F1 you can rely on

[veg4681]

Have you got a fave F1 variety (any veg type) that you think is a surefire winner on reliability and quality? I try to avoid them (purely for lack of seed saving) but wondered if there are any that's best not ignoring. Hopefully the recommendations will be useful for people who are thinking of getting their seeds on order for 2008.

[shirlthegirl43]

Brill idea for a thread.

I haven't been growing long enough to have any established favourites yet. This should make interesting reading.

[hawthorns]

im like shirl not grown enough but i have a mix of f1 and normal seeds for this year. look forward to the answers

[Alison]

I like to try different things on different years so rarely really get a favourite. Sorry!

[bramble]

Has yo bre Ferline. It has a lovely flavour, is a good producer and is quite resistant to diseases, even the dreaded blight. (not completely resistant though)

[Snadger]

Kilaxy or Kilaton cabbage cos if you have clubroot at least it offers a brassica you can grow sucessfully!

[Protea]

Vanessa F1 Tomato - grew it last year and produced good crops considering the weather (and the fact i left them far too late to re-pot). It stays ripe on the vine for a long time without splitting and it doesn't mind irregular watering - perfect for me! I'm growing this again this year as i was very impressed.

Sungold is always a surefire winner, although this year i'm going to try a new cross which is supposed to be better at preventing splitting (can't remember the name off-hand). I've grown Sungold successfully for the past 3 years with huge success (came 1st and 2nd in my village show as well!)

Fuego F1 chilli pepper, i only grew it the one year then ran out of seed - heavy cropped even under cool conditions, nice sized chillies that dry well too.

Brussels sprouts - in general the F1 hybrids are much easier to grow, you get a nice amount of sprouts ready at the same time (enough for a family meal) and they just seem to taste sweeter. No particular varieties are favourites though.

Sweetcorn, hybrids are much better at getting away in our variable summers, although even they have struggled in 2007! I've grown Swift F1 and Lark F1 for the last 2 years, they're 'extra tender' varieties and taste delicious, previously i've used Earlibird, a supersweet, and in fact got the best harvest from this variety, but i changed allotment sites after this and its been a bit downhill from there . In fact i don't think i've ever grown a non-hybrid sweetcorn

Can't think of anything else i'd particularly reccomend. I'm growing Oarsman F1 leek this year but as i haven't actually eaten one yet i can't really comment (planted a bit late you see! )

Interested to see what others say

[veg4681]

Come on chaps, any more inputs into the F1 recommendations? It seems for certain veggies as Protea has pointed out, only F1 breeds are the way to get better quality crops.

Are most of you against F1 for the same reason as me that you can't save seeds. Still why don't they make F1 to be open pollinated...okay they want/need to make money. Like Sungold is F1 but Sungella, a hybrid from Sungold isn't...but heard that Sungella was a lottie man creation, not some expensive seed breeding research team.

[shirlthegirl43]

Well, if it helps, I get F1 cucumber seed as I know the cucumbers won't be bitter and I don't have to panic about male flowers, and I grow Shirley F1 tomatoes as Madmax likes the flavour of those.

[veg4681]

Well, if it helps, I get F1 cucumber seed as I know the cucumbers won't be bitter and I don't have to panic about male flowers, and I grow Shirley F1 tomatoes as Madmax likes the flavour of those.

You're probably right there about F1 cucumbers, in another cucumber thread I remember Sewer Rat insists only growing F1 varieties.

As for Shirley F1 tom, both me and my DH agreed that it is quite tasty (there's certainly something there) unlike most tomatoes that taste like any tomatoes and we had to try it with other tomatoes to taste the difference.

[Cutecumber]

I concur! F1 cucumbers are a real winner.

I grow some outside varieties, like Burpless Tasty Green and the old apple/ lemon type, and they are fine, but for perfection and productivity you can't beat the latest all-female F1's in the greenhouse.

I have had Rocky (fabulous tiny cukes) and Ilas (half-size) which have particularly impressed me.

The seed is expensive, but if you try and buy mini-cucumbers in the shops they are extortionate, so it works out cheap in the end. The crops I have had were incredible, even last summer without sunshine!

Highly recommended.

[momol]

I like trying new seeds each year so far the F1 seeds that impress me is korean summer squash, very tasty, productive, early,trouble free, keep fruiting until the November frost kill it...can't demand more from it...
Highly recommended.

momol

[Birdie Wife]

I looked at F1 shallot seed - I wondered if I could save bulbs for replanting? It's is just the seed which doesn't come true? As bulbs are grown by the plant asexually, would this work?

[veg4681]

I looked at F1 shallot seed - I wondered if I could save bulbs for replanting? It's is just the seed which doesn't come true? As bulbs are grown by the plant asexually, would this work?

Interesting point, I think you can save the bulbs for replanting based on what I've learned of F1 Strawberry. Someone (sorry can't remember) confirmed to me that she was able to get runners off F1 Strawberry so she didn't need to grow from that F1 seeds again. However please correct me if this isn't the case with onions. 'The Usual Experts' will no doubt give their views on this .

[Snadger]

As far as I know the F1 shallot seeds produce a single shallot. When you replant this shallot the following year you should get more than one shallot from each corm? I think because these are vegetatively the same as the original, they should all be F!?

I posed a similar question a while ago about potatoes! The way I see it F1's are a cross between two different cultivars. Following on from this, all modern potatoe breeds are F1's For instance Anya are a Desiree X PFA cross so I figure they are an F1 hybrids as well!

Or are some spuds heritage varieties which come true from seed?