I am sure you can make seeds but I am just curious if there is a proper way to do it. Plus why buy seeds if you can make them. I am looking to plant any kind of herb, tomatoes, and a few other vegetables.
Well, you have to buy the first batch or perhaps harvest wild edible seeds locally but then you can save seeds from whichever of your plants you let go to seed and replant them next season. Of course now there are certain hybrid strains and GMO crops which have been developed to not give off viable seeds so farmers have to go back and buy more from the big seed companies year after year. Just need to research & read labels basically.
Tomato seeds need to be treated first, fermented if I recall to help break down that gooey outer membrane. But allot of what you get in the store may be hybrid so as to not have viable seeds. Still may as well try. I'll pm you a link to the gardening site I frequent. lot's of answeres for you there. And plenty of seed trading going on. Pretty good bunch of die hard seed-saving gardeners there.
Haha, semi related story: the year before last I had some rotten heirlooms I didn't know what to do with so I just threw them back into the dirt not thinking... Come spring I had more rainbow tomato plants than I knew what to do with on TOP of the ones I had started inside from seed... I ended up giving most of them away. But then the blight hit and I was sorry I didn't keep a pot or two inside.
if you take the inner part of the tomato and I'd say a regular glass or jar will work. fill the glass like 3/4 full of warm water and put the goop in, give it a few hours to seperate and the seeds will go the top of the glass. if you have the time, you could gently clean every seed? then place all the seed you collect on a cloth. (a paper towel would work, but I would reccomend a clean dry rag) after they have dried out you can store them or you can germinate them.
I find the only seeds I can get to grow from the supermarket (like from the veggies) is peppers, I kinda of had it happen by accident. I would trow the seedy clump outside and I would have an overflow of pepper plants!
Vegetables seeds are easy to collect with the method makihiko told you. Remember that the worst you can do to your seeds is let it rot. They have to store them in a dry place (even better if it's also dark). Some seeds (especially trees and shrubs) often needs a specific treatment. I don't know what's the english name, in Italy we call it "stratificazione". Some seeds are sleeping and won't germinate if they don't stay cold (4-6 °C) for some time. In this case, you put the seed in your fridge. This is just FYI, because annual plants usually don't need it. Anyway, the main reason people buy seeds instead of collecting them from a fruit is that you don't know which variety will sprout. You can get seeds from a round tomato, plant them, and grow a completely different fruit. A part from laziness ( ), I think that's the only reason.
It's called Stratification in these parts as well. :cheers2: Can usually be achieved by placing fresh harvested seeds in the freezer for 3-6 months depending on seed. Some only need to go in the fridge and keep cool for a while without actually freezing.
