I pulled all the pods off individually as well because the stems were still growing. I put on nitrile gloves and put a handful of pods in my palm and rubbed the pile with my other palm. Seeds come raining out! When I had an even bigger batch I put them on a paper towel and rubbed them with my gloved palm again and they pop right out. Keep on rubbing until most of them are empty. The seeds are pretty tough so even if you apply pressure you're not likely to hurt the seeds, just crush the pods.

Joolie said:I pulled all the pods off individually as well because the stems were still growing. I put on nitrile gloves and put a handful of pods in my palm and rubbed the pile with my other palm. Seeds come raining out! When I had an even bigger batch I put them on a paper towel and rubbed them with my gloved palm again and they pop right out. Keep on rubbing until most of them are empty. The seeds are pretty tough so even if you apply pressure you're not likely to hurt the seeds, just crush the pods.

Ok, that's basically what I did except for the gloves part.... But how do I separate the parts of the pod that fall from the seeds once it isn't bigger pieces any more.... I don't want to send chaff with my seeds, but don't know the best way to avoid it now that it's all crumbles

With things like basil the way I separate the seeds from the chaff is to put the whole pile (as seen in Joolie's picture) on a baking sheet (one that has sides) and get something like a credit card. Tilt the pan at a slight angle and drag the pile towards you with the card. As you do this the seeds will fall to the bottom of the sheet and most of the chaff will stay up at the top.

I hope that makes sense... maybe I should take a picture or maybe someone else can give a better idea.

lol I don't mind chaff. I usually crumble and dry well and blow gently to separate seeds from chaff.

Gentle blowing works well for a lot of seeds ... Outside!

wildflowers said:With things like basil the way I separate the seeds from the chaff is to put the whole pile (as seen in Joolie's picture) on a baking sheet (one that has sides) and get something like a credit card. Tilt the pan at a slight angle and drag the pile towards you with the card. As you do this the seeds will fall to the bottom of the sheet and most of the chaff will stay up at the top.

I hope that makes sense... maybe I should take a picture or maybe someone else can give a better idea.

That makes sense. Thank you!

I have a couple different sizes of kitchen strainers that I use for small seeds like Basil. Tiny bits of chaff do make it through, but larger pieces remain in the strainer.
There is one seed that I can never clean thoroughly no matter what I do, even tried and true methods. I'm beginning to think it's my eyes and a problem distinguishing those specific seeds from chaff. My Verbena bonariensis packets always have pretty much equal parts seeds and chaff. There was a time I would not trade them because of that, but I'm over it.

I have a question (technically 2 questions).

Tomato - how do you save the seeds? I found a tomato I hadn't noticed that I'd like to get seeds from. Funny story about this variety. In April I went to a local plant swap & got two tomato plants among other things. Some stuff wasn't labeled & then by the time I got home & got everything unloaded, markers got knocked out of the pots. Whatever. I'd remember what everything was, right? Months go by & finally we have flowers . Seemed to take FOREVER but finally we had a tomato . As it grew it started to look funny & my husband said it probably had something wrong with the plant or the soil. So we probably shouldn't eat it.....so I picked it off. In my research ( Google) I came across a word that looked somewhat familiar & looked through the labels from the swap I had saved. Turns out that was the tomato variety & it was supposed to look like that . Starts with an R, heirloom, you can pull sections of it off at a time. I don't like raw tomatoes but my husband ate the later ones & said they were really good.

This is the forgotten one. Can I save seeds from it? I'm assuming not the moldy part but the other 2 sections should be ok right?


Bell pepper - Will seeds from peppers from the store reproduce? I got a couple large peppers from the grocery store & would like to grow my own.

Kathy547 said:I have a question (technically 2 questions).

Tomato - how do you save the seeds? I found a tomato I hadn't noticed that I'd like to get seeds from. Funny story about this variety. In April I went to a local plant swap & got two tomato plants among other things. Some stuff wasn't labeled & then by the time I got home & got everything unloaded, markers got knocked out of the pots. Whatever. I'd remember what everything was, right? Months go by & finally we have flowers . Seemed to take FOREVER but finally we had a tomato . As it grew it started to look funny & my husband said it probably had something wrong with the plant or the soil. So we probably shouldn't eat it.....so I picked it off. In my research ( Google) I came across a word that looked somewhat familiar & looked through the labels from the swap I had saved. Turns out that was the tomato variety & it was supposed to look like that . Starts with an R, heirloom, you can pull sections of it off at a time. I don't like raw tomatoes but my husband ate the later ones & said they were really good.

