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New to growing your own tomatoes? This is the forum to learn the successful techniques used by seasoned tomato growers. Questions are welcome, too.

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Old September 5, 2014   #1
Salsacharley
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Default Seeds with Dark Spots

Some seeds in NAR and Chapman I was saving had dark spots in the center of the seed. Can anyone say definitively that those seeds with spots are viable or not?

Thanks,

Charley
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Old September 5, 2014   #2
ddsack
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In two different years, I specifically saved out and dried dark seeds and partly colored (I called them pinto seeds) and tested them later for viability. For me, they had roughly a 20 - 30% success rate as freshly dried seeds. So I wouldn't use them for trading, but if your seed count is low, keep them as back up for yourself.

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=3057

similar discussion:

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=12375

The second time, a few years later, I repeated with some dwarf project selection seeds, and actually kept a few of the resulting seedlings from the test. The plants from the dark seeds were normal in every way with good production the next summer, but I never checked to see if they themselves had an abnormal amount of dark seeds.

Ted -- did you ever pursue this?
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Old September 5, 2014   #3
Salsacharley
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Dee,

Thank you. This is exactly the info I was looking for. I will subjugate the dark seeds to backup status.

Charley


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Originally Posted by ddsack View Post
In two different years, I specifically saved out and dried dark seeds and partly colored (I called them pinto seeds) and tested them later for viability. For me, they had roughly a 20 - 30% success rate as freshly dried seeds. So I wouldn't use them for trading, but if your seed count is low, keep them as back up for yourself.

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=3057

similar discussion:

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=12375

The second time, a few years later, I repeated with some dwarf project selection seeds, and actually kept a few of the resulting seedlings from the test. The plants from the dark seeds were normal in every way with good production the next summer, but I never checked to see if they themselves had an abnormal amount of dark seeds.

Ted -- did you ever pursue this?
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Old September 5, 2014   #4
Father'sDaughter
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Thank you both! I often end up with a few seeds in each fermentation that have a dark brown-to-black spot and as I'm plucking them off my drying plate to discard them, it crosses my mind to ask about them on here. But then I forget. I tend to not save or sow seeds that don't look right to me, but that's not based on any hard facts as to whether they are viable or not.
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