I am not exactly sure when I started this, but it was definitely a few weeks ago. My daughters and I had decided to practice saving tomato seeds. We just so happened to have two small green tomatoes in the house that had started to rot, so we decided to use those instead of throwing them away. As I said, this was for practice only and we certainly didn't expect to get anything from them.
So, we started off by watching a couple of YouTube videos about saving tomato seeds. The one my daughters liked the most was the one by CaliKim29. So, once we finished that I explained a few other methods, but they stuck to their guns and decided to follow the method Kim demonstrated.
The usual process is to cut the tomato in half, scoop out the seeds, rinse them off in a strainer and then allow them to ferment for a few days before rinsing them off again. Then you can either dry them for storing or germinate them. We cut open both tomatoes to find something interesting. Neither one had any flesh left inside. Both had gotten so soft that there was nothing surrounding the seeds but liquid. This meant we could skip the fermentation process completely. (We did the fermentation wait anyway, because I wanted them to experience the whole process.) Anyway, we took the seeds and rinsed them off real well in a fine wire mesh strainer.
I had Nikki and Sammi carefully scrape the seeds into a jar of water to see which seeds would sink (the good seeds) and which would float (the bad seeds). To my surprise, the vast majority of them sunk to the bottom. We dumped out some water to remove the bad seeds and loosely fitted the cap on the jar. We stored the jar high up on top of our cabinets where nobody could see the jar, let alone disturb it.
After a few days, we pulled the jar down and I reminded them that had we done the process the normal way, the jar would smell due to the fermentation process. Obviously, there was no odor coming from our jar of seeds. One of the things I was concerned about was that the seeds would have rotted sitting in the water for so long without any of the tomato flesh covering them. So, I dumped out the water, added some more, stirred it up and waited to see how many floated now. To my surprise and delight only one or two floated. I took this as a good sign, although my hopes were not very high in regards to these seeds actually germinating.
We rinsed off our seeds one last time in the fine wire mesh strainer and then scraped them onto a plate to dry out just a little. I figured the seeds would be easier to work with if they were dried out a bit. I was wrong. They still stick to your fingers pretty well even when they are dry. Oh well.
I pulled out a clear plastic clam shell cake container I had saved from our last trip to the bakery. I had actually saved two of them, but somebody in the house decided it was garbage. The funny part about that was it had sat in a cabinet for weeks and it got thrown out the very same day we decided to actually use it. It's funny how life works that way.
We filled it up about halfway with pure worm castings. Yes. I know. This was complete overkill, but let's not forget. These were not exactly the best quality seeds and I was hoping to get something to grow to reward my daughters for their hard work.
I let the girls gently sprinkle the seeds throughout the container and then we covered them up with another layer of worm castings and lightly watered it in. I had pre-drilled some holes in one of the halves, but as I was watering the seeds in I realized I had the contained upside down and the holes were now in the lid and not in the base. OOPS! So, instead of having drainage holes and a closed top for the greenhouse effect, I had no drainage holes and no greenhouse effect. DOH!!!
We took the container and put it on top of the refrigerator and let them be. I did occasionally add some water to keep the soil from drying out.
I am not sure how long we waited, but eventually the seeds did sprout. I showed the girls who got very excited. We put the container back and let it sit a few days more and we were rewarded with more sprouts. YAY!
I have to say, I was totally surprised. I didn't have very high hopes for this working and I wasn't expecting anything to sprout. We actually ended up with a very high germination rate.
Now, this was my first ever attempt at dealing with tomato seedlings, so even though I had done my research, I didn't have any practical experience. As a result, I lost more than half the sprouts. As I've said, our hopes weren't high to begin with and this was more of a science experiment/practice than anything else.
This is something that I had been putting off for a while. Friday afternoon (November 13th) I had about an hour of free time, so I decided to sit down and get it done. So, from around 4:45 PM to 5:45 PM I transplanted the (green) tomato seedlings from the clear plastic clam shell container. I threw out two of them and transplanted seven into the tall tin cans and two smaller ones into a single tuna can.
