Never Buy Tomato Seed Again - Learn How to Save Tomato Seeds The Easiest Way!

We are processing hundreds of pounds of tomatoes to save seeds from. Tomato seeds are an easy seed to save, and you can do it yourself!

[@jeremiewampler]

Love that Luke as a seed seller makes a how to never buy seeds video, that sir is why I come back to every upload you make

[@MIgardener]

Awe thank you!

[@katherinebrakeman3685]

Exactly! It’s like a fisherman teaching people to fish. It doesn’t exactly make sense but when you can continue to purchase different seeds instead of the same varieties every year it’s better for EVERYONE! It’s better for your individual health to have a larger variety & it also increases food diversity to minimize overall crop loss due to unforeseen circumstances. I believe there are big picture reasons for Luke’s methods. 👍

[@karinmatters6418]

When I buy tomatoes for a meal, I would get an extra one if they are a good looking/tasting variey

[@batzzz2044]

His seeds are great too! Eating white icicle and black spanish radishes from him as we speak.

[@daviedodds3050]

Yeah, well done son! You have a genuine heart. Have some love back. ♥️

[@deej5932]

A friend gave me a Lucca tomato plant a few years ago. His mom brought seeds back from Italy. I’ve been saving the seeds every year since because you can’t find the seeds anywhere. I haven’t fermented them at the point of getting mold but have had good luck so far soaking them for a day & rinsing the gel off.

[@MarigoldsintheGarden]

I never knew about this technique so a big thank you. My ducks 🦆have always provided me with my tomato seedlings. They eat the tomatoes, then out come the seedlings 😮😅😂NO sorry, I mean the seeds! The seedlings come up all over the yard after being processed, I believe, in the 🦆 duck’s tummies! 😄😄 This year I bought some new varieties of tomato 🍅 seeds, as there are so many varieties of tomatoes that we have all never tried.

[@donnaweeks1311]

Wow! This is awesome. Trying to save as many as we can here in Texas. The heat made it very difficult this season. Thank you Luke.

[@jeffbradford1999]

Plant life cycle is amazing and you make it exciting. You have taught this suthun boy so much. Thanks!

[@wildybeast6968]

Thanks for the video luke but i was just wondering about cross pollination do you bag the flowers for pure seed?

[@marcidevries5515]

I was just doing this tonight! Good timing ☺️

[@jennyfrompr8940]

Just watched your video on how to save tomato seed from 10 years ago. Equally helpful, equally informative. Love your channel, love your passion, love your knowledge. Thanks for caring, thanks for sharing.

[@melissamchugh7109]

Thanks for your videos. I'm always learning and getting new ideas. I've been growing my garden, saving more seeds, been able to grow more of our own food, as well as storing that good food over winter. It's the most satisfying feeling!

[@katherinebrakeman3685]

Love this! I’m so glad to have stopped in right before closing last week. I love that you encourage & teach every possible way to be self sufficient! This info allows me to collect all the heirloom tomato varieties my heart desires & then expand the variety of everything I grow over the next few years. 🙌 I love the empty seed packets you have available to easily label any saved seeds. Such a thoughtful little “homemade” gift for friends & family that garden. 💚🌺

[@lindapetersen1800]

Luke I like this better than what I have been doing !!! Last 30 yrs been doing beans and tomatoe seeds and cucumber seeds with left over screens from old windows !!!

[@Wndrfl321]

You always put out a great video! Thanks again!!

[@Hellohellohello7]

If you are growing multiple heirloom tomatoes close to each other will that cause them to become hybrids?

[@nicholasnarcowich9163]

Really cool, thank you :-)

[@bexxISM]

Curious do the tomatoes for seed need to be fully ripe? I have birds and chipmunks that damage some tomatoes (not always ripe), can I use these for seeds?

[@brandeegoodnight532]

Thank you! Didn’t know it was so easy. I hope you don’t do it the back breaking way with the buckets. God bless!

[@BearMeat4Dinner]

Gotta put in an order for a lot of seeds in the next couple months. Great video as usual.

