[grenhouse]

Hiya everyone,

I successfully germinated a few chilli seeds inbetween sheets of damp kitchen paper in a plastic bag. Wondered if anyone had tried this method with toms to see if it works.

Any info appreciated as always

Steve

[gardener247]

Ya i tried it last year it works but to be honest i got a better result by just sowing in compost

[8doubles]

If you use compost any little roots can attach itself and not be damaged when you pot on.
If you try to peel seedlings off tissue i think you are bound to do some root damage .

[Yorkie]

Damage to roots is indeed a possibility.  However, if the seeds are sufficiently spaced out on the tissue paper, you could cut the paper into small bits - one per seed - and just plant the lot into compost.  The tissue paper will rot down with no ill-effects and you've not damaged the roots by removing them from the paper.

[mumofstig]

apart from checking to see if old seed is viable.........I can't see what you gain from using the tissue paper anyway?

IMO Tomato seeds are usually reliable enough to grow one per module that's  if you really don't fancy pricking the seedlings out

[JayG]

Tomato seeds might well be small and fluffy but they are one of the toughest and long-lived seeds going (plenty of evidence on this site about tomatoes surviving frost, heat, drying out, being composted etc!)

Mum's absolutely right; don't waste your time mollycoddling them. One or two per pot, whether paper, plastic or whatever will rarely disappoint.

[viettaclark]

Unless they're Tumbling Tom Yellow, that is. Two years running with fresh seed from two different reputable merchants and the germination rate is 30%.  The Reds are about 98%.
You only get 25 seeds.
Anyone else found this?

[Kim Glanrhyd]

Surely part of the fun in sowing seeds, is getting your hands all claggy with soil and annoying the other half by using up all the window cills in the house. Wouldn't like the thought of the cat warming its derriere on the sheets of tissue above the rads.
Mind you sounds like a lot less hassle if it works well.

[JayG]

Surely part of the fun in sowing seeds, is getting your hands all claggy with soil and annoying the other half by using up all the window cills in the house. Wouldn't like the thought of the cat warming its derriere on the sheets of tissue above the rads.
Mind you sounds like a lot less hassle if it works well.

     .....................but you've still got to pot them up even if the tissue routine does work so you've made two jobs for yourself instead of one!

[RobertB]

Why don't you save your own seed, Vietta, and save buying yet more dodgy stuff? You can just squeeze some pulp with the seeds out onto a kitchen tissue, dry it out, and store it somewhere cool.

[tam]

I don't with toms but I do with peppers/aubergines. That way I just have one little zip bag to keep warm and not loads of pots and they germinate in a few days instead of weeks. The toms seem quicker anyway and the seeds are smaller so more fiddly.

[boosh]

Tomato seeds might well be small and fluffy but they are one of the toughest and long-lived seeds going (plenty of evidence on this site about tomatoes surviving frost, heat, drying out, being composted etc!)

Mum's absolutely right; don't waste your time mollycoddling them. One or two per pot, whether paper, plastic or whatever will rarely disappoint.

I agree.

The most i do is soak peas, beans and sweetcorn overnite, before sowing,
I tryed soaking parsnips last year, they just got really fiddly to sow thou and it did not seem to make any differance.