And bear fruit.
Here’s what you need to know.
One of the primary reasons that hybrid seeds are developed is for a characteristic known as hybrid vigor. Farmers grow them because they will produce better and more reliably in adverse conditions than their heirloom counterparts. They are also bred for greater disease resistance and to mature faster and produce longer. The first rule of gardening when it counts is to make sure you produce enough food to survive until the harvest begins next year. Hybrid seeds give you a better chance.
And the primary argument against using hybrid seeds is that “you can’t save them.” Nothing could be further from the truth. However, it is true that the offspring of hybrid seeds won’t be the same as the parent. It’s also true that they won’t likely produce as well. But that doesn’t mean that they won’t produce at all.
So when you purchase hybrid seeds, if you purchase them, pay attention to whether those seeds are F1 as opposed to F2 or F3. F1 hybrids are the result of crossing two pure varieties. F2 and F3 have several different varieties crossed and will more often than not yield some really weird plants. If you were to save seed from F1 hybrid tomatoes, the new tomato plants would be very similar to the parents. Because the seeds don’t breed true, the next generation will not be just like the plant the seeds came from, but they will likely still be usable.
In fact, this is how new varieties are sometimes created. Seeds from hybrid plants are saved and planted the next season. The seeds of fruit from plants that exhibit desirable qualities—good fruit, disease resistance, early maturing, long producers, etc., are saved and planted again the next season, and so on, for 7-10 generations. And then you have what is considered and open-pollinated variety that will breed true.
Now, this is not to say that saving seeds from hybrid plants is a good first choice. In the socialist paradise our dear leaders are dreaming up for us, we know we need to produce as much of our own food as possible. Hybrid seeds will produce larger crops more reliably, especially in adverse conditions, and they are more disease-resistant in general. Their offspring will lose some of these desirable traits. So storing plenty of hybrid seed is a good idea.
However, there is a chance we will exhaust our supplies of stored hybrid seed, which is exactly the situation that heirloom-seed-only advocates envisage. There’s a good chance that being able to buy new seed each year won’t work out, and so being able to produce your own from year to year is critical. Unfortunately, it can take a few years of work to get heirlooms adapted to your area and growing conditions, and in the process they may not be as productive as hybrids.
All this to say that yes, hybrid seeds can be saved and planted the following season with the goal of harvesting good vegetables. The result may not be as desirable as the parent or as a well-established heirloom. Or some of the offspring could be better. It’s just important to know that if, for whatever reason, you have lost your seed stock, it is indeed possible to save hybrid seeds and grow them out the next season.
Links to related posts:
For more information:
https://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre.com/2013/10/can-you-save-seeds-from-hybrid-plants.html
https://farmityourself.com/can-you-collect-seeds-from-hybrid-plants/
http://blog.arrowheadalpines.com/2011/08/go-ahead-save-seeds-from-your-hybrid.html
https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/vegetables/SEED.html
https://ipm.missouri.edu/MPG/2014/8/Why-Not-Save-Hybrid-Seeds/
https://extension.umn.edu/planting-and-growing-guides/saving-vegetable-seeds
https://extension.sdstate.edu/saving-seed-will-seed-produce-plants-similar-plant-it-was-collected
Would be useful to protect your heirlooms from hybrids. Heirlooms are time tested long term reliable crop producers.
ReplyDeleteAlways save seeds from your VERY BEST Plants. It's going to be hard enough to grow food and deal with chaos to find the seeds didn't give you the expected results.
In the fallen ex-Soviet Union the BEST Gift you could send them was Good Seeds. There's a lesson there.
I totally agree that you want to keep heirlooms and hybrids from cross pollinating. However, I'd say that hybrids are the more likely to yield a good crop under less than ideal conditions. Heirlooms can have less than desirable yields. I think it's important to have both. And I also think it's important to become educated and understand the options if Plan A fails.
DeleteI'd totally forgotten about the sending of seeds to the fallen USSR. I think it was more helpful there as a much larger percentage of the population actually knew how to grow a garden. People here are going to be hurting.
Jennifer if you have the water issues I think you have, please think about Ollas. Essentially a leaky water container.
ReplyDeleteI find vinegar plastic bottles amazingly sturdy (some have been out in the sun-snow etc., for over two years so far). A true ollas is a unglazed pot easily reproduced with unglazed planting pots and some lids-sealing the drain hole. I find those need a vinegar washing at the end of season before being put away as mineral buildup and such defeats the unglazed slow weeping effect.
The Vinegar jugs I use I keep the hinged top and drill a 3/8 inch hole at the VERY BOTTOM of the bottle (no mosquito water please) so it drains faster than a true olla but doesn't plug up so easily with organic debris, AND I keep a bit of coat hanger wire in my garden apron to easily unplug them as needed.
Easy to really understand how much water your REALLY Giving those plants AND easy to put in liquid compost and such. Otherwise in my area I find most of the hand watering by hose tends to flow away downhill. The slow leak stays on target. I've put 4 holes and centered my vinegar olla in the middle of 4 plants and find it very useful.
For my fruit trees I do the 5 gallon bucket olla. Again I've found I was vastly overestimating how much real deep watering I was giving my permaculture style apple guilds. Now they are really doing well for the last two years.
I'm thinking of doing a 3 gallon bucket olla for my new 3 sisters garden as the intensive gardening needs more water and side dressing-liquid fertilizer and....
A Strawberry trick I found to reduce birds eating my strawberries is to paint a couple dozen strawberry sized pebbles bright red and keep them around the strawberry patch WELL Before the real strawberries arrive.
The Birds have to relearn every spring THOSE Red Things Hurt their beaks.
Now if I could figure out how to keep voles and squirrels out.
Do you have a Garden Tricks of the Trades article yet? Maybe we could harness the home proven tricks of your readers? I'd LOVE to find a effective anti-rodent trick.
I used the 5-gallon buckets for compost tea in my garden in Missouri. I haven't done that here mainly because I fear I will not be able to replace my buckets that I need for my long-term food staples. My last trip back to Reno to the place where I used to get all my free buckets was a complete bust, and so far I haven't found a source out here.
DeleteI just read about painting pebbles red last week. I thought that idea was pure genius.
We don't have squirrels here and the cats have controlled the other small rodents so far. Back in Reno I paid the girls a $25 bounty on the squirrels. Queen of the Picky Eaters actually collected once. Shot a squirrel through the neck using her bow.
Instant potato flakes will kill mice, but not larger rodents.
I'd totally love to have more people respond. Any help for Michael?
I have used tulle, purchased on eBay, to protect my produce from birds and mice. They don’t seem to like their little claws touching the tulle. I have wrapped my tomato cages in it as well as draping it over low growing plants. I have two bolts ready to deploy this summer, as needed. Tulle also does not kill birds the way netting can, but be aware that pollinators can not access flowers, so it can’t be used on squash or cucumbers, etc.
ReplyDeleteAwesome tip! That would work really well to "isolate" plants that you don't want to hybridize so that you can save their seed. Of course, then you have to hand pollinate, but that's ok. I just ordered a bolt myself. Thanks so much for posting this!
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