[@heatherguilford9849]

LOL....no thank you. I will just keep buying the seeds from your store. :)

[@dj-ph8mw]

The story of our kitchen scrap garden---- Our back yard slopes down to a forest. For years, we considered this to be an unusable transition area. We have been putting out kitchen scraps and passed-their-prime veggies back there for years for the forest critters. This past spring a storm brought down a tree in the forest and it landed on a tree in this transition area. I cleaned it and continued the once a month habit of running over the area with a weedeater. Well... in July I went back there and started recognizing "things" growing. We now have 7 massive tomato plants loaded down with beautiful fruit, a huge squash garden that I will start harvesting from today, and 4 muscadine vines. The sun gets to the area now so random things deposited in the area are growing. We have now turned the whole area into our garden.

[@debc.8925]

This is why I like to Buy seeds from him. I love to support his channel and his business. It’s good to pay back some of his generosity and kindness that he shares with his viewers. Luke is the best!

[@andreawimer4334]

I get tons of tomato volunteers. This fall I am going to try to bury some parts of tomatoes with seeds just to see what will happen. I will mark them of course and put them where they will not interfere with my other gardening. To me it is All a learning experience. 3rd year gardener NE Ohio. And my regular tomatoes are done but my volunteers are just starting! 👍😀💥

[@ridethetrain9326]

Once I planted slices of tomatoes. Each seed grew, it was quite fascinating

[@amarketing8749]

Especially with cherry and grape tomatoes I just squeeze out the seeds on the ground when there is too much to harvest. But these volunteers come up much later.

[@tonyacrittenden4879]

I'm going to bury my best and favorite tomatoes this fall, too. I had so many (literally hundreds) of volunteer plants from last year. The only problem was that i didn't know what variety they were!

[@rosemcdonald6885]

Do you ever get any volunteer tomato plants popping up where you dump the fermented gunk from the odd viable seed that sneaks out?

[@sharonlund8220]

I have been wanting to learn exactly how to best save seeds for next year. Thank you MI Gardener!

[@chuckwagon7171]

Gotta dump that biomass from seed into compost pile

[@noplacelikehome9116]

Just ordered a ton of seeds from your website. So happy to have them to plant for next year! Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us all. We are grateful! ❤️

[@VOTE4TAJ]

I have applied this technique a many times in the past. These days for my small yard, I just squeeze some seeds, rub them with paper towel to remove outer coating and dry on same sheet. Note: fungus prevents potential deceaseds and strengthen the seeds.

[@organicinohio5398]

This is how I save my seeds as well. I label the paper towels with the name of the tomato.I let them dry for a few days on the towel then store in zip lock baggies, paper towel and all. Works well for me.

[@Theoriginalurbanbuffalo]

Can this be done on a smaller scale? So if I do this with one tomato in a glass of water? How would this process be done? What day would I change water etc?

[@kittiew260]

Great update to old video Luke! I am saving all I can but yes guilty of buying more each season

[@crystalmorrison4463]

Great video! I got a message today from you guys that my order has shipped. So excited! I’ve never been disappointed with any order from the past. These how-to videos could t come at a better time with all the “insanity” in the world. Seeds could be like gold.

[@Reeder6Wisconsin]

Don't you need to protect the tomatoes from cross pollination so your seeds will produce the same tomato next year?

[@SteveN-sy4bm]

I too thought there was a distance needed between varieties!? I used this process this year, and pleased with the results… but last year’s cherry tomatoes ended up grape shape …

[@binglebongle8601]

Yes. I was waiting for him to mention that.

[@ceecee-thetransplantedgardener]

Have you ever had a random lil 'mater plant come up in this little side yard? :) :)

[@theoverworkedgardener5648]

Very cool video good information can't wait to save my Crimson tomato seeds from my garden.

[@GmamaGrowz]

Saving Seeds is Awesome 🤩 Thanks for sharing your experiences!

[@sharonlund8220]

I had no idea! I was simply setting aside a small number of seeds on a paper towel and drying it. ..then trying to grow the following season.

[@catherinefaux6860]

I did the paper towel method last year with the seed gel from a Wapsipinicon Peach tomato and they sprouted just fine. It was a very overripe tomato. Maybe it fermented on the vine for me.

