how to keep those seeds for your own planting next year. Really good advice. My gardeners delight seeds have been generational for 20 years with new plants each year from last years fruit. Wash them. Dry them on paper. Paper envelope with name on them, John, Mary etc., seed drawer. Use them. Once asked a beekeeper with 150 hives how he remembered all the names of the bees. He said the problem was thinking of the names in the first place.
Rollerama99
I find it amazing the amount of effort people put into the seeds! I didn’t know about all this, I usually just flick them right off the chopping board right into the ground and I have tomato plants coming out of the wazoo
28 Comments
Yeah
That’s what I do, except I wash them and set them out to dry in a paper towel. I do it every year with heirloom seeds and they grow just fine every year.
My father in law went a cruise somewhere, ive forgotten where.
Wife and I pick him up at airport. Wife and kids get t shirts and other touristy bullshit.
I got a napkin. Inside the napkin were seeds from a tomato he had on the cruise. He says, Wanna stay in my Will ? Grow these for me. So sure as shit, six months later I cleaned em up, started the seeding process. Much to my and his surprise, they did very well, and im still waiting for him to kick the bucket 😂 So yes, they will.
I squeeze them out of their gel sacs on the paper towel, and then transfer them to a folded square of printer paper to dry. They stick less to the printer paper, so it’s easier to scrape the dried seeds off and into an envelope.
Yes
Serious gardeners want you to ferment them first, but I’ve never had any issues just doing what you’re doing.
My 100 yr old mother in law has saved seeds like this all her life . We still have some that she wiped onto old Japanese orange paper wrappers which also doubled as bum fluff 😅 I have some from the 80’s I’m going to try and grow 😆
I use paper plates, but yes
Yup that’s what I’ve done with volunteers the last couple seasons worked well.
I did this last year. This year they’re growing on the front porch while the majority of the seeds are still hanging out on the side of my fridge on a paper towel
You could do this and you can also pick them off and put them in a small plastic zip bag. But here’s what I have been doing for at least 10 years:
Scoop/scrape seeds & jell into a small glass. Add a tablespoon of water, cover with plastic wrap and let sit about 3 days on the counter. It will look awful & disgusting but it’s supposed to. This is what happens in nature, when a tomato ripens, falls to the ground and rots away, so it’s ok.
Take a small colander (with a screen or openings smaller than the seeds) and pour that mess into it. Run cold water over it and all the mess will wash away, leaving clean, wet seeds. Turn the colander over and tap it onto a clean paper towel.
Let that paper towel sit until it’s totally dry then pick off the clean seeds into a plastic zip bag.
Make a slip of paper to fit and write the type of tomato and the month & year. Put it in the bag with the clean, dry seeds, close it and put it in a cool, dry place – I keep mine in the back of my refrigerator’s cold cut drawer.
When prepared & stored like this, I’ve had nothing but success in sprouting them, even 10-12 years later!
Tomato seeds in a sterile seed starting mix will sprout at room temp, but they sprout a little faster in a warm place. Light and moisture are the MOST important thing for tomato seedlings. Once they sprout they need LIGHT.
I use small flourescent lights (think 10 gal. aquarium hood light size) put my seedlings on a small wire shelf and place 2-3 layers of books under the waterproof tray holding the seedling so that they are only about an inch fromthe lights. As they get tall & almost touch the lights, I remove a layer of books.
When it’s warm enough, I put them outside in the day & inside at night under the lights until the nights are warm enough to leave them out.
Pots: I start with re-used cell packs then repot when the second leaves come out into plastic solo-type cups that I melted holes in the bottom of using a cheap craft soldering iron (I do this outside. Melting plastic smells). The dollar stores sell them in colors so you can sort the varieties. I cut label sticks from trashed Venetian blinds & write with pencil because Sharpie markers fade in the sun.
And that’s my method…
Yes it will work. Bonus is you can plant it like that then either carefully separate the seedlings once they germinate or you can just cut the ones you don’t like. Since it’s usually 2ply paper, I’ll separate it and only plant the piece with the seeds stuck on. Way easier than separating each seed prior to planting
I do one variety per paper towel with the name on the top in sharpie. Just squeezed right out of the tomatoes. I dry them flat on a tea towel in the sun, then let them hang on a cork board for a few days. I store all the paper towels folded flat in a ziplock bag until the following year. To plant, I just cut a section and drop it into a cup of soil. 100% germination after 2 weeks.
Yes
Go for it. Report back.
It’s worked for me. Best part is you can just pick off a piece of the paper with a seed and plant it. No faffing around with a packet and picking out just one or two small seeds.
Would you like to see my stack of stained, folded paper towels I’ve accumulated over the past few years?
I just throw squished heirlooms on the garden bed and volunteer plants pop up every year. I have to thin them out
Yup. I’ve done exactly that planting paper towel with seeds stuck to it lol.
I did some like this and then forgot about them and didn’t dry them properly (they were stuffed in a pocket of my bag) and they got all mouldy and gross and I still planted them and still got excellent germination 😂
Id just dry them out for storage but if not storing you can prob just plop them into soil. I store my pepper seeds to replant the following year by drying the actual peppers for making some dried pepper flakes and i just take some seeds out to make it not as hot which gives me seeds to plant. If its not that type of pepper i just remove the seeds and let them dry on a paper towel. Then throw in a little tupperware.
Yeah, I’ve had the tomatoes spew so much juice into the paper towel that it didn’t dry, so the seeds started germinating into the paper towel
You can save em that way but I don’t recommend planting the paper towels with it later on.
I spread the seeds more evenly than your pic on the paper towel, fold it up and write the variety and the date saved on the paper towel and keep in a dry place
This is how I’ve saved tomato seeds for years!
I’ve been known to have heirloom caprese salads at restaurants or other places and literally spoon some of the jelly seeds onto a paper towel, come back home, and label them as “Good caprese heirloom at X location”. This year I’m growing two that I had last year and it’s a fun game when you know they’re heirlooms and they passed your taste test! I just tear the paper towel part with the seed, plant it and VOILA! Not 100% germination (try growing when you’ve been salted, and then slathered in olive oil/balsamic) but if you have some space and time, totally worthwhile!
Yes and you can write notes on the paper towel…
In uk there is The Real Seed company.
They do not sell F1 seeds. Sell loads of interesting varieties.
Every packet comes with instructions on how to keep those seeds for your own planting next year.
Really good advice.
My gardeners delight seeds have been generational for 20 years with new plants each year from last years fruit.
Wash them. Dry them on paper. Paper envelope with name on them, John, Mary etc., seed drawer.
Use them.
Once asked a beekeeper with 150 hives how he remembered all the names of the bees.
He said the problem was thinking of the names in the first place.
I find it amazing the amount of effort people put into the seeds! I didn’t know about all this, I usually just flick them right off the chopping board right into the ground and I have tomato plants coming out of the wazoo