This may take 3 months so be patient. The collected seeds should not dry more than a few weeks before you plant them. Sow in late summer, or in spring after stratification. If you stratify the seeds in the refrigerator, sow as early as possible in spring. In a greenhouse, the gardener must pollinate the flowers of vegetables so that they will produce fruit.
Tomato flowers are ready to pollinate when their petals curl back.
They must then be pollinated within 3 days to produce fruit. I rub the centers of my lemon tree flowers with my finger periodically. One may also pollinate using a very small paint brush. If they are pollinated, the fruit will be bitter. Be sure to remove the occasional male flower that appears on these particular plants.