What is meant by?!!!!

[darcyvuqua]

What does the whole F1 seeds heirloom seeds ect mean?

For a novice does it really matter seen it a few times and still unaware of what is meant by these terms

[Jeanied]

I think it only gets to be important if you want to start saving your own seeds, darcyvuqua.
Heirloom seeds are saved from season to season. F1 seeds do not come true if you save them - so you end up with something different from the parent. Fine if you want to buy seeds every year- and also fine if you want the crops to be uniform.

[darcyvuqua]

Oh right I think I'm not going to bother saving seeds as I want to try every thing I am currently recording everything I grow in a book and annotating everything I like the look of while growing the amound it produces and the edible factor so may revert to saving seeds in years to come thanks for answering my question

[chris]

Just to add to Jeanied's explanation, heirloom (or heritage over here) are seeds that have been saved for generations - some might date back hundreds of years/generations. They're saved due to favourable characteristics.. These might be flavour, texture, hardiness, suited to original climate etc.

F1's are expensive, as the companies behind the breeding will have invested a lot of time and money to produce a stable line - thus producing uniform results mentioned

Initially, I grew a lot of F1s, but as of late have decided to grow heritage varieties for a few reasons The only hybrid I tend to grow is sweetcorn..

[MojoJojo]

It's probably worth mentioning that "F1" means that the seeds are made by crossing two different breeds - a Mule is an example of an F1 animal, for example.

First generation hybrids often perform better than more conventionally bred crops due to genetics - this is sometimes referred to as "hybrid vigour".

Because of this, F1s are often preferred for crops which are a bit marginal in the UK climate - so popular for squash and sweetcorn.

Wiki link F1 hybrid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[MojoJojo]

edit - double post

[Alison]

First generation hybrids often perform better than more conventionally bred crops due to genetics - this is sometimes referred to as "hybrid vigour".

That's a matter of oppinion and depends on the definition of "better", this is almost always what the seed catalgoes will let you (at least the mainstream ones) but not necessarily what is found in practice. The seeds I've been saving for years are selected to be the best for my climate and conditions and therefore will almost always out perform others.