A very familiar proverb - “what you sow, you will reap” - corresponds to the case when the preparation of tomato seeds for sowing begins in the next series, as they used to say, “struggle for the crop”. This most important stage of agricultural technology includes several types of seed treatment, the purpose of which is to prepare them for the future "independent life". The power of nature, embedded in a small tiny seed, will be fully revealed when the seed goes through all stages of pre-sowing treatment.
Collection and storage of seed
The next year’s harvesting begins with the collection of seeds. Of course, you can buy ready-made sachets without any problems, but a real summer resident does not do that - it is never known what you will grow and what seed quality you purchased from an unknown seller. Therefore, the preparation of tomato seeds for sowing begins with the collection of seed in the current year. The first mandatory requirement for seeds - the selected varieties must be regionalized for the given locality - seeds brought from, say, even to the middle lane from the south may not meet your expectations, as the beautiful southern variety turned out to be “out of place”.
Preparation of tomato seeds begins with the selection of the best fruits of the current crop. To do this, they are taken from the first ripened tomatoes on the most beautiful and strong, without a single flaw, bushes. After choosing the seed fruit, they are given the opportunity to fully ripen, before the appearance of wilting, then they are plucked and after a week or two seeds are selected. To begin with, they are placed in a damp rag and after a while they choose good-looking grains, washed and dried. The first step towards a future crop has been taken.
Winter storage of seed
When the autumn work is over and it starts to dry outside, the preparation of tomato seeds for sowing at the stage of winter storage begins.
First, the seeds go through the stage of rejection: not all of them were fully ripe at one time, some are damaged and overdried. To select conditioned seeds, they are sorted on the basis that a good-quality seed has a greater weight. To this end, the seeds are soaked in a 5% salt solution - this increases their "buoyancy". Good, viable seeds sink to the bottom, and poor-quality grain, husks, debris remain on the surface. After "bathing" the seeds are washed and dried.
The next step is to carry out disinfection - etching of the material in order to destroy pathogens on the surface of the seeds. The treating agent is a 1% solution of ordinary potassium permanganate - it is not difficult to prepare it. Seeds should be poured into a linen bag, soak them for half an hour and rinse. Rinsing is carried out to the degree of transparency of the rinsing water, after which the sowing material is dried and the winter preparation of tomato seeds for sowing ends, and the seed material expects spring warming.
To increase the survivability of seeds in arid conditions, they are subjected to heat hardening. The best way for this is to store in a very warm place, for example, on a heating battery.
Spring preparation and planting of seed material
The done preparation of tomato seeds for sowing involves long-term storage of seed material with preservation of germination. It is well known that with dry storage, prepared seeds germinate even after 5 or more years. But we won’t wait so long. In early March, as soon as the snow fell and the spring sun warmed, we will continue the work of reviving the seed. Of course, any summer resident seeks to get friendly energetic shoots. For this purpose, sometimes, but not necessarily, the seeds are dragee-packed in a shell of nutrients. Instead of dragee, you can simply use micronutrient treatment and a growth stimulator.
The most common growth stimulant, Epin, is almost always on sale. A bath is prepared for processing - 2 drops of a stimulant per 100 ml of water, in which the seeds are soaked for at least 3-4 hours, squeezed slightly and kept for another 15-20 hours in a warm place. Preparation for sowing tomatoes ends with hardening with cold - seeds prepared for planting, swollen when soaked, are “loaded” into the refrigerator for 2-3 days. After that, the seeds are given the right to say their word and justify your hopes: they are laid out on a damp cloth or soil and covered with a film to maintain the microclimate. After 3-5 days, the seeds will “hatch” - small sprouts will appear. Everything, your task of obtaining sprouted seed material is completed, with which you can be congratulated.
Hatching seeds are sown in well-moistened soil. If you grow seedlings at home, then the “revived” seeds are planted in pots with a nutrient mixture and seedlings are grown to plant it in the ground.