Wild! What kind of tomatoes are these?

Just the cheapest at the market!! I can't explain it...But am going to try again!! LOL

Joy

I myself have found sprouted seeds in random tomatos on at least ten occasions. I ate them...no respect for life, I guess! Greed won out. The tomatos were VERY ripe (and good!)

I've never seen this, but it makes sense - a lot of seeds need to sit in a low-grade rot stage or an acid bath to germinate. Tomatoes thrive in acid - that's why the seeds are so slimey and can survive going through a digestive tract (including humans - don't try this at home!!!). This is their natural dispersal mechanism - bright red fruit to attract hungry animals that will in turn give their seeds a ride away from the parent plant. The acid bath may even be needed to break the dormancy of some species. I don't think tomatoes have to have the acid treatment, but it sure speeds them up.

Check out the plant propagation forum - some berry seeds do best when fermented for a few days in the mashed up berries.

Next time at the market see if you can determine country of origin. Just curious.

Its probably a mutation from the microwave leaking radiation. ;-)

I have seen the same thing as drasaid both with very ripe store bought and very ripe home grown that I've left on the vine.

Just the right amount of fermentation to break down the gelatinous coating on the seeds and the right temps to get germination going is all. I have to agree that they were very, very good tomatoes.

bought two large tomato's, kash&karry grocery brand.
one looked ripe / on not so ripe

ripe one was green inside, oh well... kept in fridge for sandwiches.
no so ripe one was left on counter too long, leaked clear fluid and top mushed down, pretty quickly.
Thursday evening it was dropped on-top of a mostly finished compost pile.
Less than a week later I noticed a small tight bunch of 1" two-leafed sprouts there.
They are all still growing.

Lol,
It is tru they can grow after digestion, I have a friend that has a tomatoe eating dog that "grew" some seedlings in his dog run, she dug them up and planted them in the garden, I dont know how they grew after that, I havent talked to them in a while.

SEED SAVING TOMATO GROWERS PUT THE RIPE SEEDS IN A LIQUID BATH IN A WARM PLACE & LET THEM FERMENT ~1-2WKS. THEN THE SEEDS ARE WELL RINSED & DRIED BRIEFLY BEFORE SAVING IN A DRY PLACE. THEN IN THE SPRING, THE SEEDS ARE READY FOR SPROUTING... LIKE THE PREVIOUS WRITERS SAID, THE GEL IN THE TOMATO PULP & THE OUTER SEED COAT NEEDS TO BE BROKEN DOWN FOR THE NEW PLANT TO DO BEST. GOOD GARDENING TO YOU,K.

I had the same thing come in to the office. I am the county Extension Horticulturist and someone brought in a tomatoe with many seeds sprouted inside the fruit. It was the first time I or any of my Master Gardeners had seen it. It was a store bought tomatoe.

Nice to know I wasn't alone.

Paul

Yep, you just saw how it has happened in nature for thousands of years... Mankind most likely did not create tomatoes, but instead selected and improved them. Why does a plant create fruit? One of the many reasons it's a high energy food to help the seeds inside get a good start. If I can't get an interesting fruit/berry/nut/seed to germinate, I just try to copy the plants natural environment, or throw it in the yard somewhere. Oftentimes things will surprise and fascinate me growing that way. If you get these things at a market, just wait till they start irradiating all of your food, that little miracle won't happen anymore.

lol my very first gardening experiences as a child were burying whole rottening tomatoes in the backyard, months later we had ourselves tomato plants, my mom wondered how they got there but sure didnt mind as she gobbled all those tomatoes up!

I just planted four seedlings that sprouted inside a homegrown lemon. I never knew that seeds could sprout inside the fruit. I didn't know what to do so I delicately removed the seedlings and tried not to break the stem or the roots. I planted them in tiny starter peat pots and gave them some spring water. I guess I'll wait and see what happens. I didn't wash them because I was scared to touch them to begin with.