Saving seed - split tomatoes

[tam91]

I thought I read a thread about this but can't find it at the moment.

I have a plant growing in isolation for seed saving purposes, but due to having company plus being sick simultaneously (haha I am miserable, must be Ebola or at least the plague) I missed picking the tomatoes at the right time. A couple split, one may have even started to rot (who knows, my nose doesn't work, I can't smell anything now)

I would think it would be ok to save seeds from these tomatoes, as that's how nature gets the seeds out of there - is that correct? Or should I discard these?

[clkeiper]

Yep, save them. You were going to smoosh them into a jar and let them rot anyway.

Sorry you are sick. I hope you feel better soon. My remedy when I don't feel good is apple cider vinegar, honey and hot water to taste. Whatever quantities of the ingredients you like. just get it down. Otherwise whiskey and honey was always the home cure at my dads... gag!

[tam91]

Thanks. I thought it was probably ok, but didn't remember for sure.

I am just whining haha, I will survive. Helpfully, I got sick on my birthday (yay) a few days after my out of town company arrived. So I have been staggering around wheezing and sneezing for a week trying to drive all over several states and cook while in my decrepit state. I'm sure that helped.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by tam91

Thanks. I thought it was probably ok, but didn't remember for sure.

I am just whining haha, I will survive. Helpfully, I got sick on my birthday (yay) a few days after my out of town company arrived. So I have been staggering around wheezing and sneezing for a week trying to drive all over several states and cook while in my decrepit state. I'm sure that helped.

Decrepit state? Whoa, that's serious.

So blame the out of town company for your decrepit state.

And yes, no problem at all, as has just been posted for saving seeds from decrepit, split, often rotting tomatoes, for after all no doubt the seeds were being proccessed already by fermentation inside those decrepit fruits.

Carolyn, just noting that decrepit tomato fruits and decrepit humans are not comparable.

[tam91]

Well the company tires me out all by themselves - we run all over and I cook and clean like crazy. Doing so while sick, however, added an extra level of decrepit

They've been gone a few days, and I am still very pitiful.

Glad the tomato seeds are ok though - this is the first year I grew BKX, and I liked it very much.

[Tomato Beth]

Darn it, I threw away a perfectly good seed tomato last night because it had gotten too nasty to eat.
I'll remember this for next time!!!

[Labradors2]

My ripening tomatoes have been banished to the basement (because the kitchen counters were getting overloaded). It's easy to forget about them down there, so I end up with several mouldy ones for seed-saving. The added bonus is that they don't take so long to ferment in their little glasses .

linda

[ContainerTed]

Yep, one of the varieties that I saved seed from this year involved a tomato that had insect damage, cracking from too much water, moldy cracks, spots where rotting began, and a stink of the most putrid order. They went into a half pint jar with a lid and were otherwise processed normally.

I do try not to get too much of the flesh that has "turned clearish" (rotting) simply because it stinks so bad when I'm getting the seeds from the not so rotten parts.

It's a nose thang.

[imp]

Those nose clips sold for swimmers can help with that, LOL!

[tam91]

Or you can just get the plague like I have - can't smell a thing. Or breathe. Or....

[clkeiper]

Originally Posted by tam91

Or you can just get the plague like I have - can't smell a thing. Or breathe. Or....

You might want to see the doctor. Just thinking of a friend of mine who now can't smell or taste a thing after a cold 5 years ago. IF she had gone to the doctor sooner he may have been able to fix that.

[jillian]

This made me laugh. My girls stuff kleenex up their noses when they have a cold, apparently this helps with them not being able to breathe????

Glad to know about the split tomato, have been saving seeds from them anyway but had wondered about it.

[imp]

Just think of a rotten or split tomato as free "pre-processing".

[tam91]

Oh I am just sick, not really a completely lost sense of smell. If my nose wasn't stuffed full of concrete, I suspect it would work fine.

(whine, whine, complain, sniff....)

[carolyn137]

I don'tt know if it was in this thread or some other threads where I've said that I consider processing tomato seed by fermention is a rite of passage for anyone who considers themselves as serious tomato growers,

And always ended up saying that I could care not a whit about any smells associated with fermentation either, and meant it.

There's always some place outside where one can put them in a place that's protected from weather if needed.

So be it.

And just adding that there's a condition called pressure sensitive sinusitis that occurs when barometric pressure changes rapidly, again due to weather and yes for sure I can and do suffer from that and my nose is so stuffed up I can't even breathe through my nose.

Sometimes some nasal sprays help, sometimes not, and I hate breathing just through my mouth b'c it gets so dry, so I drink.

Carolyn