Living · 6 pages · 12 min
Why saving hybrid seed disappoints
Seed saved from a hybrid is a new shuffle, not a copy of the parent you liked.
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From the opening
A hybrid seed is the offspring of a deliberate cross between two parent lines. The plant you grow can be vigorous and uniform, but the seed it then sets is a new combination of those parents, not a copy of the hybrid. The opening covers what an F1 cross actually is, why the next generation spreads, and how seed companies repeat the cross.
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Inside
- What an F1 cross actually is
- Why the next generation spreads
- How seed companies repeat the cross
- What open-pollinated saving does instead
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- First-generation hybrid crosses and later segregation
- Hybrid vigor as a reason to remake the cross