Quote:
Originally Posted by AlittleSalt
8 days ago I started saving Juliet tomato seeds. The are from Juliet F1 tomatoes. I'm just curious to see F2s.
I saved a lot of seeds last year of other tomatoes and peppers. I did the exact same things this year as well. I placed a coffee filter on the top of the jar and set them out in a semi-shaded area. What is odd is there is no floating muck on top of this batch of seeds. The water is discolored and has no floating seeds.
Does the fact that there is no floating muck mean anything?
Also, do I have to let them dry before planting some of them in seed cells?
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And I always use fermentation since data is available as to which pathogens might be destroyed if they are in the gunk, since several folks have looked into the oxidative methods and not found any such data that Dr, Helene Dillard did with fermentation.
But even with frmentation sometimes i see no fungal mat on top of the gunk, just thin watery reddish colored, no floating seeds and IMO such events happen depending on the pH of the initial gunk since there are those varieties that do have a lower acicid pH than others.
I like having that fungal mat since enzymes are made that help take the gel capsules off the seeds.
And as Ted said, you don't have to dry the seeds before sowing them. I was sent whole fruits for what became the variety Sara's Galapagos, took out some seeds and did not process tham at all and got 100% germination.
In my area of upstate NY there are few soilborne diseases, most prominent are the common foliage diseases, but if I lived in another area where soilborne diseases are usually found I would select fermentation over an oxidative method, just playing it safe.
Carolyn