It is not uncommon, however, to find tomato sprouts growing inside an intact tomato. Usually the gel around the tomato seeds inhibits any sprouting while the tomato is intact or even after the tomato has fallen to the ground and has decayed.
It would take a large quantity of tomato sprouts, leaves and stems to give a human a toxic dose; eating one or two is not likely to cause any kind of health issues. Still, if there are any doubts or if there are any allergy issues, it might be advisable to avoid eating sprouted tomatoes.
We learned tomato sprouts are unlikely to make a person sick, but they are generally best avoided. Tomato sprouts generally develop from planted tomato seeds or from tomatoes that have decayed and released their seeds. It is not uncommon, however, to find tomato sprouts growing inside an intact tomato.
Why are my Tomatoes sprouting inside?
This may have happened with tomatoes you’ve bought in the past, or you have eaten an apple, pear, or peach with seeds sprouting inside. This condition is called vivipary, and it’s prone to happen in some tomato cultivar more than others.
Some causes of seeds sprouting in tomatoes are long storage in cool temperatures (below 55 degrees), being overripe, potassium deficiency, over fertilization with nitrogen and again, being overripe, the predominant causes of vivipary. Enjoy that summer ripe tomato, but don’t be surprised if you see seeds sprouting! Join our mailing list!
Can you eat tomatoes with germinated seeds?
There are several reasons this can happen, but most importantly the tomato with germinated seeds can be eaten safely. Seeds germinating inside a tomato is called vivipary. It occurs in overripe fruit when seeds have reached maturity and the natural hormone, abscisic acid (ABA), is reduced. Then, seed dormancy is lost gradually.
Do tomato seeds sprout after they fall off?
Usually the gel around the tomato seeds inhibits any sprouting while the tomato is intact or even after the tomato has fallen to the ground and has decayed. The seeds are allowed to sprout only when conditions are favorable for growing tomatoes; for instance, the seeds will sprout in spring and not in winter.
One more inquiry we ran across in our research was “What conditions are needed for tomato seeds to sprout?”.
The most common answer is; in order for a dormant tomato seed to begin sprouting, it will need 3 basic environmental conditions. The first and most important factor that a seed requires is water. Without enough moisture, a tomato see will not sprout successfully.
The next thing we wondered was, what do tomato seeds look like when they sprout?
When the seeds sprout, they look like little wiggly green or white things. To be sure these are not worms, but the seed sprouting inside the tomato.