About This Variety
Sheboygan is a Wisconsin heirloom paste tomato — meaty, thick-walled, and perfect for making sauce. A determinate variety maturing in 75–85 days, it produces a concentrated harvest of roma-style fruits that cook down beautifully. Drew's favorite roma, and for good reason: it has that old-school paste tomato flavor that modern hybrids just can't match.
How to Save Seeds
- Pick fully ripe or slightly overripe fruit from your healthiest, most vigorous plants.
- Cut the tomato horizontally and squeeze the seeds and gel into a clean jar.
- Add a splash of water and let the mixture ferment for 2–3 days. Stir daily — a layer of mold forming on top is normal and expected.
- When the viable seeds have sunk to the bottom, pour off the mold, pulp, and any floating seeds.
- Rinse the good seeds thoroughly in a fine mesh strainer under running water.
- Spread seeds on a paper plate (NOT paper towels — seeds stick to them) and let dry for 5–7 days in a well-ventilated spot.
- Store dried seeds in a labeled envelope in a cool, dry place.
Pro Tip: For paste tomatoes like Sheboygan, the fermentation step is extra important — the thick, meaty flesh traps more gel around the seeds, and fermentation is the only reliable way to break it down.
Cross-Pollination
Tomatoes are self-pollinating — the flowers fertilize themselves before they even fully open. This means cross-pollination between tomato varieties is extremely rare (typically under 2–5% even when plants are side by side). No isolation cages, hand-pollination, or separation distance is needed.
No isolation needed: Sheboygan can grow right next to your other tomato varieties with essentially zero cross-pollination risk. All five of your tomato varieties can be grown side by side and still produce true-to-type seeds.
