5/22/2017 HybridVarietiesandSavingSeed|Archives|AggieHorticulture

HYBRIDVARIETIESANDSAVINGSEED
Althoughmosthorticulturistsandplantbreedersdonotrecommendhomegardenersgrowtheirown
seed,it'sadefinitefactthatseedsofmanyvegetablesgrownundergardenconditionswillgenerally
provesatisfactoryforlaterplanting.

Raisingandsavingseedisobviouslynotforeveryone.Thegardenerwhoseonlyaimistogrowa
fewbackyardvegetablesiscertainlynotinterested.Thatgardenertowhomtheheightofadventure
istryinganewvarietywillcertainlybackaway.Buttheavidgardenerwhoenjoysachallenge,who
likestotrysomethingdifferent,whowondersaboutthe"why"ofhowplantsgrowthisperson
shouldprobablytryraisingseed.Therewillbefailures,problemsanddisappointments,butthese
willonlymakesuccessesthatmuchsweeter.

Gardenerswillfacediscouragingargumentsaboutraisingtheirownseed,bothinwhattheyread
andfromconversationswithothergardenersandhorticulturists.Theseprecautionsandarguments
shouldbeheededandcloseattentionpaidtosomeoftheobviouspitfalls,suchas:

1.Youshouldn'tsaveseedfromhybridvegetablesbecausetheywon'tproducetrueinthenext
generation.Thisisindeedafact.Tounderstandthiscompletely,youmustunderstandwhataF1
hybridis.ThesimplestwaytodefineanF1hybridistotakeanexample.Letussayaplantbreeder
observesaparticularlygoodhabitinaplant,butwithpoorflowercolor,andinanotherplantofthe
sametypeheseesgoodcolorbutpoorhabit.Thebestplantofeachtypeisthentakenandself
pollinated(inisolation)eachyearand,eachyear,theseedisresown.Eventually,everytimethe
seedissownthesameidenticalplantswillappear.Whentheydo,thisisknownasa'pureline.'

Ifthebreedernowtakesthepurelineofeachofthetwoplantsheoriginallyselectedandcross
pollinatesthetwobyhandtheresultisknownasanF1hybrid.Plantsaregrownfromseed
producedandtheresultofthiscrosspollinationshouldhaveagoodhabitandgoodcolor.

Thisisthesimplestformofhybridizationtherearecomplications,ofcourse.Acompletelypure
linecansometimestakesevenoreightyearstoachieve.Sometimes,apurelineismadeupof
severalpreviouscrossingstobegintobuildindesirablefeaturesandgrownonuntilitistruebefore
useinhybridization.

Tosummarize,anF1hybridistheresultofcrossingtwopurelinestoachievethedesiredresult.
Thisseemsalotoftroubletogotobuttherearedefiniteadvantages.Scientificandaccurate
breedingprogramshavemadeitpossiblenotonlytobringouttheoutstandingqualitiesofthe
parentplants,butinmostcases.thesequalitieshavebeenenhancedandnewdesirable
characteristicsaddedtotheresultanthybridplants.Inadditiontoqualitieslikegoodvigor,trueness
totype,heavyyieldsandhighuniformitywhichhybridplantsenjoy,othercharacteristicssuchas
earliness,diseaseresistanceandgoodholdingabilityhavebeenincorporatedintomostF1hybrids.
Uniformplanthabitandmaturity,coupledwithuniformityinshapeorsizehavemadehybrid
vegetablesextremelysuitableformechanicalharvesting.

Wecan'texpecttogetalltheseadvantagesfornothing.BecausecreatingF1hybridsinvolvesmany
yearsofpreparationtocreatepurelinesandthesepurelineshavetobeconstantlymaintainedso
thattheFseedcanbeharvestedeachyear,seedismoreexpensive.Theproblemiscompounded
becausetoensurethatnoselfpollinationtakesplace,allthehybridizingofthetwopurelines
sometimeshastobedonebyhand.Soyouoftenhavetopaymoreforyourseedorgetfewerina
packet.Seedisoftencollectedbyhandtootoensurethateachplantisasproductiveaspossible.

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Itisnotonlythegardenerswhobenefit,thereareadvantagesfortheplantbreederstoo.With
ordinaryvarietiesanyonecangrowthemandcollecttheseedwhichcanthenberesowninthe
gardenor,onalargerscale,sold.Soaplantbreederwhoputsalotofworkintocreatingavariety
whichisnotanF1hybridcansoonfindsomeoneelsesellingitandgettingashareofthefinancial
reward.ButseedcollectedfromaF1hybridwillnotproduceplantsthesameasthosefromwhich
itiscollected.Onlybycrossingthepurelinescanthevarietybemadeandonlytheoriginal
breederhasthenecessarypurelines.However,therearemanyopenpollinatedvarietiesof
vegetablesthatweregrowingsuccessfullylongbeforethehybridscamealongandwhichcanbe
duplicatedbysavingseed.

