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| Hello
As many of you know, if a plant is marketed as an F1, that means that the seed will not reproduce the same plant. That means that you can't honestly offer a seed for trade as a named cultivar, because there's no way you can guarantee you'll get the same plant. Not to mention, if you want to grow the plant in consecutive years, the seed you collect from the plants would be useless!! Now, normally, this wouldn't be an issue with things such as perennials, trees, shrubs, etc, but if you're growing annuals, this can be a problem, because they don't come back like other things do. In conclusion, if you plan on growing an annual cultivar for more than 1 year, make sure that it's not an F1 hybrid because you won't get it back again. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by yiorges-z5il (My Page) on Thu, Jul 23, 09 at 17:40
| I depend on F1 hybrids to produce the same plant over & over OR to give me a plant resistant to a specific disease. SO I do NOT DEPEND on saved seed BUT DO DEPEND on buying the same seed year after year |
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- Posted by rj_hythloday 8A VA (My Page) on Fri, Jul 24, 09 at 10:25
| Sungold F1 - good Sungold F2 - bad I'll buy the F1 seeds again next year. |
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- Posted by albert_135 Sunset 2 or 3 (My Page) on Fri, Jul 24, 09 at 11:23
| It seems to be a popular fad to recite objections to hybrids but I am not sure that that widespread objection is altogether useful. |
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| How about all the reasons TO use F1 hybrids? Seems the only objection the OP has is that he can't save seeds and expect the same plant. When you start looking at all of the characteristics that are bred into the plants when the F1's are developed, the resulting cultivars are generally FAR superior to OP cultivars. These hybrid crosses have resulted in amazing disease resistance, habits, colors, heat and cold tolerance across thousands of plant genera. Sorry perennial fan, definitely worth it to me! |
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| Me too, I collect seeds from anything that will produce them. When trading, I'll often mark them as "open pollinated", never gotten any complaints yet. Then again, I never really care if my annuals are the same from one year to the next either. |
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| How terribly boring to want to get the same flowers again and again. That is the beauty of seed from hybrids its a treasure hunt. I particularly like to get seed from F1 perennials and go from there. To get the same flowers just buy new seed. A few dollars spent for a guaranteed result is a cheap price to pay. George |
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| I much prefer seed exchanges and heirloom seeds, so I seldom do purchase F1 hybrids. But as was already stated, sometimes disease resistance is so necessary (my CA coastal fog is the mother of all fungal outbreaks) that bred hybrids are the plant of choice. The idea that F1 hybrids are superior over the long run when inevitably introduced into the wild is questionable to me. |
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- Posted by roper2008 virginia 8 (lroper99@yahoo.com) on Sat, Aug 1, 09 at 10:25
| Dirtbert. If you collect seeds from a hybrid plant and save them, you should not list them as "open pollinated". Some people do not grow hybrids, and op is not hybrids. I like to know what I'm growing, as boring as that sounds. I have nothing against hybrids, in fact I have 2 Sungold's in my garden now. Maybe you had no complaints, but they may not trade with you again. |
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| I have grow Tomatoes of every kind and color. There is no bad seeds(F2) or good (F1), It is all in the user. Some people do not collect seeds others love to. It all comes down to what you do and do not want. Heirlooms are wonderful but suffer from many problems, then again the hybrids do not. If you are a seeds saver go with the types that come true. If you like problem free no fuss plants then go with the hybrid types. Each of us to our own. I tell my trades that on some seeds I cannot say for sure they will come true. I have had seeds not sprout and seeds that grew great no one ever complained about not being ok with the trade. That is one of the chances we take in trading. If a persons list is to picky and demands a lot I avoid it, seems to takes the fun out of trading. Leave off the good or bad and do your own thing letting others do there's keeps gardening fun. |
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