So, I got a UV flash light the other month. Before I went to bed last night, I turned off the light, and decided to shine my UV flashlight on things in my room to see if I noticed anything interesting. I noticed that things like an empty milk jug (which I believe is designed to block out UV rays to keep the milk fresh) and wall paint were a dark color, and things like my bed sheet were super bright. Today, I tried shining it on skin with sunscreen, and it looked similarly dark (violet-colored or something).

So, I've got seeds on a table in my room that I need to put away. I shined the flashlight on a number of seeds (nevermind the fact that UV rays aren't supposed to be good for the life of seeds). And, I noticed something very interesting. Some of the seeds that look exactly the same without a UV flashlight look quite different with the flashlight (in a dark room, anyway). Most of the seeds looked pretty normal, but some were pretty dark, just like the milk jug.

I was thinking maybe the dark seeds were the less viable ones, but after examining which seeds were dark for a while, I concluded that this was false. All of my Green Pear tomato seeds (which should be quite viable, as they were in April when I planted some) were quite dark, while most tomato varieties weren't dark. Some tomatoes had a mix of dark and light seeds. I had some muskmelon/cantaloupe seeds that were dark, too (but the vast majority of them were light).

So, it appears to me that we have some genetics for invisible seed colors that most people don't know exist. I'm thinking the dark ones might be able to survive longer in the presence of UV rays (as opposed to degrading quickly), or something like that, and thus might have higher rates of reseeding year after year.

So, I'm thinking maybe there might be some utility in knowing what color the seeds are when I save them. Like, they might stay viable longer, due to more UV resistance. Maybe it's a genetic trait you can breed into and/or out of tomatoes. Maybe it means something about their antioxidants, anthocyanins, etc.

Here are some other observations:

• Most of my Cuostralee tomato seeds were dark (a few were light)
• A good portion of my Jackie tomato seeds were dark

Anyway, I mostly noticed tomato seeds, because that's mostly what I have visible on the table, but I did notice a few dark melon and pepper seeds, too.