# Now what do I do with them?



## Jimthewagontraveler (Feb 8, 2012)

Ok Guys and Gals I now have 17kahjillion little tomato seeds.
Each one is 1\4 in away from any other in nice neat little rows slowly gluing itself to a sheet of newspaper.:surrender:
Now after they are dry I can cut the rows with a sharp blade on a wood cutting board.
Then cut the strips into 1\4 in bits this allows me to handle each tiny seed one at a time.
These pieces of paper can be put in a jar for next season OR ??
1 Can I sprout some to replenish the ones eaten buy bugs this season?
[ a 2 ft tall tomato plant eaten over night except for a tiny stump. 
Not rabbits or critters or humans JUST BUGS and only 1 brand of tomato plants at that. 
Now that bug type seems to be gone? 
2 Whats the story on sprouting tomato plants between sheets of paper.
I have never ''hatched out'' tomato plants from seed.

You ask what kind of tomato seed?
The WHATEVERGRU brand.
Where did I get them from?
BILL
Why dont I bother BILL with these silly questions?
BILL is dead.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

First off, thats a great idea, letting the seeds dry on a sheet of newspaper, will make planting them in flats a lot easier. I'd say to put a layer of dirt in a flat, put the newspaper down on the layer of dirt then sprinkle another layer over it.

As for replacing the eaten down plants, I dont know where you are but here it would be way too late in the season to start new plants, they may produce when the weather cools down in the fall but wouldn't do anything until then except use water.

I plant around 100 tomato plants of several verities each year(about 160 this year) and have never seen any eaten down to the nub overnight with no sign of the culprit. Grasshoppers or brown blister beetles could do that here but you would see droppings around the plants and would definitely see the bugs moving to the next plants regardless of the verity. Good luck with that one.


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## rawhide2971 (Apr 19, 2013)

Once they are good and dry, really dry now, I would put them in either a zip lock bag or a vacumn sealed bag if you have a vacumn sealer and then put them in the freezer, or refrigerator. I store mine that way and have good germination success each year. But make sure they are dry.


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## Jimthewagontraveler (Feb 8, 2012)

I am in southern Missouri.
I planted late and am just as of a week ago getting tomatos.
I have never seen any one plant decimated that way either.
The ones around it and it were slightly eaten one day.
Very small parts of the soft part of leaves were eaten on day one.
On day two a few leaves were missing maybe 5 leaves gone on 12 plants most of those off of 2 plants.
On day three 2 plants were missing including all stems and branches and had not been pulled up??? 
There were no footprints of any kind??
Since then almost all predation has stopped.
My tomato plants are in the shade after about 2 pm.
Water is no issue so I think I will try to sprout some replacements.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

Jimthewagontraveler said:


> I am in southern Missouri.
> I planted late and am just as of a week ago getting tomatos.
> I have never seen any one plant decimated that way either.
> The ones around it and it were slightly eaten one day.
> ...


I'm stumped, what ever it was please dont send it down this way!

If you have partial shade and water isn't an issue, you may as well try replacing them, worse case scenario, you will get some late tomatoes. Best case, you could be back to where you were before the "critter" visited.

You could plant pieces of your seeded paper in the spots where the plants were and/or start some in a flat and see which does better. You could possibly save a little growing time that way.


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## Jimthewagontraveler (Feb 8, 2012)

Davarm. No you cant have it what ever it is I will make war on till one of us is dead if I have to turn a weed burner loose.
UPDATE
Today we did the weed picking\inspection thing.
Those 2 plants are still missing.
I found some old horse manure [ no smell black and crumbly] and used it as potting soil.
I placed about 20 seeds in tiny plastic cups that have paper over the drain holes and will water them every day.
Should they sit in sun or does it matter till they hatch out?
I also had another tomato to collect today and kept about 50 seeds from that tomato before it became lunch.
These seeds are now gluing themself to paper.
When dried they will be cut into strips then put in a Mason jar with a lid.
Interesting notes 
Green tomatos now appear safe to become somewhat ripe on the vine.
When green tomatos become yellow tomatos PICK THEM.
They dont turn red.
When green tomatoes first begin to turn even slightly red PICK THEM.
I found a red tomato begining to rot on bottom but very green inside.
It was not touching the ground.
Comments or suggestions?