[@robincampbell5619]

I just did this and after 3 days in the water some varieties had sprouted!

[@BornAgainFarmGirl]

I hope to watch more types of vegetables for seed saving .

[@patrickbuehler5229]

I am delighted to have stumbled on your KZbin videos. It is particularly important to me because you and I are in the same grow zone (Zone 5). I will tell you that my tomatoes haven't looked this good in years. Thank you.

[@Mark723]

Your videos are always such an informative pleasure. It's been a pleasure to watch this channel grow into the humble franchise you've become. Thank you for all that you and your amazing team do for this community.

[@atxlionheartdw]

🤠Howdy from the Texas Hill Country! LIONHEART RANCH 🦁❤

[@zelavie]

Your videos are always so helpful, and it's awesome to see how excited you are by what you do! I have my very first MIGardener seeds sprouting now (Orange Roussolini tomatoes) and I can't wait to get more. Your passion - not only for what you do, but for helping others love it as well - makes it easy to support your business.

[@jeanettesapartmenthomestea1603]

Do you need to worry about if two different tomato plants are close together they would cross pollinate

[@gardenshappen]

You really don't need the mold. You can just let it sit in some water for about a day after rinsing the seeds in a strainer. After it's sat just rinse them in a strainer again and let them dry on a wax paper plate and they are good to go.

[@cupbowlspoonforkknif]

Having a coating that prevents germination makes total sense to me. When the fruit falls you don't want it to germinate right away because the growing season is almost over and the new plant would die before fruiting and passing on it's genes. So this genius time delay ensures they come up at the right time.

[@montanahomestead2431]

Almost like someone designed it that way 😄

[@coleen2213]

@@montanahomestead2431 Just what I was thinking:) & there’s so many examples in nature-like DNA is an intricate code/language, that must have been created by the Creator/God. Because the odds that Chance& time made it, are in the impossible range.

[@montanahomestead2431]

@@coleen2213 amen!

[@alkhazarmegie2270]

@@coleen2213 I think it's the fact that all of this can happen from a primaeval block of acids that is the most fascinating.

[@kimberlyyoung8906]

Love all your videos! But all I have to do is leave the tomatoes on the counter till they get a lil mushy and when I open them they are already starting to grow inside the fruit.. I've grown them perfectly fine..

[@Minnesota_Mama_Bear]

I just cut slices & let them dry. I can break off a piece and plant it. There's always too many starts for me to plant out. 💚🌞

[@brendawydeven2934]

I bought some romas from the store. Scooped out seeds, put in jar with water and shook them hard. Rinsed then again ,used siv, let them dry on coffee filter. Planted them and they all grew.

[@akrimmer]

Thank you for sharing the process. While watching I kept thinking about how great it would be to pour all that tomato water in my compost bins!

[@KenzNurse]

How do you know this stuff?! Mind bending! Thank you so much for sharing! Looking forward to saving our seeds which originally came from you!!

[@sasha185]

Your so cute with your hat turned backwards. Seriously. Love that look on my hubby too.

[@louisaseapy6117]

Hello from New Orleans

[@pgarwood]

My favorite gardening center is closing this year and I’m wondering where I’m going to buy my heirloom tomato plants. I’ve had frustrating experiences trying to go starter veggies at home, but I’m going to give it a go. Thanks for the resources, Luke.

[@ThatBritishHomestead]

love saving seeds I get excited about having my own heirloom, passing it on to my daughter

[@mikeschaoticgardening]

Great video!..thanks!

[@maureenodonnell9600]

Thank you Luke for this great video. One question, why don’t you save the fermented water for the compost heap?

[@jamesbailey1502]

Love your channel btw, it's my favorite and most trusted channel.

[@farmchick1464]

Just dump.far from your house, I find that this attracts so many yellow jackets looking for water and sugar!

[@annadreamsart9756]

Thank you! I never fermented mine and that's why they didn't grow well. lol. I'm trying this way today.

[@poporoyful]

Thank you, Every time I watch you I learn something cool.

