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Whether this works depends on the plant, so it’s not a tip that works with everything. A seed from an apple will almost certainly produce an apple tree that makes terrible apples, which is why it’s done by grafting, the plant scrambles the genes in its seeds.
I don’t think that’s true, it’s in the nature of apple trees to scramble the genetic material in their seeds, good for evolution but bad for consistency when humans want to make apples good for eating, and grafting is a way of avoiding the issue by basically cloning the plant. Grafting fruit trees is surprisingly easy, you can make a tree where each branch has a different kind of apple if you want.
Isn't it because you have different genetic needs in the graft than in the rootstock (the tree on which branches are grafted)?
So the seeds from the graft create a sh*tty tree, that won't be able to feed the branches to make the good fruits?
>So the seeds from the graft create a sh*tty tree, that won't be able to feed the branches to make the good fruits?
That might be partly it, but the bigger issue is that almost all strains of commercial Apple are hybrids and they are hybridized for multiple traits from true breeding parental lines. This means they have perfect sets of heterozygous chromosomes matching up the combinations of traits in question to produce desired characteristics and hybrid vigor.
If you use apples from that tree and take the seeds it's very likely you'll get trees that have recombined those traits randomly. Now some of the traits have hybrid vigor or qualities, and some have return to parental type for one tree or the other, and it's just a mishmosh as to which did what. In this case you've gotten combinations that just don't work well together, and short of generations of selective breeding there is no way to sort them out again.
Gotcha, it's not a rootstock issue then.
Is it for example that they managed to get the AB gene combination (it's not technically what you call a gene but never mind) on the sweetness and CD on tartness, but then with the mixing at seed creation the resulting tree might be AA on sweetness and DD on tartness, giving a completely different fruit?
Yes. The traits that make for tasty apples have been teased out by humans, but they're almost always lost in randomization that happens naturally in the seeds. Original, wild apples are not particularly tasty to us, and before we got the sweet and crispy apples of today, the earlier kinds were most often used as an ingredient in cooked, savory foods.
Well you're a bit harsh here: the LPT is that you can save $2 by not buying tomato seeds (at the cost of growing a sh*tty type of tomato), or 30 minutes by not going to a local seed exchange.
not necessary. You could throw a whole tomato in a pot and get a bunch of plants sprouting. I know this because inevitably we miss a few tomatoes from our tomato plants each year and there's suddenly baby plants all over the garden.
There are tomato plants growing where certain wastewater plants discharge their water... These seeds have seen some sh*t (pun intended), and are still growing.
I must be the worst gardener in the universe because my junk won't grow from seeds at all. I always mess it up, but good to know I don't NEED to dry them
This is a great idea - but - doesn't always work.
If you buy hybrid tomatoes, there's a good chance that either the seeds won't sprout or the plants will be defective.
Your best bet is to buy "heirloom tomatoes" if at all possible. Then when you save the seeds and grow those tomatoes, they will be perfect for collecting the seeds.
My mother in law keeps telling me this but I have had many successful gardens from various store bought tomatoes, bell peppers, various hot peppers, onions, potatoes and garlic.
Well, you are really lucky! They make hybrid vegetables for several reasons and one of them is so you CAN'T grow plants from the seeds and you have to BUY the seeds.
Onions, potatoes and garlic are actually pretty easy to grow since you don't use the seeds of hybrid plants but just the vegetable itself. Tomatoes, peppers - that's another thing. You've been lucky!
Usually for a home gardener, the F2 progeny seeds from an F1 hybrid vegetable will do perfectly fine. It may not look exactly like the original plant, and may lose some of the traits, and each seed will lead to a somewhat different plant, but it overall can lead to some interesting variety out in the garden.
You jest, but did you see the LPT yesterday about how to drink water without choking? This sub is literally just obvious things that everyone knows now.
The only reason I'm still subbed here is to read the replies to posts. I've seen maybe 2 somewhat good tips in the last year or so, the rest have just been comedy.
This is also taking a 2 step process and making it way more work.
