Cold hardy tomato harvest

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Posted by Radishrain Radishrain
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I know our first frost was in October some time ago, and we've had lots of hard freezes since then. All the tomato plants are long dead, and most of the fruits are flat, soft, and/or and drained and dried (including the green, unripe ones). However, my Galapagos Island tomato plant (also long dead) had a number of fruits on it that look and feel good enough to eat! (I'm not planning to actually eat them, btw.) You wouldn't know they'd been frozen. Anyway, I'm wondering if the seeds I plan to save from them will sprout and whether this freeze-resistance will be genetic.

Here's a picture of them I took minutes ago (all but one or so were still attached to the dead and mostly dried up plant):


There were plenty more from the same plant that were softer than these, but otherwise were similar.

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Radishrain Radishrain
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Re: Cold hardy tomato harvest

This post was updated on .
I zapped the seeds in water. They're drying, now. Plenty of the seeds were too small for the strainer (so, I lost most of those; I guess I'm selecting for the bigger seeds; there are plenty).
Climate: BSk
USDA hardiness zone: 6
Radishrain Radishrain
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Re: Cold hardy tomato harvest

I did a germination test (15 seeds in a wet herbal tea bag in a plastic zipper snack bag), and today 7 of them had roots! At least one other person and I are planning to grow seeds from these fruits in 2020.
Climate: BSk
USDA hardiness zone: 6
Radishrain Radishrain
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Re: Cold hardy tomato harvest

Oh, I forgot to mention that all 15 germinated! It didn't take much longer after my last post.

None of the seeds from 2018 that I froze in fruits in the freezer sprouted, though.
Climate: BSk
USDA hardiness zone: 6
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