Saving seed from F1 varieties

[Ryleh]

With all the talk about seed saving it got me wondering about seed from F1 plants. I already understood that the seed from an F1 plant wouldnt run true to type and was as likely to revert towards one of the parent varieties as not.

I did some reading in the hope of enlightening myself and the sites I looked at suggested that plants grown from seed from F1 plants generally result in weak and unsatisfactory plants.

So this got me wondering if anyone had saved seed from an F1 variety and would consider the resulting plants a success in following years?

[cptncrackoff]

I saved some f1 squash seeds once, the resulting plants were fine, the fruits were absolutely huge but.. only on or two fruits per plant.
I'm guessing that was my drawback.

[sparrow100]

I have. And no. I grew 15-20 of the F2 generation. One was close to the parent in looks and flavour. The others were very different (flower colour, chilli shape and flavour). Most gave tiny chillies, either very thin and pointy or little and bullet shaped. They didn't taste very good, though were spicy. I didn't have the patience to keep going with the F2 to see if I could stabilise it.

I reckon everyone tries it at least once though. I'd like to try plant breeding at some point too.

[sparrow100]

There you go - 2 opposing views!

Any more?

[veggiechicken]

Don't know whether this is a 3rd view?
I don't save F1 seeds. I'd rather put my time and effort into growing a seed that should grow into the plant I want, than an unknown.

[Thelma Sanders]

Don't know whether this is a 3rd view?
I don't save F1 seeds. I'd rather put my time and effort into growing a seed that should grow into the plant I want, than an unknown.

I sooo agree

[Guest]

I have kept seeds from hooligan squash and their offspring were yummy (3 different types) and I think I grew plants from each of those, then other seeds took priority after that. On the other hand I have done it with toms and the offspring were poor, very poor. If you have the space and are not fussed about the results there is no harm trying it but otherwise don't bother

[Ryleh]

I agree too.

Ultimately I'd like to be self sufficient and use seed ive saved from my favourites year after year with only the minimum of purchases.

If I'm especially impressed with any of the new F1's I have I might experiment with saving some seeds for next year, though that might be just setting myself up for disappointment

[Penellype]

I wrote a post a while back explaining why saving seeds from F1 hybrids doesn't work.
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ml#post1404917

You will get almost anything except the charactaristics that the F1 hybrid has been bred to produce.

[Ryleh]

I wrote a post a while back explaining why saving seeds from F1 hybrids doesn't work.
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ml#post1404917

You will get almost anything except the charactaristics that the F1 hybrid has been bred to produce.

A very interesting read Penellype, it answered a couple of questions I had regarding off spring of F1 plants.

Presumably even if you get lucky after the first year and get offspring identical to the F1 the chances of then doing the same again year after year become exponentially slim.

[Chippy Minton]

Slight tangent to this discussion, feel free to ignore but....

Accepting seeds won't come true in F1 varieties what would happen to cuttings (if appropriate cuttings could be taken)? Not that I know much about propagation from cuttings...

[Snadger]

Don't know whether this is a 3rd view?
I don't save F1 seeds. I'd rather put my time and effort into growing a seed that should grow into the plant I want, than an unknown.

So says the queen of experimentation!

[Snadger]

Slight tangent to this discussion, feel free to ignore but....

Accepting seeds won't come true in F1 varieties what would happen to cuttings (if appropriate cuttings could be taken)? Not that I know much about propagation from cuttings...

Cuttings should retain the parent properties as they are a vegetative propagation technique...........

[veggiechicken]

Slight tangent to this discussion, feel free to ignore but....

Accepting seeds won't come true in F1 varieties what would happen to cuttings (if appropriate cuttings could be taken)? Not that I know much about propagation from cuttings...

They'd be the same as the parent. For example, buy one F1 tomato plant at the beginning of the season, and turn all the armpits into cuttings, root them up, and you'll have lots more F1 tomato plants. If you can keep one going over winter, you won't need to buy seeds
Its difficult though with toms - I have some struggling on the windowsill at the moment.

[Snadger]

I am trying one small area sown with seeds from an F1 Mooli i grew two years ago. There aren't that many varieties of Mooli to cross with so results will be interesting