Seeds from this years supermarket fruit

[nick the grief]

If you are really worried you can steralise them by washing them in a 5% solution of ordinary Houshold bleach ( not the thick stuff or scented) & water (4 tsps in a litre roughly).Then rinse them thouroughly under the tap. dry off & plant them.

It shouldn't hurt them as you are only swilling them in the solution NOT scrubbing them.

You can do this to plant cuttings as well if you are worried about infection but you have to rinse thoroughly.

[taylorlej]

good tip - i assume it wont cause you any harm when you eat them!! - Is there any way of seeing if they are diseased/infected at the supermarket?

[nick the grief]

No won't cause any harm. This method was told to me by someone who does tissue culture as it's what they do to make sure the plant material is clean to start with.

As to spotting disease not really unless they are showing signs of scab or the like. Just make sure they look clean and are firm & thats about the best you can do.

[taylorlej]

thanks nick - where do you get your tubs from - potato tubs are expensive and dont hold that much either.

[nick the grief]

We have a sort of nursery near us that sells 25litre pots for just over a quid so I got some of those plus all my aquaintances save me there old plant pots & cellpack & I fill them with bedding & sell them back to them Lol One of them had recently bought some big trees/shrubs so I snaffled those ones as well !

Do you have pound shop near you as they are a good source of cheap tubs?

You don't have to use tubs, you can use florist's buckets or old compost bags just as easily.