On Sun, 24 Jun 2007 00:14:05 +0100, Sacha wrote
(in article ) :

On 23/6/07 22:15, in article
, "Sally Thompson"
wrote:

On Sat, 23 Jun 2007 17:47:09 +0100, Sacha wrote
(in article ) :

[re Jersey Sunrise seeds]
snippety snip

I can't help you there, Kate as I haven't done it. I'm sure someone will
know. However, I'd be happy to send you a few Jersey Sunrise (Sally, too!)
but it won't be until the end of this season, of course.

Ooh yes, please Sacha. I would love a few. Somewhere in the archives
someone once wrote about saving their own tomato seeds. How do you do it,
for the future? (Otherwise I'll do a search.)

It's very high tech, Sally. ;-) Towards the end of the fruiting period I
open up a few toms and I scoop the seed onto some kitchen towel. Once
they've dried out, I try to scrape them off the kitchen towel and into e.g.
wage envelopes! If they won't scrape off, the lucky recipient gets the
paper towel, too and it dissolves in the damp compost!


Um, I think I prefer your method to the one I found in the archives, which I
quote in full he
quote
I've just checked in my copy of the Seed Savers Handbook, Jeremy Cherfas,
Michel & Jude Fanton. They say "allow the fruit to ripen just beyond the
eating stage. Cut them open, squeeze out the jelly and seeds, putting the
seeds of one variety in a jar or bowl. If you are saving the seeds of a dry,
meaty tomato such as the excellent Italian plum you may have to add a tiny
amount of water.

Label the jars and leave in a warm spot for 2 to 3 days. If it is not
stirred, a mat will form on top and a beneficial fermentation will take
place, caused mostly by a microbe, Geotrichum candidum, acting on the sticky
gel that surrounds the seeds. Antibiotic activity deals with
diseases such as bacterial spot, speck and canker. The only danger is in
leaving the fermentation process for too long, leading to premature
germination.

After at least 3, but no more than 4, days scoop the fungal mat off the
top, add water and pour the lot through a sieve. Wash and rub the seeds until
clean." /quote

I think I'll go for the kitchen paper :-)



--
Sally in Shropshire, UK
Burne-Jones/William Morris window in Shropshire church with conservation
churchyard:
http://www.whitton-stmarys.org.uk