[@leelaural]

my roma's and san marzanos' were small this year but there is one or two marzanos that I'm going to try to save the seeds.....learning, learning, learning....thx Mike.

[@staceyv8754]

I was just trying to save tomato seeds today without having gone through this process to get the gel off my seeds. Luckily I have more Green Zebra tomatoes so I can do it the right way!! Thanks so much!!

[@patriciaserdahl5577]

Thanks Luke so going to try both Methods saving my Heirloom seeds 🍅 😊 👍

[@cindyrobertson3798]

I save gardeners from organic s and heirloom by wiping seeds on a paper towel , write what kind or ( med red) and let them dry. Take 6 or 8 pages to a stack and roll the ver dry papers up. Place roll into an old jar not used for canning..like spaghetti sauce jar. That way you are not wasting. .then write tomatoes on a stick note and tape it. Squash same. .I never had luck with cucumber

[@Steve-rr3gc]

My question is this- I process my tomatoes by steaming/boiling for a few minutes then run them through a machine that separates the skins and seeds from pulp. Can those seeds be dried and used next season? And could a dehydrator be used with drying them? The germination inhibitor is gone from the process with most videos says needs to be gone through fermentation.

[@elizabethmendiola5373]

Fabulous!! I’m going to save! Save! Save! Thanks.

[@4wheelliving132]

I grow many variety of tomatoes, usually right next to each other. Won't they cross pollinate and the seeds produce some hybrid of some sort?

[@julianaponte827]

does saving seeds change your tomatos next year i though it did

[@martinklawinski2933]

That's far from the easiest way. Put the tomatoes an water in a kitchen blender. In a few seconds you have seeds without the gel.

[@betsygodwin8938]

Dang! I love this video completely except that I didn’t get to see the final product!

[@YooTubeSlave]

Luke, do you pick tomatoes to save at random for biodiversity? What about for the giant crimson? If yours are the only ones of that variety, then it would seem the variety is still threatened by the limited gene pool.

[@trishaporte]

Awesome!! Thanks! New subscriber. Zone 6a

[@susanturner9023]

The seed jell makes it so tomatoe volunteers are a weed lol in my garden! 🍅✌🏻🙏🏼❤️

[@dpowell1699]

Thank you so much for making this video. Can’t wait to try this.

[@tamiflanagan7038]

Do you have to leave the tomatoes on the vine until they are very, very ripe before you start the seed saving process? I want to save some of my favorite tomato seeds this year and don't want to mess it up.

[@f.b.jeffers0n]

Nope, and take this with a grain of salt, but - from experience - you can pull them off the vine as soon as they've completely changed colours and the seeds will be viable.

[@horrido666]

No - they can even be green. Just let them ripen on the shelf. In fact I usually select half ripened tomatoes for my seeds to steer well clear of any fungus or bacteria from rot.

[@DeadeyeJoe37]

I just saw an old video of yours where you did some fun tomato crosses (sun gold and another regular tomato made a golden tomato). You never said how they tasted! How did they turn out? Any other hybrids you tried?

[@vinceedivan1894]

While fermenting, lids on or lids off the container?

[@deniseroy7190]

I collected seeds from my Pozzano Italian tomatoes last year and started them this year. Are all tomatoes good for seed keeping or some of them will not get flowers ?

[@shellier1681]

Interesting thought, could you freeze dry the seeds after the fermenting process is done?

[@drawingmomentum]

I root my little cuttings I take from my garden toms in water, plant them in a pot indoors for the winter... that way, I have momma plants to take cuttings from to plant for next season. No seeds necessary and babies r true to the parent plant. 👍 🍅 🍅

[@crystalmorrison4463]

Great idea! Do they grow enough to start to produce any tomatoes over the winter? Or do they simply “know” to wait? I tried growing potatoes inside in grow bags under grow lights. Made some beautiful plants by the potato yield was pitiful and small.

[@noplacelikehome9116]

Ooooooh! I love this idea! I've got several varieties that will be great to save. Thanks for the tip!