2.Itisdifficultforthehomegardenertoisolatevarietiesandstrainstoavoidunwantedcross
pollination.Crosspollinationcanbeamajorproblemifthegardenerworksinthemidstofmany
othergardenswherehehasnocontroloverwhatisbeinggrownaroundhim.

3.Unwantedcrosspollinationandfaultyselectionofparentplantsresultinthegradual
deteriorationor"runningout"oftheseed.Ifyoustillwanttotryyourhandatgrowingsomeseedat
home,thenordinaryculturalpracticesnecessaryfortheproductionofgoodqualityhomegrown
vegetablesareusuallyadequateforseedproduction.Infact,theseedsavedarebyproductsofthe
vegetablesplantedfortableuse.

Inthecaseofseedsaving,apartoftherowormaybeafewplantsintherowaretaggedasthoseto
beallowedtoproduceseed.Thevegetablesofdesignatedplantswillbeallowedtoremainuntil
matureontheplant.

Extremecareshouldbetakentopreventmixingofvarieties.Forexample,ifyouwanttosave
squashseed,thenplantonlyonetypeofsquashinyourgarden.Youshouldalsorealizethatthere
aresomevegetablesthatarenotvaluableorpracticalforsavingseedsuchascarrots,beets,radishes
andmustard.

Followingaresomesimpledirectionsonhowtosaveseedfromsomeofthemostcommonlygrown
gardenvegetables:

BEANS(allkinds)Allowtheseedtothoroughlymatureontheplant,usuallyindicatedbysizeof
theseedinthepodorbythecolorofthepod.Pulltheentireplantearlyinthemorningandplaceit
intheshadetodryout.Thiswillpreventthepodsfromsplittingopenandthebeansfromshattering.

CUCUMBERSCrosspollinationoccursincucumbers.Thismeanspollenistransferredfroma
plantofonevarietytoaplantofanothervariety.Thisisdonebyinsects.Althoughitdoesnotaffect
thefruitbornethisseason,ifyousavetheseedandplantthemnextyear,theplantsthatcomefrom
theseseedswillbedifferent.Sowillthefruit.So,ifyouwanttosavecucumberseed,plantonlyone
variety.Selectstrong,healthycucumberplantsandwellformedfruits.Letthefruitshangonthe
vineuntilripe(skinbecomesyellowishandhard).Thenhandleliketheprocessfortomatoesgiven
below.

EGGPLANTWhentheeggplantfruithasobtainedmaximumsizeandshowssomeevidenceof
browningandshriveling,itisreadytobeharvestedforseed.Splitopen,removetheseedandwash
thoroughlytoremoveallpulp.Spreadoutinthesuntodryquicklyasmoistseedwillbeginto
germinateovernightifleftinadampcondition.Storeinacool,dryplace.

OKRAOkrapodsshouldbeleftonthestalkuntilbrownandwellmatured.Removethepodsand
placethemintheshadeuntilthoroughlydried.Althoughtheseedmayberemovedfromthepod,it
isgenerallybesttostoretheminthepoduntilreadyforplantingatwhichtimethepodsmaybesplit
openandtheseedremoved.Podsharvestedtoogreenwillnotstorewellandarelikelytosplit,
shatteringtheseed.

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PEPPERSPeppershouldbeallowedtoripenuntiltheybecomered.Cutthepepperpodinhalf
andscrapetheseedfromacavityontoapieceofpaper.Spreadouttheseedanddrythoroughly
beforeplacinginastoragecontainer.

SOUTHERNPEASSouthernpeasshouldbeleftontheplantuntilthoroughlymatured,usually
indicatedbyabrowningofthepods.Thepodsshouldbepicked,spreadoutinadryareaandcured
foraweekortwo,thenshelled.

SQUASHIfseedaretobesavedfromsquash,growonlyonevarietyinthegarden.Whenthe
outercoveringofthesquashhasbecomehardened,theseedaregenerallymature.Splitthesquash
fruitopen,scoopouttheseedandwashuntilallpulpisremoved.Spreadoutonnewspapertodry.

TOMATOESAllowthetomatofruittothoroughlyripenonthevine.Cutthetomatoesopenand
removetheseedbysqueezingorspooningoutthepulpwithseedsintoanonmetalcontainersuch
asadrinkingglassorjar.Setthecontainerasideforoneortwodays.Thepulpandseedcovering
willfermentsothattheseedscanbewashedcleanwithadirectedsprayofwaterintothefermented
solution.Theclean,viableseedswilldroptothebottomofthesolution,allowingthesedimentto
pouredoff.Severalrinsingsmaybenecessary.Thenspreadthetomatoseedoutonaclothorpaper
toweltodry.Afterseedaredry,package,labelanddateforstorageinacool(refrigerator),dry
location.

Whoknowsmaybeyouwillproduceasupervegetablewhichwillpreventworldstarvation!

ForfurtherinformationaboutAggieHorticulture,seeouraboutpage(http://aggiehorticulture.tamu.edu/about.html).

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TexasAgriLifeExtensionService(http://agrilifeextension.tamu.edu),TexasA&MSystem(http://www.tamus.edu)

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