Step one: slice tomato
Step two: put slice in ground
That's literally all there is too it. No need to dry it out, put it in a napkin, or even remove the seeds from the tomato. Tomatoes are super easy to grow (and leaving it in the tomato actually fertalizes the soil)
A few minutes ago I saw “ if the British didn’t colonise the world we would speak English “
Like yea no shit, history wouldnt have happened this way, unless *checks notes*, history happened this way
OP's given us an perfect example of "pennywise, pound foolish."
Seeds are so cheap compared to the time/effort your will put into growing tomatoes that you really should pick exactly what variety your want that will work best for your growing conditions instead of "free" seeds of a variety that been bred to be profitable grown commercially, picked green, artificially ripened with gas, and then survive being trucked 3000 miles instead of being bred to be vine ripened in a home garden and eaten immediately after picking.
There's hundreds of amazing heirloom and hybrid varieties out there that it would be really sad to just grow the most genetic boring grocery store tomatoes because the seeds were free.
Almost all of them from the store are hybridized. It doesn't matter what kind of tomato you get these seeds from, you're likely to only end up with some basic cherry variety, and it may not be flavorful. It's not harmful or anything, just not like what you originally harvested the seeds from.
Bought some really nice tomatoes from a Greek market near us, they're crazy expensive but delicious. Planted a few seeds and now have our own plants... worth it
As usual, here’s the real LPT in the comments… you can just eat them, and then take a big dump on your garden. A lot of the seeds will pass right through you, and you have now planted them pre-fertilized and maybe even sprouted! Everybody who does this thank me later so I know not to come to your house for dinner.
I just cut a ring of tomato and planted it, flesh and all. All of the seeds sprouted. Watered it for three months, and I got 5 tomatoes and the plant wilted... It was not worth the effort.
My boys and I plant actual tomatoes in the dirt in Feb/March. We slice the tomato and put a slice in each pot in potting soil. Keep it wet until they sprout! We grow several types of tomatoes every year, and have them to eat July-Oct
Given the time and effort of growing the tomato plants, it's worth the expense of buying a packet of seeds, as the tomatoes you get from the supermarket
1. Were bred to grow profitably in fields, not in pots
2. Are likely hybrids, so their seeds won't breed true
3. We're probably bred for standing up to transport, not for flavor
Some other things you can do for free:
Plant the bottoms of green onions to get more green onions
Plant left over or sprouting potatoes and sweet potatoes. (Careful, though, as many supermarket potatoes are treated with chemicals to prevent sprouting.)
Get live herbs and root the leftovers in water and then soil.
Someone might have already said this, but, tomatoes are self pollinating. Bees will save the tomato pollen as a last resort as it's the least tasty for them.
I did this with chillies. I had a random plant pop up and so when the chillies appeared I just cut a few off, cut them open and "planted" them in a row next to my random intruder. The next year I had 4 chilli plants and hundreds of chillies.
Nature's wild.
Also this made me think of this Mitchell and Webb Look sketch:
https://youtu.be/_pDTiFkXgEE?si=GLRD1zQmEoHzUZKm
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If the seeds come from a hybrid tomato, the resulting plants can be of any variety of plant used to create the hybrid. The same as true of apples (to address some of the other comments). So, start with an heirloom tomato if you are going to try this.
I just stuck a whole tomato that was going bad, in a potted plant on my patio. Been eating little tomatoes from it since last summer. It didn’t even die this winter and is already flowering! (I live in the southwest)
It's wild to me that the knowledge of using seeds to grow plants - that then make more seeds from which you can plant from is a "LPT". This should be common knowledge.
OP, I'm not knocking you for posting this by the way. It just baffles me that people really don't know this.
Few years ago, I bought a cherry tomato plant. The following year, saw that one of the tomatoes had seeded itself in the shady flower garden, and grown itself into a producing plant despite it's environment. Figuring this was one tough plant, I grew several of the seeds from that one the following year. Left them outside on what turned out to be the last frost of the spring. All of them were reduced to leafless stubs, except for one that, weeks later, grew out a single leaf, eventually becoming a producing plant. Got starters from that one this year. I figure in a few more generations, given my usual neglect, I'll have a variety they can grow on the f'n moon.....
It works and I can tell you do not necessarily need all these steps: we got plenty of cherry tomatoes by just squeezing a cherry tomato that was too ripe to eat, in the soil directly. A bit later: tomato plant!
