On 21/05/16 13:57, David wrote:
We like the big Lidl vine tomatoes because, well, they taste more or less
like proper tomatoes.

I have noticed recently that if you give them a few (several) days to
finish ripening then the seeds start to germinate within the tomato.

This does suggest that they are pretty fresh and haven't been mucked about
with too much.

I think that's a case of 2 + 2 = 5. Tomato seeds are long lived.

However I haven't seen the same thing with the (I assume hydroponic)
standard tomatoes.

Is there something they do to shop tomatoes which prevent the seeds from
germinating?

I can't see how that could be done (eg by irradiation) without breaking
food laws. It is quite possible that the viability of tomato seeds
varies across varieties, but in general - as I noted above - they are
long-lived.

Cheers

Dave R

P.S. it does make me wonder if a Lidl tomato would be a better source of
germinating seeds than the average seed packet.

Depends on whether or not it was a stable F1 hybrid as to what you got
/if/ they germinated.

--

Jeff