first frost came early -- can I still save seeds?

I woke up to some rather frosted squash and tomatillos this morning. I doubt the plants will stay alive for long. I had been waiting for the fruits to ripen a bit more before collecting seeds for next year, because the squash still look kinda green, and most of the tomatillos haven't quite filled out their husks yet. Can I still get viable seed from any of these, or am I gonna have to start over again (and probably risk planting earlier) next year?

It's worth a try Josh I would think. Many fruit seem to carry on ripening off the vine, so it might be worth removing some of the fruit before they get damaged and putting them somewhere frost free to ripen off a bit more. The seeds may carry on developing a bit.

The fruit you show do not look like they froze.  I would do like Nancy said. Frozen fruit gets mushy and yucky. Though nature seems to be able to succeed in sprouting some of those seeds, anytime that I have tried saving seed from frozen fruit, they would not germinate.

Agree. Let the squash ripen in your garage or somewhere protected. The tomatillos should be fine as is, but it wouldn't hurt to ripen them indoors.

On the other hand, if the varieties you are using are not quite right for your location, trying some shorter-season varieties next year is not a bad idea.

I agree with the other folks that the seeds will be okay.

I keep seeds in the freezer to keep them fresh before planting.

Remember, cold stratification is a process that mimics the natural winter conditions for seeds to break dormancy.

Yep, it was just a few hours barely below freezing, so the fruits definitely didn't get anywhere near frozen through. But apparently that was enough to turn all the squash leaves and about 2/3rds of the tomatillo leaves into something resembling sauteed spinach. My concern was more about the maturity of the fruit, and whether the seeds in their current state would have a chance at being viable. Sounds like the consensus is that they're mature enough to at least be worth a shot. Thanks all!

Re: shorter season varieties -- yep, I'm definitely always aiming for those. I think the problem this year was probably something else, though. According to the advertised days-to-maturity, all these guys should have been good to go weeks ago. And I made a point of buying seed from as nearby as possible, so they should in theory be better adapted to my environment than some random "short season variety" from some mega seed producer. But for some reason(s), everything seemed to just stall out for a whole month or two in the middle of summer. Not really wilting or yellowing or showing other obvious signs of being unhappy, but just not growing any larger. So besides planting earlier, I could also try some shade cloth and see if that helps. Or maybe the issue is my sometimes-inconsistent watering, and some automated drip lines could help keep the plants happier. Or maybe I just didn't make my "raised" beds deep enough; the soil they're sitting on top of is kinda garbage, barely any weeds even grow there, so I can imagine that the plants might basically be root-bound within the somewhat thin layer of decent soil. Lots of things to try, lots of things to learn...

Josh Warfield wrote: But for some reason(s), everything seemed to just stall out for a whole month or two in the middle of summer. Not really wilting or yellowing or showing other obvious signs of being unhappy, but just not growing any larger. So besides planting earlier...

I had exactly the same experience this year in Illinois. Some things did great, corn and beans for example. Other things were just 'on hold' all summer, even when we finally got good rains in July. Hardly any tomatoes, squash few and late, okura almost absent. My suspicion is that western and Canadian wildfires blocked enough of the sunshine to put everything back. The sky was dim for weeks on end.

Thom Bri wrote:I had exactly the same experience this year in Illinois. Some things did great, corn and beans for example. Other things were just 'on hold' all summer, even when we finally got good rains in July. Hardly any tomatoes, squash few and late, okura almost absent. My suspicion is that western and Canadian wildfires blocked enough of the sunshine to put everything back. The sky was dim for weeks on end.

Wow, that sucks. I'm out west, but not really in an area where wildfires are a big concern (low density of vegetation, plus topography split up by cliffs and canyons, makes it difficult for fire to spread too far). This year, there was less than a week of noticeable wildfire smoke. Sorry for bragging, but I guess here's another point in the "pro" column for my choice of location