It has been several years since I have saved tomato seed and I thought it was a bit of a hassle, so I was excited when I read how Trudi does it on wintersown.org

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato Seed Saving

I think there's a thread on this forum under a topic dealing with Late Blight where people talked about this. I don't remember seeing the ratio of Oxiclean to water there, though, and I was curious about that too. But I believe the bleach solution was 1 part bleach to 10 parts water, and a 20-minute soak before planting.

I haven't tried it, but I plan to next spring. If anyone knows the "recipe" for the Oxyclean soak, I'd like to see that, too.

Before I knew how to "clean" the tomato seed, I just squeezed them out of the tomato onto a coffee filter, patted off the excess liquid and "goo" with a paper towel and then let them dry. They're not very pretty but the ones I saved this way germinated. It might be that, saved this way, they will be more susceptible to disease. Now, I kind of follow the method that Carol linked to above. But I don't soak that long. I rinse them off really good in a small strainer and kind of stir them around with my finger. This gets rid of a lot of the residue early on. Then I put them in a little jar of water and set them out on my back porch, where the sun will not shine on them at any time. In about 24 hours, I can dump the seeds and water back in the strainer and rinse again and they'll be clean enough to go onto the coffee filter. BTW, I write on the jar with a china marker what variety the tomato seeds are, and on the coffee filter with a felt-tip pen, so there's no having to try to remember what's what. When the seeds are dry, I fold the coffee filter in half, with the name of the variety on the outside, then fold the two corners over one another, envelope style, put the seeds in the opening and then tape it all down.

I did this one up in a hurry, only to show you how to fold the filter and you can see that some of the seed I'm drying on it are stuck to the other side. They unstick if you run your finger across them, once they're dry, and you'd want to get them all loose before you make the packet so as to pour them all into the pouch that forms in the fold.

When I get home I will check for sure. I use the Oxi-clean and clorox method. I believe it is one teaspoon to 8 ounces of liquid. I will correct if that is wrong. And on the Clorox I put one part to 3 parts water. And soak 5-10 minutes. Sometimes l soak longer and haven't noticed any harm in germination. I have seen everything from 1 to 2 to 1 to 5 parts water. And soaking times from 2 minutes to 30. It works well for me. Jay

Thanks Jay.

Ilene,
I forgot to say I soak the seeds in a cup of oxiclean. Then pour everything in a strainer. Then just put the strainer under a faucet or if outside used a hose. And rinse. If any pieces remain just squeeze them through the wire mesh or pick them out. Then set strainer and all in a pan with the clorox solution and when finished just remove. Rinse with water and then remove seeds with a plastic spoon or something. This is simple and works well for me. Jay

It is one tablespoon of Oxiclean to 8 ounce of water. I thought that at first and then thought that sounded like too much. Jay