Viable seeds?

[UKgardener]

There are still a number of fully grown fuit on my various vines which have not ripened. And, short of a miracle, there won't be enough warm sunny spells now to ripen them. (Autumn is setting in here in the Midlands of England).

In few words - will the seeds be viable?

[Gardeneer]

Fully grown fruits should have a good chance to ripen inside, on your kitchen counter

[bower]

hi UKgardener, welcome to T'ville.

For viable seed, you can ripen the fruit off the vine - just wait till the fruit is fully ripe and then the seeds should be fine. Since the fruit are fully grown they're probably at the "green-ripe" stage and will have no problem ripening indoors. Putting them in a brown paper bag also helps to ripen, as they release enough ethylene themselves to raise the concentration within the bag. For large fruit just one per bag, or use a cardboard box instead to keep them in a single layer.

I've actually obtained viable seed from immature green fruit - not many but enough to grow out a late cross or two. These weren't green ripe and sat forever still green until I put them in a bag.. after that they finally coloured up and indeed had a few mature seeds for me.

[JLJ_]

If you have the space somewhere, and enough mature-green fruit, I'd ripen some of them not in a bag or other enclosure. Your objective is not to concentrate gas and get them to change color quickly, but to get them to mature as fully as possible, and they don't need a bag to do that. They shouldn't be anywhere they would be in sunlight, but when I accidentally put some mature green fruit under plant lights -- not a kind that generates noticible heat -- they ripened exceptionally well. Are you sure they're mature-green? If not, and if weather is friendly, you might leave them out until they are, even though they'll have to finish ripening inside.

[UKgardener]

Yes, I'm inclined to leave them for as long as possible on the vine. Latest weather forecast is that we are expecting the weather to remain (relatively) sunny and warm for the next few weeks to early October.
To be honest, I have never bothered to try and harvest seed before. What prompted me (as per my previous monotonous threads / posts) is to increase the number of seeds I have from my recent "kenches gold" raritity. I have succesfully harvested seed from 2 ripened fruit which will be enough. Just trying to be as prolific as possible.

[ContainerTed]

UKgardener, if you can leave them to the last possible time, you can also do what I do. Harvest the fruit with as much of the vine still attached as possible. It seems to make things work out better. My brother and I have been doing this for decades, and while he could care less about seeds, I have had very good success.

And like said above, I don't expect maximum germination from these late comers. They are only expected to give me one plant to continue the line. Most times, I get very good germination, but your results may vary. It does seem to me to give the best chance for next year.

[moneymaker]

Uk gardener, i am north of you . I have plenty tomatoes outside like you but just leave them mine are slowly turning we could have a few more weeks of fine weather

[UKgardener]

Hope you are right