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## tsrwivey (Dec 31, 2010)

That sounds like blossom end rot, which is from a lack of calcium. Sprinkle some calcium on the ground & water it in. I collect washed out eggshells all year, crush them, & put them around my tomato plants. It gives a slow, steady dose of calcium as they break down & also acts as a physical barrier to some soft-bellied pests.


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## ContinualHarvest (Feb 19, 2012)

There's a really good book called Seed to Seed It will help you with properly preserving your seeds. Seed care and planting schedules will vary by species and geographic location.
Also, I personally deep compost the leftovers from fish dinners (bones, scales) and eggshells. It all goes to the bottom of the compost bin. Replenishes the calcium. It looks liek you don't have time for that... You can buy Calcium Fertilizer and that may help in the short run, but you will need to find out why your soil isn't releasing the nutrients your plants need. It could be a pH problem. This results in the nutrients remaining locked away in the soil if they are present and not being useful to the plants. This in turn turns into pest problems like BER.


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## Jimthewagontraveler (Feb 8, 2012)

Well I have several little seeds coming up.
This seems way earlier than i was expecting.
I am ok with that now to find some dirt to transplant to.
I think saved the four part cups that tomato seedlings come from in the nursery package.
Any theorys on why the little guys sprouted in less than a week?


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## Jimthewagontraveler (Feb 8, 2012)

double post removed.


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## machinist (Jul 4, 2012)

We have had some trouble with Late Blight on our tomatoes the past couple years. Wet weather is a factor, I'm told, because Late Blight is a fungus, IIRC. This year, I am adding lime to the whole garden, plus scattering crushed eggshells and Epsom Salts around the plants. Epsom Salts is Magnesium Sulfate, and our soil is deficient in Magnesium like most clay soils. These 2 nutrients are supposed to help the tomatoes ripen, which has been a problem. I hope this works! 

The blight caused the tomatoes to rot before they turned red. We just threw out a BUNCH of canned tomatoes, because my wife read that blight changes their pH and may allow Botulism to grow even when normally processed in a pressure canner.


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## Jimthewagontraveler (Feb 8, 2012)

Well that certainly aint good but thank you for sharing the info.
Does botulism produce gas that will weaken or break the seal?
Does it cause bubbles in the sides of the jar?


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## machinist (Jul 4, 2012)

I don't now much of anything about it, so I searched and found this:
http://www.pickyourown.org/botulism.htm


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## Jimthewagontraveler (Feb 8, 2012)

Well thats an enlightening page and lays to rest many of my fears on that subject.
It says boil for 20 min and problem gone.
Unless it looks or smell bad then discard it just to be safe.
VERY COOL.
THANK YOU!!!


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

You may want to be careful with the lime, even slightly too much will cause more problems than it will solve. A better choice would be some type of powdered limestone(Pelleted Dolomite), Rock Phosphate which is a good source of calcium AND phosphorus or even Oyster Shell(comonly used as a suppliment for laying hens). If you feel confident about using the lime, it will most definitely solve Blossom End Rot problems.

I use Epson Salts and it has really helped my tomatoes ripen more evenly, hardly any of the green topped tomatoes anymore.



machinist said:


> We have had some trouble with Late Blight on our tomatoes the past couple years. Wet weather is a factor, I'm told, because Late Blight is a fungus, IIRC. This year, I am adding lime to the whole garden, plus scattering crushed eggshells and Epsom Salts around the plants. Epsom Salts is Magnesium Sulfate, and our soil is deficient in Magnesium like most clay soils. These 2 nutrients are supposed to help the tomatoes ripen, which has been a problem. I hope this works!
> 
> The blight caused the tomatoes to rot before they turned red. We just threw out a BUNCH of canned tomatoes, because my wife read that blight changes their pH and may allow Botulism to grow even when normally processed in a pressure canner.


