Can i save hybrid seeds

Inbred plants are homozygous for all genes on their chromosomes. Conversely, when the gene s are different the individual is termed heterozygous. For example, fruit color in tomato is controlled by the action of a single gene. Every tomato has two genes for the fruit color trait, one from each of its parents. The former would be called homozygous for the gene both genes are the same for fruit color whereas the latter would be heterozygous the genes differ.

Since the recessive gene for pink fruit can only express itself in the absence of the dominant gene for red, pink-fruited plants genetically would be 'rr' and also homozygous. We can use the above to illustrate why F1 hybrids do not "breed true".

If a homozygous red-fruited breeding RR line were to be crossed with a homozygous pink-fruited rr breeding line, all of the F1 progeny would be Rr for fruit color and bear red fruit, since red is dominant over pink. However, when the heterozygous F1 pollinates itself, the result will be both red and pink fruited F2 plants in the ratio of 3 red for every 1 pink. The latter ratio was derived in the mid- s by Gregor Mendel, who was one of the first people to study the inheritance of traits in plants.

Most economically important traits e. Some geneticists believe F1 hybrids are superior because they contain all of the favorable genes for a trait held by both of their parents. But, if this were true then at least some of their progeny should equal their F1 hybrid parents in performance, and this is not the case.

So now I had two different varieties - very cool. For us here in Northeastern Ohio, that year was cool and wet, perfect conditions for tomato blight. I only saved seeds from one Snarky Orange Cherry plant which seemed to be immune to the blight, and from a few of the Snarky Orange Caprese plants that did okay but not great. It was a miserable tomato season for everyone in my area, though other vegetables turnips, cucumbers, potatoes, and green beans did great.

Last year was a much better season for tomatoes, especially the Snarky Orange Cherry. I planted around 20 plants and collected seeds from many of them. We had lots of rain early in the season and then drought the rest of the year into fall. I did only a little bit of watering and my Snarky Orange guys produced like champs.

We had loads and loads of little round orangeish tomatoes. They garnered a 2nd place out of 6 quarts of cherry tomatoes at the county fair I so wanted first place. We even had professional photographs taken of them. They are now feel more like my children than some silly homegrown tomato variety. I planted over a dozen of these along a fence row away from the others. They did okay but not as well as the Snarky Orange Cherries. As they fruited out, I observed something odd — 1 out of 3 every plant produced pinkish-red tomatoes.

It was at that moment I figured out what originally happened that first year. I grow a red medium-sized Amish tomato with greenish shoulders. My belief is that the SunGold crossed with these red tomatoes but not all the seeds crossed nature is so weird.

For starters, you could come up with a brand new variety of pumpkin, radish, or green bean. Plant breeders have worked for ages to develop new varieties of fruits and vegetables that produce better, resist disease, and bear earlier.

Many seeds available are hybrids plants with two or more parent varieties that bear earlier, produce more, or hold their quality longer in shipping. When you plant the seeds from these hybrids, the new generation will revert back to the parent varieties. These may not have the best flavor, production, or space saving qualities.

However, if you save the seed from the best plants each year, you can eventually come up with a brand new variety. Once the offspring continually show the same characteristics of the parents, you have a new variety. Many preppers purchase and stash away a myriad of heritage, or open pollinated, seed varieties in anticipation of the collapse of society. Their plan is to start growing and saving heritage seed varieties when the grocery stores are closed and food is scarce.

I think it is a good idea to keep extra seeds on hand, but I think it is a much better idea to grow a garden every year, save seeds from your crops, and develop new varieties that are better suited to your growing conditions. First, many seeds only have a shelf life of a few years and then the germination rates decrease dramatically. Parsnips are a good example of this. So if you do wish to stock up on survival seeds, I suggest purchasing them in an airtight container that seals out moisture.

If you open the package, pop a silica gel packet desiccant in before resealing to help prevent any damage from humidity. Second, there is a learning curve when you start gardening.

It takes several years to gain the experience needed to grow enough food to sustain your family. The best course of action is to start gardening and learn the skills needed to raise, prepare, and preserve your food. Each year seed should be saved to plant a garden the following year.

For these plants, some seed should be planted each year and some of the crop should be left in place to grow and produce seed the following year. There is a lot to learn about saving seed from your garden. It takes time and energy to selectively breed for new varieties. But saving seed from hybrids and cross pollinated plants will often produce a crop of edible fruits and vegetables.

Every year I have volunteer plants that sprout from my compost pile and the results are often very tasty. In autumn I noticed a tomato plant growing on my driveway. Any way it was resilient enough to grow on the driveway. I saved this plant in a pot all winter. It is growing very well.

I planted 3 on my allotment in poly-tunnel they are 15cm tall and doing well. So far from this experiment I learnt the tomato variety is indefinite and produce flowers in every 6 to 8 leaves. I can not wait to see what color and test it is. Hi Diana, How cool!

Best wishes with your tomato plants! I am growing the seeds from Butternut and Kabocha squash I purchased in the supermarket. Right now the Kabocha squash his growing wildly fast with flower buds every 8 to 12 inches. The Kabocha vine is twice the size of the Butternut and they are both being grown in a large containers plastic storage container 18x 18x 22 with a 4ft wide and 6 foot tall wire trellis.

The anticipation of what will grow on these vines is killing me! This is indeed a fact. To understand this completely, you must understand what a F-1 hybrid is. The simplest way to define an F-1 hybrid is to take an example. Let us say a plant breeder observes a particularly good habit in a plant, but with poor flower color, and in another plant of the same type he sees good color but poor habit.

The best plant of each type is then taken and self-pollinated in isolation each year and, each year, the seed is re-sown. Eventually, every time the seed is sown the same identical plants will appear.

When they do, this is known as a 'pure line. Plants are grown from seed produced and the result of this cross pollination should have a good habit and good color. This is the simplest form of hybridization; there are complications, of course.

A completely pure line can sometimes take seven or eight years to achieve. Sometimes, a pure line is made up of several previous crossings to begin to build in desirable features and grown on until it is true before use in hybridization. To summarize, an F-1 hybrid is the result of crossing two pure lines to achieve the desired result.

This seems a lot of trouble to go to but there are definite advantages. Scientific and accurate breeding programs have made it possible not only to bring out the outstanding qualities of the parent plants, but in most cases.

In addition to qualities like good vigor, trueness to type, heavy yields and high uniformity which hybrid plants enjoy, other characteristics such as earliness, disease resistance and good holding ability have been incorporated into most F-1 hybrids. Uniform plant habit and maturity, coupled with uniformity in shape or size have made hybrid vegetables extremely suitable for mechanical harvesting.

We can't expect to get all these advantages for nothing. Because creating F-1 hybrids involves many years of preparation to create pure lines and these pure lines have to be constantly maintained so that the F seed can be harvested each year, seed is more expensive.

The problem is compounded because to ensure that no self pollination takes place, all the hybridizing of the two pure lines sometimes has to be done by hand. So you often have to pay more for your seed or get fewer in a packet.