How to Extract and Collect Tomato Seeds to Plant in Your Garden Next Year

If you have your own garden, a great way to save money is collect and save your own vegetables seeds to plant next year. This way you don't have to pay for seeds or seedling plants when it comes to planting your garden next year.

Tomatoes are one of the most popular fruits (or vegetables as some people classify them as) that are grown in backyard gardens. If you have a large garden with plenty of tomato plants you can definitely use these steps to extract and collect your own tomato seeds to plant in your garden next year.

Extracting Tomato Seeds

To extract the seeds from the tomato cut the fruit in half, slicing it right down the middle of where the stem is. Squeeze the seeds along with the juice into a plastic container, such as a cottage cheese container or a clean piece of Tupperware that you will not need.

Place the container of tomato seeds and juice in a warm spot and allow the mixture to ferment. The reason why you want the mixture to ferment is so that yeasts will rot away the protective sack over the seeds which will leave behind clean and bacteria free seeds to plant next year.

Collecting the Good Tomato Seeds

After two or three days of fermentation, a thick moldy substance will form on the surface of the mixture. You need to make sure that you stir up the mixture vigorously to break up the mold. The good tomato seeds will sink down to the bottom of the container.

Use a very fine mesh strainer to strain the seeds and then add more water to the container. Repeat this process until all that remains is clean water and the good tomato seeds. This can take anywhere from 3-10 times depending on how many seeds you are trying to collect.

When you only have the good seeds left pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer again and be sure that you remove as much moisture as possible from the seeds. Lay the seeds on a screen or plate so that they can completely dry before storing them for next planting season.

The tomato seeds can be stored in a clean envelope that should be tightly sealed. As long as the process was followed correctly and the seeds were completely dried before they were placed in the envelope they should be perfectly fine for planting next year in the garden.