Saving seeds from shop bought stuff? (Squash)

[steve sin]

I have gone out bought varieties of squash that look like delikata, onion squash, jack be little, acorn squash, (dark green/ white/ harlequin) one that looks a bit like kabocha, one that looks like winter sweet (f1) sweet dumpling, gem squash, hooligan (f1) wee b little and wonder what varieties these could be if not those? I really wanted to save the seeds and plant them next year. Any idea what an f1 might revert back to?

I did save seed from a Morrisons an organic butternut squash last year and it's out there in the garden taking on good shape. I have also saved seed from a vampire chillli (f1) and it looks like the nosferatu growing beside it (I got the seeds late but it's still growing.) I also tried to grow 2 tomatoes rosso and amber from a tesco double pack and they were very nice even though I got blight... anyone had any success with this kind of thing?

[roitelet]

Grew Butternuts from supermarket veg last year. Of two plants one produced Butternuts of the right shape and the other round ones. Both tasted fine. F1 will revert to the parent plants and will not produce the same veg as the one that was bought.

Interesting though.

[Guest]

Squash will cross easily so you could end up with anything from any of those seeds if they were not isolated I don't bother trying as one year I ended up with some butternut pumpkins

[Mr Bones]

Some of the best long red peppers we grew were from seeds out of one bought from Lid1

[Small pumpkin]

I have done the same as Mr Bones, saved sweet pepper seeds from shop brought. Also saved seeds from garla & honeydew melon. They have all produced true, so far! But the melons have been smaller, but I think that's more to do with my climate. Next year will be my 3rd year of using those saved seeds so we will see if A. They still germinate, B. If they still come true.
I've never tried saving seeds from the offspring of these supermarket fruit/veg collected seeds, because I don't isolate.

[Bren In Pots]

I've had plants that have self seeded from my Dalek compost they weren't in the way so i let them grow, they looked a cross between the two types of courgette I've grown previously just lighter and a different shape.

[Cadalot]

I've saved peppers and tomato seeds from shop bought and grown from them, last year I saved the seed from the free Crimson Crush tomato plants that were provided to introduce the new variety and so they were F2 and produced lush plants that cropped well and produced fruit to match the original plant.

I have saved seeds again so F3 versions are on the cards for next year and I will continue saving each year.

[Chris11]

last year I saved the seed from the free Crimson Crush tomato plants that were provided to introduce the new variety and so they were F2 and produced lush plants that cropped well and produced fruit to match the original plant.

I have saved seeds again so F3 versions are on the cards for next year and I will continue saving each year.

An interesting experiment, but even if the fruits look the same, have your F2s had the same level of blight resistance as the F1s? I would be surprised if that's the case and it will be even more of a lottery with the F3s.

[hamamelis]

With (open pollinated variety) seeds from commercial fruit, there's probably reasonable purity, simply because of the scale farms grow them at; I mean, they tend to grow only one variety per field, and one from the middle is almost certainly going to be pollinated from others in the same field.

Now if only there was some way of making sure you got one from the middle...

Personally though, I do either buy fresh or very carefully isolate flowers when it comes to getting my squash seed- given the sheer space the plants take up, and the time it takes to get fruit, I want to know it'll be something tasty, and not summat crossed with a gourd