Fabulous! I'm thinking of WS'ing toms next year with all the successes that everyone has reported here. How small are the seedlings when you transplant them out ? I'll have to search the posts here for any special advice on toms.
Thanks for sharing. The fluorsecent light setup I've been using for years may just get retired altogether in another year or two if this keeps uP...LOL

Ooh, those purple Cherokees are gorgeous! I've had those for a couple of years, but did not sow them this year. Now I wish I had! I've been having great success with Marmande, Celebrity, Gold Medal, and Sungold. We've been eating tomatoes around here like there's no tomorrow! And just when you think you've finished them, a walk to the garden proves otherwise! We're loving it!

Thanks for sharing!
:)
Dee
(who saw a deer in her veggie garden this morning - oh no!)

Boy are they pretty! All the colors together just make my mouth water!
~Angie...who is on her way outside to raid her tomato garden! :)

Hi Fran,

I have a way for you to safely save seeds of your tomatoes.

If you want a copy please send me an email.

Trudi

Trudi,

sent you an e-mail. thanks for any help you can give.

Fran

Well, you can now safely save seeds from all tomatoes.

I'm pasting in a pdf link from a brochure I just made which shows you how to save tomato seeds using a disingecting cleanser like comet or ajax. It's important to reduce disease transmission when you're sharing or trading tomato seeds. The method has you soak your seeds in an amount of disinfectant cleanser to break down the gel and reduce pathogens.

It's easy to do! (From me what else would you expect!)

T

PS--you can link, save, and print share this pdf to your hearts content. It's a two-sided brochure and folds like the letter "Z".

Here is a link that might be useful: Learn to Save Tomato Seeds PDF

Wow.. those are beautiful plates of tomatoes! I had a tree cutting fiasco this year that prevented me from putting tomato plants in the ground this year.. until last week. Out of desperation I planted what I had and have had two ripe cherry tomatoes this year.

Luckily there is a farmer's market in town and also my mom has some yellow and red pear tomatoes and something I think called "lemon boy" that I bought for her. I thought it was going to be like a yellow cherry size tomato, but they seem to be much larger. She likes the tomatoes with low acid.

I have the Cherokee purple tomato seed for last year. Do you have any problem with them rotting on the vine? I have read that it is sometimes a problem with that variety, but I'm eager to try them anyway.

That's great information Trudi! Thanks for sharing it.

Thanks, Trudi. I just saved some seeds using the method you had on your site (without disinfectant) but I have more maters to harvest and collect seed from.

It was kinda nasty with the fermentation goop lol but not hard. I will definitely try your new method! You have been a world of help. Thank you for everything!

Mmmm, very nice! They look delicious! My tomatoes are still green - only one ripe one so far this year - I was slow planting the seedlings out. Next year I'm getting them in the ground earlier.

gnomey, I've never had them rot on the vine before and I've been growing them for 3 years. I wouldn't be without them they just taste too good. Once you have grown them, tasted them you won't go without them ever again. If you find that they are having a problem on the vine, you could pick them as they start to ripen and let them finish off the vine.
I have to do that with the cherokee purple, not because the rot on the vine, but because the dumb chipmunks just love to sit on them and then eat them while they are sitting on them

They really aren't to smart either, as the sit on them and eat the one they are sitting on. Then all of a sudden they go flying down because they took one to many bites and have nothing to sit on.
It would be really funny to see, but I'm to angry that I lost a tom to them. So now they are out of luck. As soon as I see it start to turn, it's off the vine they go. No more cherokee purple seats for the chipmunks.

Terrene, mine got in their huge pots on June 14th. Usually in the pots by the end of the first week i June, but the weather was crazy and my back was not in the best of shape to do it alone. Had to wait till hubby was around to help.

Weather has been crazy all spring and summer. The rain did in the vines with the fungus, but they toms are still fine.
Been picking cherries since a few days after the sun decided to return for us to see, so crop is slow this year.
Usually get them scattered at first and then more and more. This year it's just turning all at once now.

Got another huge picking of cherries, 1 cherokee purple, 2 white wonder and a celebrity today. Those go to daughter as a "housewarming gift", she's moving to a new apartment in the morning. All she wants is tomatoes, tomatoes and more tomatoes, some ripe, some almost ripe, some half ripe and some just turning. Fussy 25 year old, isnt' she? And she wants some lettuce to go with them. All packed up to bring her tomorrow.

Trudi, got your e-mail and download. Will be doing the seeds this new way this week. Thanks.

Fran

I'm glad you'r going to give it a try, I've been doing this for over a year now and I'm confidant in its success as a means to save seeds.

BTW, that dish of cherries looks awesome!

T

I tried the new method last night and it was nice to get it all done at once.

With the fermentation method, I was always worried that the funky tomato goop would fall off the top of the fridge somehow and land on someone. LOL

I'm glad you tried it TN, I've saved four types today using the method.

I'm making sauce and as I do a batch of seeds I add the cut halves to the pot. Today I'm making a pot of all-yellow tomato sauce. It's insanely delicious and I recommend anyone to make sauce from yellow toms. AWESOME! I added some onions, carrots, garlic and basil, lovage, thyme and sage. The herbs and garlic are all from my garden ;-)

T

I've been pretty lucky too with my winter sowed tomatoes, I ws, Cherokee Purple, Kelloggs Breakfast and Neves Az Reds. After all the rain we had this summer, thunder storm after thunder storm, I didn't think they were ever going to turn red or purple but luckily they have. I think it's because I planted them in 18 gallon containers rather than in the ground, I truly believe that helped alot. This past weekend I've been picking some huge NAR's and my CP have been doing good for the past week. The Kelloggs Breakfast are pretty much a wash but that's okay, the other two varieties are more than making up for it.

Linda

{{gwi:423076}}
;-)

Oh Trudi, that looks delicious, I love the packaging too! You could probably start your own line of sauces too, I know I'd purchase a jar!

Linda

Beautiful tomatoes, Littleone! I'm envious of the Cherokee Purple, as mine didn't make it (not WS).
The WS toms are now producing like crazy - I have so many thanks to Trudi's seeds! Some of the varieties seemed slow in growing/setting fruit (Green Sausage, Blonde Kopfchen), but now there's no stopping them. And one entire bed is a sea of yellow blossoms on very healthy plants. I'm having to give a lot away because I can't eat many fresh tomatoes, though I love them. The paste toms will be canned for winter soups and sauces. :)
Trudi, I really appreciate the link with seed-saving info, too, because I want to save some of each variety.