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## Jimthewagontraveler (Feb 8, 2012)

You know its kinda odd maybe but I am really enjoying the greenish tomatos.
Bugs dont eat them as bad and i can have them sitting waiting for whenever I want.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

Jimthewagontraveler said:


> You know its kinda odd maybe but I am really enjoying the greenish tomatos.
> Bugs dont eat them as bad and i can have them sitting waiting for whenever I want.


Here, I've had to start picking mine when they start to blush. The grasshoppers have been so bad they will eat the riper ones right off the vine.

After this last 5 days of rain we had, many of my tomatoes cracked and that was a dinner bell. I was finally able to get out and pick them today and wound up having to toss about 50 pounds because they were half eaten. Tonight my kitchen table is stacked with ripening tomatoes.

I'm going out in the morning to pick all the hybrids(green and all) and let them ripen in the house, they're determinant producers and are almost finished for the season anyway.


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## Jimthewagontraveler (Feb 8, 2012)

I have found a very good use for half bug eaten tomatos.
SEEDS.
If each tomato has 50 seeds and you save half and half of those live to produce thats a lot of tomatos.
I have heard you cant grow plants from 
A plants that you buy.
B tomatos you buy in the store.
I have 11 sprouts out of 22 so far and expect more by tomorrow am.
I have also heard that you wont get reliable or productive tomato plants from these sources because they are hybred etc.
Now lets be honest we all want heritage seeds BUT when you have free seeds???
Is it not worth the try??
Lets also be honest that we are not trying to improve the tomato plant we are getting ready for some type of shtf event.
NOW is the time to experiment to stock to learn and to keep careful records for our progeny.
Of the free seeds we stock now if 1 out of 100 grow we are providing bounty for the future.
I like keeping a few seeds out of every tomato I eat it does not seem to decrease my enjoyment of the food and each tomato may be different.
AND it is so very easy to scoop out 10 seeds and line them up 1/4 in apart on a old piece of news paper this sits till tomorrow when it will be dry enough to cut the strip off and put in a mason jar.
If you put them all in one mason jar all mixed up you still get several thousand tomato seeds in 1 little jar.
If you seperate them all acording to type or place of purchase you maybe end up with 4 jars.
Each preserving bounty for the next season [or 2?].
Can anybody see a flaw in my thought pattern?
Think about it the next time you see a slice of tomato and all those tiny seeds.
Cantalope? Gourd? Melon? Squash?


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## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

We are saving seeds this year too. We have a jalopino pepper that keeps producing all year round in the leanto, its now 4 years old and has peppers all over it all the time. So I took off two giant peppers that turned red for seeds.

Also saving other seeds too.


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## crabapple (Jan 1, 2012)

Lime raise pH to a higher number & adds calcium.
Gypsum adds calcium, without raising pH.
BER is caused by low calcium & /or uneven water patterns .
When a tomato stops growing to ripping, then receives more water the tomato grows again, but not the outer skin, so it splits, pick turning tomatoes & ripen on widow seal.
I save seeds & get freebies from last year rotten tomatoes.


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## Wellrounded (Sep 25, 2011)

Jimthewagontraveler said:


> Well I have several little seeds coming up.
> This seems way earlier than i was expecting.
> I am ok with that now to find some dirt to transplant to.
> I think saved the four part cups that tomato seedlings come from in the nursery package.
> Any theorys on why the little guys sprouted in less than a week?


In warm enough conditions toms are fast to germinate. I grow on a heat bed and expect tomatoes within a week, if they aren't up by then I assume the seed is dodgy and replant. Some seed I expect up within 3 or 4 days, squash and pumpkins for example. I've had radishes come up in 2 days..... :2thumb:


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