For the tall tin cans (sardine cans), I first inserted a clear plastic bag. Then I filled it halfway with some soil, added the seedling and gently added more soil. I tried to cover as much of the stem as I could without getting the soil near the leaves. I did this with the soil because a tomato plant will grow roots all along the stem. Take a close look at a tomato plant and you will see little hairs all along the stem. These have the potential to become roots.
The purpose of the plastic bag is two fold.
I've been putting them out in the sun in mid mornings because I do not want them to get too leggy like my papaya seedlings did. However, I am being extra special careful with the ones in the plastic bag greenhouse cans, because it is hot enough inside that bag to begin with. The direct sun would just about cook them inside there.
Today, November 15th, I undid the greenhouse bags and folded them down over the cans to expose the seedlings. They all have nice stems now and look to be doing pretty well. This should allow me to keep them in the direct sunlight for longer periods, which should help them to get established even better.
I guess I cooked two of the seedlings. I had left them out in the lunchtime sun too long and two of them dried out. I am trying to revive them, but it doesn't look good. I have since added some leaf mulch (leaves that I shredded into very small pieces) on top of the soil to help maintain the moisture in the soil.
Anyway, she pulverized the bio char pretty good...a little too good considering the mess she made. I removed the largest seedling from the tin can it was in by lifting the plastic bag. It came out easy enough, with a bit of coaxing, and I noticed that the bottom was pretty wet. I snipped off a bottom corner of the bag and let it drain. I slit the bag up the side to allow air to dry out the soil some. I wanted it moist, not saturated like it was.
I was able to get the one seedling up-planted, but the others are still drying out. I will probably do those tomorrow. I wanted to do a video but between the neighbor's dogs barking, the laundry lady doing her thing and a crying baby, it just wasn't in the cards today.
Nikki and I got the next two tomato seedlings up-planted. We made sure to plant them a little deeper, so that more roots from from the stems. I even clipped off some of the lower branches/leaves. I want the plants to get taller and the stems to get thicker before they start to spread out and produce fruit.
You see, I agree with Ray from Praxxus 55712, who says that it is better to let the stem get good and thick so that it is better able to hold the weight of the plant and fruit. So, I am going to go with his method. However, with one deviation. Ray likes to let the seedling grow two or three suckers so that he can spread and bury the plant to get more than one plant from a single root system. I do not have the kind of space needed to do this. So, I will be growing one plant per pot.
At any rate, I still have two more seedlings in a tuna fish can. I need to separate and up-plant them both very soon. I wanted them to get a bit bigger and they've been growing pretty well the past two days. If they keep it up, I will do it this week.
I have two other seedlings, each in their own tin can, that are still way too small to up-plant. They really have not done much, but they do look healthy, so I am going to sit back and see what happens.
I finally finished up-planting the rest of the seedlings. Well, I still have two more in tin cans, but they are still pretty small. However, I was able to get the two in the tuna fish can separated and into plastic cups. I have been making sure to get them out into the direct sun everyday. I actually started getting up at 6:30 in the morning to get them up onto the roof patio. Well, it isn't really a patio. It is more of a concrete pad. Anyway, there is some great sun up there. It is just a real pain in the... to get up there because I have to use a ladder. Luckily, there is a shelf there I can use to rest the plants while I make the climb.
Well, I now have all the seedlings up-planted.
The last two that I up-planted are not doing all that great. One of them I have virtually no hope for. The other stands a chance, but I'd say only about 50/50.
Three of the plants are simply thriving. Tonight, I was telling a friend of mine, that I didn't even think the seeds would germinate and sprout. To see these three growing like this is amazing.
The last two are just kind of doing their thing. They look healthy enough, but they are not growing like the other three. At the same time, they are not puny and sickly looking.
So, we started off by watching a couple of YouTube videos about saving tomato seeds. The one my daughters liked the most was the one by CaliKim29. So, once we finished that I explained a few other methods, but they stuck to their guns and decided to follow the method Kim demonstrated.