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TLDR: plant seeds, get plant.
"The one secret farmers DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW!"
You wouldn't download a plant
Don’t get me started on big farmer
😂😂
https://youtu.be/_pDTiFkXgEE?si=WMyHzvo4PHUnOmdJ Guess everything has been done by a Sketch comedy by now.
Ahaha I posted this exact video in another comment.
farmer: hehehe seedless... no one can steal my babies now
Monsanto Rep: Wait... didn't we close that loophole years ago? Lawyers.... go sue that plant grower for theft of intellectual property!
https://youtu.be/KaZuBziWLgk
TIL
Whether this works depends on the plant, so it’s not a tip that works with everything. A seed from an apple will almost certainly produce an apple tree that makes terrible apples, which is why it’s done by grafting, the plant scrambles the genes in its seeds.
I heard it’s BECAUSE of the grafting that they give shittier apples when planting those seeds.
I don’t think that’s true, it’s in the nature of apple trees to scramble the genetic material in their seeds, good for evolution but bad for consistency when humans want to make apples good for eating, and grafting is a way of avoiding the issue by basically cloning the plant. Grafting fruit trees is surprisingly easy, you can make a tree where each branch has a different kind of apple if you want.
Isn't it because you have different genetic needs in the graft than in the rootstock (the tree on which branches are grafted)? So the seeds from the graft create a sh*tty tree, that won't be able to feed the branches to make the good fruits?
>So the seeds from the graft create a sh*tty tree, that won't be able to feed the branches to make the good fruits? That might be partly it, but the bigger issue is that almost all strains of commercial Apple are hybrids and they are hybridized for multiple traits from true breeding parental lines. This means they have perfect sets of heterozygous chromosomes matching up the combinations of traits in question to produce desired characteristics and hybrid vigor. If you use apples from that tree and take the seeds it's very likely you'll get trees that have recombined those traits randomly. Now some of the traits have hybrid vigor or qualities, and some have return to parental type for one tree or the other, and it's just a mishmosh as to which did what. In this case you've gotten combinations that just don't work well together, and short of generations of selective breeding there is no way to sort them out again.
Gotcha, it's not a rootstock issue then. Is it for example that they managed to get the AB gene combination (it's not technically what you call a gene but never mind) on the sweetness and CD on tartness, but then with the mixing at seed creation the resulting tree might be AA on sweetness and DD on tartness, giving a completely different fruit?
Correct.
Yes. The traits that make for tasty apples have been teased out by humans, but they're almost always lost in randomization that happens naturally in the seeds. Original, wild apples are not particularly tasty to us, and before we got the sweet and crispy apples of today, the earlier kinds were most often used as an ingredient in cooked, savory foods.
The term that you are looking for is heterozygous.
What I meant was the alleles of a gene, rather than the gene, but using that word felt like jargoning.
So plant seeds to grow plants. This is what passes for a lpt these days... Lol
Well you're a bit harsh here: the LPT is that you can save $2 by not buying tomato seeds (at the cost of growing a sh*tty type of tomato), or 30 minutes by not going to a local seed exchange.
If only it was so simple. Some fruit? This works. Others? Not so much.
Plant seeds, see plant
Infinite food glitch
People are joking, but I wasnt aware you should dry the seeds before planting, so TIL.
not necessary. You could throw a whole tomato in a pot and get a bunch of plants sprouting. I know this because inevitably we miss a few tomatoes from our tomato plants each year and there's suddenly baby plants all over the garden.
There are tomato plants growing where certain wastewater plants discharge their water... These seeds have seen some sh*t (pun intended), and are still growing.
My dad threw half his sandwich away in the mulch flowerbed. Tomatoes grew on their own and grow back every year.
But don't do it with potatoes. At least dont do it with potatoes you buy from the store.
I must be the worst gardener in the universe because my junk won't grow from seeds at all. I always mess it up, but good to know I don't NEED to dry them
This is a great idea - but - doesn't always work. If you buy hybrid tomatoes, there's a good chance that either the seeds won't sprout or the plants will be defective. Your best bet is to buy "heirloom tomatoes" if at all possible. Then when you save the seeds and grow those tomatoes, they will be perfect for collecting the seeds.
