Using saved seed year after year

[slugworth]

I save seeds from a few tomato varieties and wonder how long you have been doing the ritual?
One type has been about 7 or 8 years in a row.
Originally it was a hybrid and it reverted back to one of the parent types,which is fine for me.
I was lucky that the hybrid was RL,but one of the parents was PL.
So when I start seeds for that type I make sure the seedlings are all Pl.

[rxkeith]

i have saved seeds from my uncle steves italian plum tomato since i was a teenager, so
maybe 45 yrs or so. seeds managed to grow without any fermentation, and not starting in
a sterile seed mix. i have learned a bit since then. uncle steve died when i was in my twenties,
so it was up to me to keep the tomato going. same with my uncle steve italian pole bean. nothing
quite like it around. similar, but not the same.


keith

[slugworth]

My mother used to grow a huge italian tomato,but the seeds were lost.
24oz size were common.It only had 10 or 15 seeds per tomato.
She saved seeds from nearby plants different variety.
After about 5 years we got the italian variety back from the grow out of the other seeds.
But those were lost over time.
The only tomato I've seen that comes close picture-wise is the burpee gladiator.
Same shape but smaller than she grew.
Hers would deteriorate fast after slicing; if you cut it at lunch time by supper time it was mush.
A solid meaty tomato.

[Shule]

I've been saving vegetable seeds every year since 2014, including tomatoes.

I saved cantaloupe seeds as a teenager, but unfortunately, I didn't do a whole lot of seed-saving before 2014.

I'm not sure which tomato I've done this with the most times, off-hand, but there aren't any I've grown every year since then.

[MissS]

I have seeds of Brandywine that I have grown for 31 years. When I first started gardening all that I grew were Brandywine tomatoes. I find it to be more far more productive than the others but still has the same taste. I don't grow it every year anymore but I do once in a while to keep a seed stock. I like this one better than the named strains just because of it's productivity.

[Vanman]

We keep a strain that my FIL grew for years, over 20 that I know of, and he died twelve years ago. It was from a tomato that he was given by a customer of his. I think it is German Johnson, but not sure. He had no idea what it was.

[Paulf]

Twenty-two years ago I discovered heirloom tomatoes...well, they discovered me. A small nursery near Ottumwa, Iowa had several varieties of plants and rather than hardware store hybrids (all the bigger and betters and boys and girls) I gave them a try. The rest is history. I reached out to Chuck Wyatt and he graciously indicated I could save the seeds from the plants I grew from the seeds I purchased from him and why. Thus it began.

I still have several varieties he sold me that I consider a direct line. Martha Hufford sent me seeds from her discovery (KBX) and those have been saved over the years. And Carloyn scolded me about how to really save seeds so they didn't cross even though they don't cross easily. What a ride it has been on the seed saving journey. I do try to purchase from my seed selling friends to help them out so they can perhaps stay in the business, but there are a few varieties I save because those specific ones are either hard to find or for sentimental reasons.

[slugworth]

I would assume that seeds saved/grown over decades would outperform store bought plants or seeds since they are adapted to your personal climate conditions.

[Tormahto]

I don't even know how to answer this thread.

[bower]

I started saving tomato seed in 2012, and since then have saved seed from just about every vegetable I regularly grow.
I can do biennials like celery and leeks by overwintering some plants in my greenhouse. Aphids ruined my carrot seed plans, but that's another story.
The greens that I grow in winter generally bolt and go to seed in the spring, and it's nice to have some to put out as early flowers for the bees.

[slugworth]

When I was a kid,my friends mother always had a perpetual onion patch.
It seemed she always had onions in the same spot all the time.

[Yak54]

I have seeds of Brandywine that I have grown for 31 years. When I first started gardening all that I grew were Brandywine tomatoes. I find it to be more far more productive than the others but still has the same taste. I don't grow it every year anymore but I do once in a while to keep a seed stock. I like this one better than the named strains just because of it's productivity.

Hi Patti

I sure would like to know which Brandywine this is !

Dan

[MissS]

@Yak these were seeds saved from Brandywine's that I bought at a local greenhouse. They were just labeled 'Brandywine'. Not all Brandywines come from a strain of them. There are just plain old Brandywine's but I think that they fell out of fashion and that the named strains have taken over. It is Brandywine, not Cowlick's nor Suddoth's or another. Just this and nothing else and I have found that in my garden that it produces better than the named strains. It works well for me and NO I am not going to name it Patti's Strain.

If you would like seed, just let me know.

[Shule]

@MissS
Is it a pink and potato-leaf sort?

[MissS]

Yes @Shule. It's Brandywine which is what this tomato started out as before everyone started adding on a name to their strain. It's a darned good tomato too (or at least MY strain is).

[Yak54]

@Yak these were seeds saved from Brandywine's that I bought at a local greenhouse. They were just labeled 'Brandywine'. Not all Brandywines come from a strain of them. There are just plain old Brandywine's but I think that they fell out of fashion and that the named strains have taken over. It is Brandywine, not Cowlick's nor Suddoth's or another. Just this and nothing else and I have found that in my garden that it produces better than the named strains. It works well for me and NO I am not going to name it Patti's Strain.

If you would like seed, just let me know.

Thank you Patti for your kindness. I'll get back to you in a few months and perhaps I can trade you for them with something I have.

Dan