Our process
The usual process is to cut the tomato in half, scoop out the seeds, rinse them off in a strainer and then allow them to ferment for a few days before rinsing them off again. Then you can either dry them for storing or germinate them. We cut open both tomatoes to find something interesting. Neither one had any flesh left inside. Both had gotten so soft that there was nothing surrounding the seeds but liquid. This meant we could skip the fermentation process completely. (We did the fermentation wait anyway, because I wanted them to experience the whole process.) Anyway, we took the seeds and rinsed them off real well in a fine wire mesh strainer.
 |
| Those are not popsicle sticks under the strainer. I know it looks like they are, but those are the slits in the chair. |
It was well worth the wait.
After a few days, we pulled the jar down and I reminded them that had we done the process the normal way, the jar would smell due to the fermentation process. Obviously, there was no odor coming from our jar of seeds. One of the things I was concerned about was that the seeds would have rotted sitting in the water for so long without any of the tomato flesh covering them. So, I dumped out the water, added some more, stirred it up and waited to see how many floated now. To my surprise and delight only one or two floated. I took this as a good sign, although my hopes were not very high in regards to these seeds actually germinating.
Let's germinate!
We rinsed off our seeds one last time in the fine wire mesh strainer and then scraped them onto a plate to dry out just a little. I figured the seeds would be easier to work with if they were dried out a bit. I was wrong. They still stick to your fingers pretty well even when they are dry. Oh well.
I pulled out a clear plastic clam shell cake container I had saved from our last trip to the bakery. I had actually saved two of them, but somebody in the house decided it was garbage. The funny part about that was it had sat in a cabinet for weeks and it got thrown out the very same day we decided to actually use it. It's funny how life works that way.
We filled it up about halfway with pure worm castings. Yes. I know. This was complete overkill, but let's not forget. These were not exactly the best quality seeds and I was hoping to get something to grow to reward my daughters for their hard work.
I let the girls gently sprinkle the seeds throughout the container and then we covered them up with another layer of worm castings and lightly watered it in. I had pre-drilled some holes in one of the halves, but as I was watering the seeds in I realized I had the contained upside down and the holes were now in the lid and not in the base. OOPS! So, instead of having drainage holes and a closed top for the greenhouse effect, I had no drainage holes and no greenhouse effect. DOH!!!
We took the container and put it on top of the refrigerator and let them be. I did occasionally add some water to keep the soil from drying out.
The results
I am not sure how long we waited, but eventually the seeds did sprout. I showed the girls who got very excited. We put the container back and let it sit a few days more and we were rewarded with more sprouts. YAY!
I have to say, I was totally surprised. I didn't have very high hopes for this working and I wasn't expecting anything to sprout. We actually ended up with a very high germination rate.
Now, this was my first ever attempt at dealing with tomato seedlings, so even though I had done my research, I didn't have any practical experience. As a result, I lost more than half the sprouts. As I've said, our hopes weren't high to begin with and this was more of a science experiment/practice than anything else.
Transplanting the seedlings that survived.
This is something that I had been putting off for a while. Friday afternoon (November 13th) I had about an hour of free time, so I decided to sit down and get it done. So, from around 4:45 PM to 5:45 PM I transplanted the (green) tomato seedlings from the clear plastic clam shell container. I threw out two of them and transplanted seven into the tall tin cans and two smaller ones into a single tuna can.
How I transplanted them
For the tall tin cans (sardine cans), I first inserted a clear plastic bag. Then I filled it halfway with some soil, added the seedling and gently added more soil. I tried to cover as much of the stem as I could without getting the soil near the leaves. I did this with the soil because a tomato plant will grow roots all along the stem. Take a close look at a tomato plant and you will see little hairs all along the stem. These have the potential to become roots.
 |
| Definitely the best greenhouse bag of the bunch. |
The purpose of the plastic bag is two fold.
- It makes it much easier to get the seedling out of the can when it comes time to transplant it into a bigger container.
- I was able to use it as a make shift greenhouse. I blew into it, adding carbon dioxide which plants use for photosynthesis, and then quickly sealed it like a balloon. I twisted the top of the bag and then used a rubber band to maintain the seal.