This is the forgotten one. Can I save seeds from it? I'm assuming not the moldy part but the other 2 sections should be ok right?


Bell pepper - Will seeds from peppers from the store reproduce? I got a couple large peppers from the grocery store & would like to grow my own.

A wet/fermenting method is best.... basically, you take all the seeds/gel out and put it in a cup/glass of water, and put in a dark place for 5 - 7 days. After 2 or 3 days, you give it a stir. after 5 - 7 days, any viable seeds will be on the bottom, any bad seeds will be floating on top.... then you slowly decant off the junk that was fermenting and the liquid... fill with water and continue to decant off the liquid and other stuff. Once you have just viable seeds and water, you pour off the seeds onto something to allow them to dry... a paper towel will likely stick to the seed...

Doing it this way helps remove the enzyme coating on the seed which has an anti-sprouting hormone in it...

That being said, if that tomato is moldy, I wouldn't trust those seeds. Or at least any of the seeds from the sections that are moldy. If there are sections that aren't moldy or the mold doesn't appear to be inside the tomato, feel free to collect the seeds.

I put the whole pile of seeds and chaff in a paper bag with a basil-seed-sized hole cut in the corner and just tapped all the seeds out. If it got plugged up I shook the bag and tapped some more. The tiny bits, I gently blew on the bowl and foof! Basil crumbles all over my dining room! (Shoulda done what DraDiana said, lol!)

Ended up with this:


Still a little fluff but not too bad. I'll probably be manually picking out the chonkiest seeds to pack up for everyone anyway so it won't get in my way.

Joolie!
The finished product looks great!

Kathy,
On store peppers - green peppers are not actually ripe, so the seeds will likely be too immature. For example, I grabbed a red Jalapeno to get seed for myself. Also, the seeds should be a bit fat. Paper thin seeds are generally empty shells. Compare their look to commercial seeds. Most store peppers are hybrids, and their offspring will not be identical. However, they will still be peppers.

I'm about to do my fall inventory so I'll be inventory to I'll be taking all of my seeds out of the swap until I know what I have. I'm not going anywhere.

Lalambchop1 said:I'm about to do my fall inventory so I'll be inventory to I'll be taking all of my seeds out of the swap until I know what I have. I'm not going anywhere.

Sorry, feel free to ignore my tree mail

These are the peppers & seeds. Do they look viable? I still plan to grow some just to see but I don't think I will use any for trading.

That pepper is fairly mature since it is almost all orange. The seeds look viable. Testing them for germination is a good idea.

For basil & similar seedpods, I start by putting them in a container with a lid & shaking them (pretend you're making martinis). Usually the seeds fall to the bottom while the pods stay on top, so I gently scoop out the pods until I'm left with just seeds. Then I rub the pods between my palms until they're all like powder. Then I dump them in a bowl (wider seems better) and gently blow off the chaff. But since I only clean the seeds I'm swapping, I don't worry if there's some chaff in the ones i save for myself.

A bit off topic, but wondering if those of you who have planted chilten's seeds are getting good germination? I tried to grow a couple that i'd gotten in swaps and got ZERO germination.

I have although I will say I didn't have a garden the last two years due to weather.

I don't have a really good setup for starting seeds so if something doesn't grow I'll try it multiple years/different ways before tossing seeds.

For example, I always thought I got bad violet/pansy seeds. But one year we had a really cold winter and I got great germination. Turns out where my grow light are is too close to the furnace so most years it's too warm for them to germinate.

That being said I do always wonder if seeds coming from overseas get exposed to weird chemicals/radiation before I get them.

Thanks for the input, Libby. I shall try again, just wondering.
Pansies/violas do SUPER when you winter sow them :D Of course you're not going to get spring blooms. Mine start blooming in June

Val that's my problem. If I wintersow them by the time they bloom it's getting hot so I only get a few short weeks of them. But it's hard to get them to germinate indoors. I'm finding the violets much longer blooming so I'm growing them more now.