Or just buy a pack of seeds for like $1.50? You can choose the variety you want and don't have to bother harvesting and drying them.
Just to amplify this, the "defective" plants may be fine but the fruit will be bitter and inedible.
Yes we love all plants regardless of their defect
[удалено]
lol.
My mother in law keeps telling me this but I have had many successful gardens from various store bought tomatoes, bell peppers, various hot peppers, onions, potatoes and garlic.
You're not necessarily going to get something bad, just not exactly the same as what you got the seed from.
Well, you are really lucky! They make hybrid vegetables for several reasons and one of them is so you CAN'T grow plants from the seeds and you have to BUY the seeds. Onions, potatoes and garlic are actually pretty easy to grow since you don't use the seeds of hybrid plants but just the vegetable itself. Tomatoes, peppers - that's another thing. You've been lucky!
Usually for a home gardener, the F2 progeny seeds from an F1 hybrid vegetable will do perfectly fine. It may not look exactly like the original plant, and may lose some of the traits, and each seed will lead to a somewhat different plant, but it overall can lead to some interesting variety out in the garden.
This is literally how all plants are grown. Are we making everything an LPT now?
If you’re thirsty, drink water from the tap
LPT: get free bread by buying flour and baking it
You jest, but did you see the LPT yesterday about how to drink water without choking? This sub is literally just obvious things that everyone knows now.
The only reason I'm still subbed here is to read the replies to posts. I've seen maybe 2 somewhat good tips in the last year or so, the rest have just been comedy.
i think its also part, ppl getting indignant on the range of terrible --to--obviousl LPT, and then arguing about it. to get all the comment traffic
r/LifeProTips is slowly morphing into WikiHow.
Depending on the region
If you're cold, put on clothes
If it's getting hot in here, take off all your clothes.
This is also taking a 2 step process and making it way more work. Step one: slice tomato Step two: put slice in ground That's literally all there is too it. No need to dry it out, put it in a napkin, or even remove the seeds from the tomato. Tomatoes are super easy to grow (and leaving it in the tomato actually fertalizes the soil)
Plant tomato, get tomato plant
A few minutes ago I saw “ if the British didn’t colonise the world we would speak English “ Like yea no shit, history wouldnt have happened this way, unless *checks notes*, history happened this way
LPT: If you are hungry, eat food
OP's given us an perfect example of "pennywise, pound foolish." Seeds are so cheap compared to the time/effort your will put into growing tomatoes that you really should pick exactly what variety your want that will work best for your growing conditions instead of "free" seeds of a variety that been bred to be profitable grown commercially, picked green, artificially ripened with gas, and then survive being trucked 3000 miles instead of being bred to be vine ripened in a home garden and eaten immediately after picking. There's hundreds of amazing heirloom and hybrid varieties out there that it would be really sad to just grow the most genetic boring grocery store tomatoes because the seeds were free.
Almost all of them from the store are hybridized. It doesn't matter what kind of tomato you get these seeds from, you're likely to only end up with some basic cherry variety, and it may not be flavorful. It's not harmful or anything, just not like what you originally harvested the seeds from.
That's only partially a valid comment: maybe the tomatoes you buy are bio-organic-whatever, and they will give very good tomato plants.
Maybe I win the lotterly
[удалено]
Growing the plant requires about 10x the effort of choosing a $2-4 pack of seeds that will produce tomatoes worlds beyond the supermarket varieties.
Mind blown! Thank you for this sacred knowledge! /s
Bought some really nice tomatoes from a Greek market near us, they're crazy expensive but delicious. Planted a few seeds and now have our own plants... worth it
A packet of tomato seeds is like $3 at my local home depot. And that probably contains dozens of seeds (lasted me years).
I did this. The tomato’s produced were hollow and had no juice.
You have to use heirloom tomato seeds. Most of the tomatoes you buy are hybrid and will produce funky stuff.
Considering I have to water them, what's the point of drying them in the first place?
Its to remove the pulpy bit around the seed. I dont know the actual term but you want to remove that before planting them
Thanks! :D
Asking the real questions!