Caring for the seedlings
I've been putting them out in the sun in mid mornings because I do not want them to get too leggy like my papaya seedlings did. However, I am being extra special careful with the ones in the plastic bag greenhouse cans, because it is hot enough inside that bag to begin with. The direct sun would just about cook them inside there.
Today, November 15th, I undid the greenhouse bags and folded them down over the cans to expose the seedlings. They all have nice stems now and look to be doing pretty well. This should allow me to keep them in the direct sunlight for longer periods, which should help them to get established even better.
UPDATE: November 17, 2015
I guess I cooked two of the seedlings. I had left them out in the lunchtime sun too long and two of them dried out. I am trying to revive them, but it doesn't look good. I have since added some leaf mulch (leaves that I shredded into very small pieces) on top of the soil to help maintain the moisture in the soil.
UPDATE: November 23, 2015
This morning, when I put the seedlings outside I noticed that three or four of the seedlings had more or less doubled in size. Unfortunately, they are still growing slowly, but that is because they are not getting a lot of direct sunlight, which they most certainly need.UPDATE: November 28, 2015
At around noon or so, Nikki and I decided to up-plant our seedlings into some cups. I grabbed some biochar and had her smash it into a powder, so we could mix it with the soil. I am not sure if that is how to use it or if I just drop a few chunks on top of the soil or in the soil or what. I do know that we have a flower plant that thrives off of bio char and water. There is absolutely no soil inside the pot.Anyway, she pulverized the bio char pretty good...a little too good considering the mess she made. I removed the largest seedling from the tin can it was in by lifting the plastic bag. It came out easy enough, with a bit of coaxing, and I noticed that the bottom was pretty wet. I snipped off a bottom corner of the bag and let it drain. I slit the bag up the side to allow air to dry out the soil some. I wanted it moist, not saturated like it was.
I was able to get the one seedling up-planted, but the others are still drying out. I will probably do those tomorrow. I wanted to do a video but between the neighbor's dogs barking, the laundry lady doing her thing and a crying baby, it just wasn't in the cards today.
UPDATE: November 29, 2015
Nikki and I got the next two tomato seedlings up-planted. We made sure to plant them a little deeper, so that more roots from from the stems. I even clipped off some of the lower branches/leaves. I want the plants to get taller and the stems to get thicker before they start to spread out and produce fruit.
You see, I agree with Ray from Praxxus 55712, who says that it is better to let the stem get good and thick so that it is better able to hold the weight of the plant and fruit. So, I am going to go with his method. However, with one deviation. Ray likes to let the seedling grow two or three suckers so that he can spread and bury the plant to get more than one plant from a single root system. I do not have the kind of space needed to do this. So, I will be growing one plant per pot.
At any rate, I still have two more seedlings in a tuna fish can. I need to separate and up-plant them both very soon. I wanted them to get a bit bigger and they've been growing pretty well the past two days. If they keep it up, I will do it this week.
I have two other seedlings, each in their own tin can, that are still way too small to up-plant. They really have not done much, but they do look healthy, so I am going to sit back and see what happens.
UPDATE: November 30, 2015
I finally finished up-planting the rest of the seedlings. Well, I still have two more in tin cans, but they are still pretty small. However, I was able to get the two in the tuna fish can separated and into plastic cups. I have been making sure to get them out into the direct sun everyday. I actually started getting up at 6:30 in the morning to get them up onto the roof patio. Well, it isn't really a patio. It is more of a concrete pad. Anyway, there is some great sun up there. It is just a real pain in the... to get up there because I have to use a ladder. Luckily, there is a shelf there I can use to rest the plants while I make the climb.
UPDATE: December 8, 2015
Well, I now have all the seedlings up-planted.
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| I know. Not the greatest picture in the world. |
The last two that I up-planted are not doing all that great. One of them I have virtually no hope for. The other stands a chance, but I'd say only about 50/50.
Three of the plants are simply thriving. Tonight, I was telling a friend of mine, that I didn't even think the seeds would germinate and sprout. To see these three growing like this is amazing.
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| One of the three that are thriving. |
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| One of the other thriving ones. |
The last two are just kind of doing their thing. They look healthy enough, but they are not growing like the other three. At the same time, they are not puny and sickly looking.
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