Do seeds from fresh tomatoes need to completely dry before they will sprout?

Question

I have been growing cherry tomatoes for about four years now. My method is hardly scientific. I throw the bad fruit on the ground and let them germinate the next year.

Last year I got some different varieties which I thought I would add to my veggie patch. I don't know the names of the different varieties. I took four tomato fruits and directly planted them in soil in December. It is now February and I've only had a good level of success with one of them. I have about 30 seedlings which I have since separated. One of the other tomatoes has only grown two seedlings so far and it is nearly the end of summer.

I also had four seeds from a tomato that I ate that dried out on my cutting board. I sowed them and each of them sprouted within about a week into a healthy seedling.

I partially dug up one of the non-sprouting tomatoes and noticed that a lot of the flesh was still around the seeds and quite moist after over a month. I know it's a bit late in the year with autumn starting in March but if I can get any of them to sprout I am considering keeping them indoors over winter to stop the few cold days we get from killing them.

Should I have cut the tomatoes open to let the seeds dry out before sowing them? Do tomato seeds need to completely dry before they will sprout? Do some varieties not grow from seed?

Answer 1

Tomato seeds that have never been dried can germinate. I've tried it.

Tomatoes can actually germinate inside the fruit, sometimes (wherein the fruit is still good to eat, at that).

I've read that the gel sacks around the seeds are supposed to inhibit germination. You may have greater success if you remove the sacks. I could be wrong, but I don't think drying the seeds is going to affect the process much. Just remove the sacks. Seeds will still germinate with the gel sacks after drying, in my experience (but maybe not as many, and there may be drawbacks to this).

Generally, however, people recommend that you ferment your seeds before storing (and probably before planting). This is supposed to reduce disease, filter out non-viable seeds and stuff.

All tomato varieties (unless they've been genetically modified or crossed with a significantly distant relative of a domestic tomato) should have viable seeds, if they have seeds (parthenocarpic tomatoes are sometimes seedless). It's possible a mutant variety out there won't, but don't count on that making it to the commercial scene (unless they only sell it as plants propagated from cuttings).

Answer 2

No need to dry them out usually, and large varieties of tomato will grow exceptionally well with the right conditions. Here in Florida we just slice the tomatoes and lay the slices on top of the soil. The sun does all the work and the seeds fall through the slice and grow up through the rotting tomato slice; almost acting like its own self-made compost in the early stages of growing.

Answer 3

When I was in College we visited a sewage plant. There were all these tomato plants growing in the sewage. Tomato seeds don't get chewed verymuch when people eat tomatoes or like salsa. So when the seeds get pooped out by humans and enter the sewage system there is the intact seed and fecund sewage to fertilize the seed and provide it with a good start... I noticed this as a child too near sewage pipes... there were a lot of wild tomatoes growing. So in a Zombie Apocalypse tomatoes would start growing shortly after peoplestarted going no. 2 outside because if the grid goes down you can't just go... you need an active sewage system. After the grid goes down people will go outside and those tomato products with seeds will probably germinate.