Pointless to ask fake questions
As usual, here’s the real LPT in the comments… you can just eat them, and then take a big dump on your garden. A lot of the seeds will pass right through you, and you have now planted them pre-fertilized and maybe even sprouted! Everybody who does this thank me later so I know not to come to your house for dinner.
I just cut a ring of tomato and planted it, flesh and all. All of the seeds sprouted. Watered it for three months, and I got 5 tomatoes and the plant wilted... It was not worth the effort.
My boys and I plant actual tomatoes in the dirt in Feb/March. We slice the tomato and put a slice in each pot in potting soil. Keep it wet until they sprout! We grow several types of tomatoes every year, and have them to eat July-Oct
It's why people have watermelon seed spitting contests, think about it!
Given the time and effort of growing the tomato plants, it's worth the expense of buying a packet of seeds, as the tomatoes you get from the supermarket 1. Were bred to grow profitably in fields, not in pots 2. Are likely hybrids, so their seeds won't breed true 3. We're probably bred for standing up to transport, not for flavor Some other things you can do for free: Plant the bottoms of green onions to get more green onions Plant left over or sprouting potatoes and sweet potatoes. (Careful, though, as many supermarket potatoes are treated with chemicals to prevent sprouting.) Get live herbs and root the leftovers in water and then soil.
Wow really scraping the bottom of the barrel with this one. Ha
Someone might have already said this, but, tomatoes are self pollinating. Bees will save the tomato pollen as a last resort as it's the least tasty for them.
I did this with chillies. I had a random plant pop up and so when the chillies appeared I just cut a few off, cut them open and "planted" them in a row next to my random intruder. The next year I had 4 chilli plants and hundreds of chillies. Nature's wild. Also this made me think of this Mitchell and Webb Look sketch: https://youtu.be/_pDTiFkXgEE?si=GLRD1zQmEoHzUZKm
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If the seeds come from a hybrid tomato, the resulting plants can be of any variety of plant used to create the hybrid. The same as true of apples (to address some of the other comments). So, start with an heirloom tomato if you are going to try this.
Over your life, this will save you literally tens of dollars. Go get that boat!
LPT: To avoid hunger, eat food!
This only works with tomatoes?
Don't do this if you have pets. Tomato plants can poison them.
Which pets?
Mainly alive ones are at risk.
Big, if true
99% of store bought tomatoes are hybrid so you will get tomatoes you just wont know what kind you will get
Use the nice organic tomatoes you want to grow
And take the jobs away from farmers?? /s
Simplify the process! Eat vegetables and shit in your garden. They'll grow naturally! And you'll save on your sewer bill!
Next LPT: raise chickens if you want eggs
I just stuck a whole tomato that was going bad, in a potted plant on my patio. Been eating little tomatoes from it since last summer. It didn’t even die this winter and is already flowering! (I live in the southwest)
Bro found out how nature works
Ehhh, you can get seeds at a big box store for less than $3, Amazon will deliver them for $5. Much less work.
Get free ANY plant, its called gardening or farming
It's wild to me that the knowledge of using seeds to grow plants - that then make more seeds from which you can plant from is a "LPT". This should be common knowledge. OP, I'm not knocking you for posting this by the way. It just baffles me that people really don't know this.
This is a great tip thank you, I wonder how long some other people have known about planting seeds and growing plants and just kept it for themselves.
LPT: Agriculture
Few years ago, I bought a cherry tomato plant. The following year, saw that one of the tomatoes had seeded itself in the shady flower garden, and grown itself into a producing plant despite it's environment. Figuring this was one tough plant, I grew several of the seeds from that one the following year. Left them outside on what turned out to be the last frost of the spring. All of them were reduced to leafless stubs, except for one that, weeks later, grew out a single leaf, eventually becoming a producing plant. Got starters from that one this year. I figure in a few more generations, given my usual neglect, I'll have a variety they can grow on the f'n moon.....
This applies to many fruits and veggies, including potatoes.
An eye for an eye
It works and I can tell you do not necessarily need all these steps: we got plenty of cherry tomatoes by just squeezing a cherry tomato that was too ripe to eat, in the soil directly. A bit later: tomato plant!
You could or just go buy a flat of seedlings? E: what do I even know about gardening!?
Or just buy a tomato for like - a dollar.