Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
Let me show you how to save money on buying tomato seeds by collecting them from your garden.
Learn the best techniques for harvesting tomato seeds in this helpful guide.
Growing tomatoes from seed to harvest has been a summer hobby of mine since moving to Canada.
The weather in the UK was always wet, and there wasn’t enough sunshine in my area during the growing season.
It’s nice to build a sustainable lifestyle, even if it means growing a vegetable garden for my family.
Today, I will share the best way to collect tomato seeds so you never have to repurchase them.
Learning How To Collect Tomato Seeds
Unlike my family, Mrs. CBB’s family had a massive annual garden spanning the length of her parent’s property.
Her father was an old-school Italian gardener who continued to hone his skills in Canada as an immigrant.
Not only was he a master gardener and grew some of the biggest vegetables I’ve ever seen, but he was also keen to teach anyone who wanted to learn.
Although I only knew him for ten years, I learned how to forage asparagus, berries, and mushrooms.
I’ve foraged wild asparagus the length of my arm, and I’m not even trying to exaggerate.
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve had to climb trees to get Chicken of the Woods mushrooms for him.
Often, whether I asked or not, he taught me while I was helping him in the gardens.
He taught me a bit about tree grafting, which he was fantastic at, but most of all, how to harvest (cull) tomato seeds.
Every Italian is passionate about their tomatoes, and he was no exception.
Although he had a massive garden, his tomatoes and figs were his pride and joy.
Tomato Seeds From Italy
While visiting family in Italy over three decades ago, he returned with tomato seeds he had harvested from his sister’s garden.
Until the day he died, he continued to grow those same tomatoes using the seeds from Italy.
I’m thankful I asked him how to collect tomato seeds, or I may not have learned.
Underneath the weeds and overgrown grass in what used to be a bountiful garden, I found a small plant of his tomatoes growing.
I can continue growing the same tomatoes in our garden using the steps he taught me below.
One important keynote I learned from him is not to overcomplicate the gardening process.
When To Collect Tomato Seeds
Through my experience as a gardener over the last 16 years, I’ve had the best success collecting tomato seeds from late summer into fall.
Pick the best-looking heirloom tomato, free from blemishes and the perfect shape.
Collecting Hybrid Tomato Seeds
Do not use hybrid tomato seeds because what you see is not what you will get.
Think genetics with hybrid seeds, with the first set being F1 hybrid seeds.
You can have four sons with the same parent, and each one may have similarities, but they won’t be twins.
Save the seeds closest to the original, F2 hybrid seeds. Continue with the seeds again the following season until you have F3 hybrid seeds.
After many seasons of using hybrid seeds, eventually, they taper out and become one variety.
You will know when this happens as you’ll continue to harvest the same tomatoes.
In other words, you don’t know what you will get with F1 and F2 seeds until they reach heirloom status F3 and a few growing seasons.
When you collect heirloom tomato seeds, you get what you see, but it was a hybrid at one point.
Our Family Tomato Seeds
My father-in-law loved to grow giant tomatoes and was passionate about grape and cherry tomatoes.
Although San Marzano tomatoes are praised as the best heirlooms in Italy, he grew small amounts.
The San Marzano plum tomato is long and rounded with pointy ends, similar to a Roma tomato.
Did you know that San Marzano is the name of a tomato and a region in Italy? It’s true!
Two of the more popular tomatoes he grew were called the Gigante, which can grow as big as 1.5kg.
They remind me of big beefsteak tomatoes with giant ribs around the top.
Also, the Cuore di Bue is a pink salad tomato that turns red once it’s ready to eat.
Mrs. CBB’s family was not big into eating pasta and tomato sauce, even though they canned about 50 jars each summer.
However, there was always a giant tomato salad at dinner.
Her father would slice and eat tomatoes with extra-virgin olive oil, salt, fresh Italian bread, hard cheese, and olives for lunch (sometimes breakfast).
You would never catch a tomato outside the growing season in his grocery cart. It was a sin.
Step 1 – Scoop Tomato Seeds
Cut the tomato in half, and, using a spoon, scoop the tomato seeds into a bowl.
Step 2 – Cover Tomato Seeds With Water
Fill the bowl with cold water and cover with plastic wrap. Leave the bowl on the counter for a few days.
Step 3 – Ferment Tomato Seeds
Remove the plastic wrap to reveal a wonderful fermented smell and goopy gelatin. Stuck inside of this are the tomato seeds.
Step 4 – Strain Collected Tomato Seeds
Pour the contents of the bowl into a mesh strainer with holes no more significant than the seeds. Run the water over the seeds, removing any chunks of gelatin with your fingers.
Step 5 – Dry The Collected Tomato Seeds
Remove the cleaned seeds from the filter and set them on a paper towel to dry in a cool space for a few days. We leave ours on a table in our sunroom or kitchen counter.
Step 5- Package The Dried Collected Tomato Seeds
Once the seeds are dry and you notice they change color, package them in a dry envelope.
I found these small envelopes at the dollar store and use them for all my vegetable seeds.
Label the envelope and put the date on the outside so you know they are for the next growing season.
I’ve never used seeds I’ve kept for more than one season, so I can’t comment on whether using them is okay.
I hope you found this step-by-step guide about how to collect tomato seeds informative.
Thanks for reading,
Mr. CBB
We have been collecting different seeds since last year or so. Think last year we had several kinds of tomato and a couple of peppers. I’ve collected flower seeds as well. Sure helps with costs for the garden each year!!