Seed Potential
Doug says
Ahh, you’re asking one of the oldest questions in genetics. Does the environment alter genetics? And generally, geneticists will say that no - the environment will not alter genetics. So if your seed is open pollinated and you have bad harvest, the original genetics will still be in the seed produced by that plant. So change the conditions and the plant will grow just fine.
A second part of that question though is something I was talking to my partner about this past week. She’s an expert on heirloom seed and pointed out that plants that start out the same - but are grown and saved by different gardeners will become different plants.
The genetic variation in plants expresses itself in different ways - for example, one plant might produce a fruit slightly earlier than another - or slightly larger. If you only save seed from the earlier plant every year, you will select seed that is genetically early. It will still likely contain the “possibillity” of being later but you’ve selected the strain in which earliness is a dominant characteristic. If you then switched to saving seed from the later or bigger fruit, you could again slightly alter the dominance of the fruit produced.
This is how gardeners have created new varieties for centuries.
Now, will F1 seed produce bigger crops? Good question - again it depends on the environment and the seed variety you’re picking. A F1 hybrid bred for dry weather may indeed out-produce an open pollinated plant that is not bred for dry conditions. But there’s too many variables here to give a definitive answer as to which will grow better in any given year.
As long as you understand that you can’t save the seed of F1 hybrids and expect them to come true from seed.
You can save open pollinated seed from year to year.
And with that - I bow out of the debate about which is better - open pollinated or hybrid seed. :-)
Click here to ask a question about seed potential
Click here for free gardening newsletter