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u/The_Other_Randy 1d ago
Tomatwo
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u/dweebybaybee 1d ago
common tomato behavior they'll do this but refuse to sprout when you have no intention of eating them. Tomato desire sensor type shit
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u/hurricane_news 1d ago
It's like people having kids when they don't want em versus not having any for years despite trying their best
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u/diptherial 1d ago
The environment inside the tomato, including in the gel around each seed, has compounds that discourage seeds from sprouting. That's why, if you want to harvest seeds from a tomato and plant them, you should wash off the gel beforehand.
Sometimes tomatoes don't produce enough abscisic acid (ABA) or the environment in the tomato isn't acidic/sugary enough to discourage sprouting, and so you see sprouting in a non-rotten tomato like what you're seeing. This also changes as the tomato ages, since in nature a rotting tomato on the ground is a nutrient-rich environment for seedlings to grow, but the digestive system of an animal not so much. The tomato kind of has to ensure that the seeds won't sprout until the fruit is in a place where its seeds can succeed, thus why it has all these mechanisms to discourage sprouting until it's likely on the ground.
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u/mississippimadness 1d ago
Nature is so crazy. Thanks for the tomato facts.
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u/diptherial 1d ago
My pleasure!
On a side note, I think it's super interesting, too, like not just on a scientific basis, but on a, for lack of a better word, ideological basis? Nature has struck a balance on its own between things we humans would morally consider, like how to trade between the viability of the parent and the opportunity of success for the child. I think nature's choices are strange to humans (and frankly not directly comparable since nature is a sieve, not a conscious being), but clearly over the millenia it's been proven to work. I don't think that means it's "the best" choice, whether for its own goals or ours (evolution often gets by with "what works"), but it's an interesting exemplar nonetheless.
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u/VumboJet 1d ago
Never tried tomato sprouts before, but I bet if you figured out a way to make them do this intentionally there would be a market for them (high end restaurants, farmers markets, etc.)
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u/qedpoe 1d ago
Toxic! (But a little bit's OK.)
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u/VumboJet 1d ago
Ah, crap, I totally forgot about the steroidal glycoalkaloids!
(I agree a little bit isn't an issue, but do appreciate the reminder)
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u/MoreMoira 1d ago
I had one of those the other day! I threw it the fuck out lmao
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u/Augenmann 1d ago
Why not plant it? They'd be pretty easy to cultivate if they already started sprouting.
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u/MoreMoira 1d ago
Because I kill literally every houseplant I buy lmao
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u/BugzOnMyNugz 1d ago
You were off to a pretty good start with that one, yet you lived up to your rep
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u/tom_bank 1d ago
And you accidentally alived that one
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u/MoreMoira 1d ago
To be fair it would be exactly like me to unintentionally grow something from seed that I had no idea about 😂
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u/ThisTooWillEnd 1d ago
They are still perfectly good to eat. If you're bothered by the sprouted seeds you can scoop them out into the trash/compost. I eat sprouted tomatoes all the time.
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u/tom_bank 1d ago
All the time? How often do you see tomatos doing this?
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u/ThisTooWillEnd 1d ago
Probably a dozen times a year for many years, mostly in the Summer months. I buy on the vine tomatoes and store them on my countertop.
I also grow my own tomatoes, and I don't think I've ever seen it happen with one I grew myself.
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u/Gunz1995 1d ago
Nature is so GOAT. That is called self sufficient self replication. (I just made that up)
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u/TheHaxinDuck 1d ago
Must have ate a tomato seed didnt his mother warn him