Pretty Please?????

[JLJ_]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Saving seeds from fruits, never one fruit, and from fruits from more than one plant dilutes out any cross pollinated seed

Old thread, but I'm catching up with several months' posts . . .

Are all the seeds from one fruit genetically identical?

JLJ

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by JLJ_

Old thread, but I'm catching up with several months' posts . . .

Are all the seeds from one fruit genetically identical?

JLJ

I did speak to that in post #9.

Yes, all the seeds from one fruit are expected to be genetically identical unless there's been a seed mutation of the DNA or a cross pollination. Thus my suggestion to avoid saving seeds from just one fruit on a plant, better to save seeds from several fuits on a plant, even better to save seeds from several fruits from several plants, if possible.

And as I said in post #9, saving seeds that way dilutes out any seeds that have sustained a mutation in the seed DNA or have had cross pollinations occur.

Hope that helps.

[Ken4230]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Thus my suggestion to avoid saving seeds from just one fruit on a plant, better to save seeds from several fuits on a plant, even better to save seeds from several fruits from several plants, if possible.
saving seeds that way dilutes out any seeds that have sustained a mutation in the seed DNA or have had cross pollinations occur.

Hope that helps.

Does it help to also save the best-looking and the somewhat larger tomatoes for seed?
The old mantra-"My grandparents did it, my mother did it, and so do I" applies here.
I can remember holding the basket while Grandmother went down the rows picking her seed tomatoes.

My garden is not large enough to select from more than 3 or 4 plants. I only save some of the German varieties.

Thanks,
Ken

[JLJ_]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

I did speak to that in post #9.

Yes, all the seeds from one fruit are expected to be genetically identical unless there's been a seed mutation of the DNA or a cross pollination. Thus my suggestion to avoid saving seeds from just one fruit on a plant, better to save seeds from several fuits on a plant, even better to save seeds from several fruits from several plants, if possible.

And as I said in post #9, saving seeds that way dilutes out any seeds that have sustained a mutation in the seed DNA or have had cross pollinations occur.

Thanks very much for reply.

I had read #9 -- and clearly your recommendation to use several fruits, preferably from several plants, when saving seeds in quantity is sensible, and the statistics you've mentioned in various places certainly demonstrate that it produces a generally consistent bunch of seeds.

But I had been thinking for some time that I should find out specifically whether all seeds in a single fruit are genetically identical (mutations excluded) and saw the opportunity to ask. I thought they probably were identical but it's good to have it confirmed.

My reasoning was that, when saving on a small scale, if we saved the seeds from each fruit separately, then test-growing one or two plants from any tomato's seed batch would let us know the characteristics we should expect from the remainder, and would facilitate selection of the best seed for future use.

Possibly that is more important for small scale seed saving, where it is more difficult to keep distance between tomato varieties and where fewer test plants can be grown.

I was trying to come up with a way likely to produce good results, as my 88 year old mother has become very interested in preserving seed from the Dr. Carolyn's you sent (regular, pink, and green doctors) and from Granny's Heart. They don't have ripe fruit yet, but she's practicing seed saving on some Black Prince tomatoes she likes.

So I want to maximize the probability of reliable results for her in the near term with only a few plants. I had hoped to bag some, but that didn't prove practical.

Thanks again!

JLJ

[Tormato]

Compound blossomed fruit can have some seeds crossed and others not. Been there, done that.

[JLJ_]

Originally Posted by Tormato

Compound blossomed fruit can have some seeds crossed and others not. Been there, done that.

"Compound blossomed fruit" refers to two fertilized blossoms growing together into what appears to be a single oddly shaped tomato?

If it is the phenomenon I am thinking of, it is recognizable? At least when dealing with fruit that is by default relatively smooth and symmetrical? And also sometimes at the blossom stage when a blossom is elongated rather than normal shaped?

Or is it something else?

JLJ

[maf]

One grain of pollen => one seed.
In theory it would be possible for every seed in a single tomato to have a different father. (Of course it could never happen in real life.)