[nuzuki]

I keep collecting the seeds I eat from fruit and veg bought from the supermarket. I have sprouted some in a propagator and know that they are either melon, lemon, apple or grape as I planted these seeds all together but unsure which have sprouted. So far they seem to be doing alright, hopefully I can give them a good start off. So I wondered what has your luck been with seeds you've picked out of eaten or gone off fruit n veg?

Also does anyone have any tips for removing the jellyish sacks on tomato seeds? :blink:

Cheers

[mumofstig]

wash the tomato seeds in a fine sieve and then lay them on kitchen paper to dry.
It's easy to pick them off, or just sow with a tiny piece of paper attached.

Tomatoes, peppers and squash are easy! The BUT is that they may not give you exactly the same fruit back as you've eaten - they may have been F1 plants that don't breed true.
It can be fun to try but don't be too dissapointed if things don't go to plan

[JayG]

Easy question - although there are various "recipes" for getting rid of the jel coat on tomato seeds I find that if they are soaked in a glass of water for 24 hours it's quite easy to wash if off using running water through a tea strainer and a bit of persuasion! (Hardest part is actually getting the seeds to sink to be bottom of the glass of water.)

Hard question - Not tried growing "unknown" fruit seeds for years - most obvious problems are that the plant might well have been grown in conditions almost impossible to provide in the UK, and the parent plant might well have been a hybrid itself and then further hybridised with something else, so you could finish up with something completely different.

Good fun as an experiment (albeit a very lengthy one when it comes to things like apple trees!) but I wouldn't rely on it as a substitute for named seeds bred for growing in this country. 

[hightide]

It seems a shame to throw away all those seeds doesn't it, tried a few myself Avocados, Melon, Cucumber, Tomatoes were not worth the effort. However, the best results I had ever were with British butternut squash seeds from the well known chef Jaimies employer, from four plants I got twentyone squashes, which were a lot bigger than any sold on the supermarket shelves and lasted us until end of March.
 

That was my first attempt at growing Butternut being unaware of just how good they are and in an effort to repeat that I have since bought the same variety seeds from all the major suppliers and had zilch! - last year only managed one about the size of a grapefruit 


So indifferent results although my wife always liked the colour of the Avocado leaves.


   

[digalotty]

go on youtube there are plenty of how to videos on tomato seeds,its what i was doing earlier this week

[azubah]

It's good fun, but not often productive. I germinated a mango seed once, but it did not live very long.
I have had success with tomatoes, and I now have 3 grape vines behind my allotment shed. They are only 6" high and may not survive the winter.

[salome2001]

I have today sown some physalis seeds from fruit bought at Christmas, I have some Halloween pumpkin seeds saved, and am chitting some Rudolph potatoes from the supermarket. I'll let you know what luck I have...

[DD.]

See this thread, (and many others) on the dangers of growing shop bought potatoes. For what you may save, ask yourself if it's really worth the risk.

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=88977.0

Seed are a different matter when it comes to passing on disease, but as has been mentioned, if you're trying to grow seed from an F1, you have to be prepared to be disappointed.

[arugula]

I've done it with supermarket orange halloween pumpkin with great success.

[DD.]

I'm not saying will be, just be like a boy scout.

Main point is about planting shop bought spuds.

[arugula]

Agreed and I wasn't replying to disagree with your post DD.

[DD.]

I know you weren't, it gave me an opportunity to re-emphasise my main point!

[arugula]

Good. To both.

[Thrift]

I have grown quite strong avocado plants. Also, I once ate a nectarine in the garden and parked the stone in a convenient flower pot. After completely forgetting it, I discovered a sturdy nectarine growing when I cleared the pot at some stage.

All plants perished eventually by simply forgetting they were there. 

It would be fun to try a few different things this year. 

[RobertSongs]

I leave my tomato seeds in a ramikin half filled with water and covered with cling film on top of the kitchen cupboards for about a week in which time they go moldy you then tip them into a sieve remove the moldy bit give em a good rinse and dry thouroughly on paper towel you now have clean seed ready to store in paper bags...I also save seeds from supermarket produce. The seeds from a packet of dried chilli's ASDA world food isle are fantastic..germinate them in the airing cupboard in a plastic bag on wet paper towel..you get 100`s and 100's in a bag..i have two little lemon saplings in my tunnel on the go and am intending to try and get some clementines going this year..also have bhut jolokia, scotch bonnet from tesco growing nicely at the mo..I've seen people try it with sweet peppers they grew plenty of fruit but they were very small so I probably wont bother with those Lidl sell packets of california wonder seed at 29p might aswell get them from there...I had some relly nice tom's from a local market last year and have sown some of the saved seed already so am really looking forward to find out if i can get them tasting anything like they did..its great fun and almost free..so why not just experiment..