[@drawingmomentum]

@@crystalmorrison4463 no tomatoes, just future babies on a giant momma! I stake her up and just let her grow! Be sure to keep her sunned and plenty of water too 😉 ❤

[@drawingmomentum]

@@noplacelikehome9116 ur welcome ❤ and love ur name 😉 🌎 ❤ 💙 💜 💖 💗 💘 👍 😊 🏡

[@AnneGoggansQHHT]

I choose my best early season tomatoes and do this in a glass bowl, then I strain it through a kitchen strainer. Small scale alternative 😊

[@shanec8812]

Great video! I hope you didn't take your tag off the sieve. :)

[@jednye3348]

Why not make a rack and use nylon window screen for trays then with enough fans for airflow you can do a room full too much for my scale but thought may be useful for anyone trying to go big

[@brendasmiley6128]

For the last 5 days I have harvested seeds from various crops and my kitchen counter currently has 6 jars and 4 plates of seeds fermenting and drying. These are all YOUR seeds!! Heirlooms of course. I have various tomato, cucumber and squash. I appreciate all that you do!!👩‍🌾🍅🥒🫑

[@clynthia0510]

Thank you. I really learned so much. Thanks again!

[@lah189]

Hi!!! Did you just freeze the insides until you’re ready to do this???

[@ironleatherwood1357]

This wad so helpful! Others have said use paper plate and I have been so disappointed with that method

[@Slotcartires]

How do you prevent from cross pollination?

[@ElderandOakFarm]

Tomatoes are one of my least favorite & most favorite at the same time, seeds to save! Lol.

[@busker153]

I can't but think how happy the microbes must have been with all that fermented, moldy tomato slurry! As a microbe farmer, I appreciate such things. I plant seeds; microbes grow plants. That's how we roll here in the desert! (Tucson, AZ)

[@thatsMRpenguin2u]

I'm going to try this with🍅 from a friend's garden.

[@richardgardner601]

can I save seeds from a heirloom tomato if it doesn't turn red because we are at the end of our season and it's my last heirloom plant and last tomato .

[@jamesbailey1502]

Luke, why not use a piece of window screen on a frame to dry them?

[@anniecochrane3359]

Thank you Luke. This is very informative

[@earthisflat]

Does this method only work for tomato seeds or can I use this method with other seeds too?

[@Nikki-mx5my]

I think you need a bigger sieve, friend. :) Thanks for the seed saving demo at your new shop it was really fun. Also wanted to say I really enjoyed the recent MIgardener newsletter about the farm that is helping you guys bring the Giant Crimson tomatoes to production. I subscribed to their newsletter as well.

[@madammazon2942]

Thank you so much! Thanks to earlier videos of your encouragement I can proudly report that I have now saved some watermelon seeds from my first watermelon ever grown! As well as some pepper and a Red Sails lettuce variety that I only got as seedlings and wanted to save the seeds for the next season. I was wanting to save tomato seeds too and this video is perfectly timed☺️

[@mariamaldonado2328]

Do tomatoes have to be "red ripe" before you can harvest seeds?

[@krystallaree]

why don’t the seeds sprout during this process?

[@missourigirl4101]

Thanks Luke. I started this tonight.

[@loriagrant7954]

Do I put a top on the container? Leave inside or outside?

[@halfacrehomemaker]

Can anyone tell me what I’m doing wrong? I tried three times to do this, letting my seeds ferment anywhere from 12-48 hours and every time they started to germinate! I had them in clear glass jars with a top lightly screwed on with more than a 1:1 ratio of water to seeds. Which part of the process screwed it up?

[@davemagrum]

I use small glass jam jars (tightly sealed - read on) for easy observation and have learned the water ratio doesn't really matter, I just fill the jar. The trick is to strain out the seeds once you notice the growth inhibitor sacks dissolving away from most of the seeds, which could be 12 hours, 4 days, or a week. I speed the process along by shaking the jars vigorously and straining the water daily to remove the excess "debris". This gives you the chance to notice any germination right away. Try not to over complicate the process with borrowed measurements and exact processes. The goal is to get seeds without their growth inhibitor sacks and without germination. Do what works for you.