[ContainerTed]

Some folks here have lost sight of the goal of fermentation. Some have forgotten how that fungus mat forms. So, here's one last shot at sanity.

I capture seeds from the tomato into a strainer. While in this strainer, they are rubbed against the strainer sufficiently to burst the seed gel sac and release the liquid. If you don't manually break the gel sacs, then you have to wait for the fungus to form and then eat the sacs and release the gel. I like to give my seeds a head start on that. Then and only then are they placed into a jar. If you don't burst the sacs with your fingers, you're a day behind.

The fungus will begin forming in the liquid. It doesn't form evenly thruout the liquid. If you don't stir the soup in the jar, the fungus will concentrate in some areas while other areas may not have any at all. The fungus will continue to grow and replicate within the liquid until there is enough to cause some to come out of solution. This will float to the surface and begin the forming of the "mat". There might still be areas in the jar that have no fungus concentration at all. Stirring will insure that all areas have equal concentration thruout the jar, and that all seeds are getting the same progress at the same time.

Fermentation is not a test to see how long your seeds can sit in the fermentation process before they either rot or germinate. Fermentation is for dissolving the gel sacs and killing some pathogens while maintaining seed viability.

Yes, my process has the seeds in the soup for a shorter time. Does this mean my fermentation kills fewer pathogens. Possibly so. That's why I added the chlorox rinse which finishes that job quite well.

I ferment more than a hundred thousand seeds each year and my germination rates are consistantly 98% and above. It is my opinion that keeping seeds in the jar past day 6 is unnecessary and extremely risky. I take those seeds out and do some scouring cleanser scrubbing if they are not clean.

So, what do you want from those seeds and your efforts? Is it seeds that will germinate and not carry fungal diseases to your new plants? Or is it bragging rights on how long you kept seeds in an extremely risky scenario and still got one or two to produce a plant? That's a rhetorical question.

So, what is the real goal. I believe it's to remove the gel sacs and kill pathogens while maintaining the maximum viability, and to do so in minimum time. All of the time the seeds are soft and wet is time that accidents can happen and destroy them.


I'll edit to say that this is how I do it. Now, turn the page and read Carolyn's post. I hope you can see that I agree with her totally and completely. Any procedure which gets the results you want is the one you should use. But, if you're looking for some answers to problems in your method, then you might find something in my post or other posts to help you refine your fermentation procedures. Just don't lose sight of the final objective. And, KISS - Keep It Simple.