Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Growing in Greenhouses & Polytunnels => Topic started by: ricky on September 14, 2021, 07:53
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A bit of a conundrum my main seed supplier Moles Seeds has told me this will be the last year they will be keeping Ferline tomato seed as other newer seed have better resistance to blight , now I have been growing tomatoes over 50 years and Ferline for many years and have found Ferline to be the best tasting tomato ever, now that Ferline are going out of circulation and it being a F1 variety can I save the seed I know this goes against everything that F1 seeds can't be saved but how will I keep this wonderful variety alive any answers would be grateful appreciated thanks .
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Tomato seeds will keep for several years, particularly if the packet is not opened. I would buy a few packs and store them carefully. You might also find other suppliers do keep them on the list or you can find them online from the big market place sites like Amazon.
F1 seeds don’t come true, so if you save seeds you might get something very like the Ferline you know and love, or you might not. If you have the room, I would save a few seeds and grow them to see what you get. If it works you have your supply and if not, you will have your spare packs to keep you going while you find another supplier :)
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Tomato seed stays viable for about 8 years, so if you feel that it's worthwhile buy enough seed to last you for a few years at least... (snap NS!)
This is also interesting Because the usual don't-sow-seeds-from-F1-hybrids rule doesn't apply to tomatoes, as they're inbreeders. Just as they don't display hybrid vigour, they also don't display inbreeding depression, so you can inbreed them all you like. It's my guess that if you grew some Harlequin(eg) and sowed the seeds from it, at least some of the offspring would breed true. After a few generations of roguing out any that don't look right you will probably end up with an open-pollinated version which you can carry on growing forever without buying more seed.
Daughter of the Soil: F1 hybrids: what every gardener should know (http://daughterofthesoil.blogspot.com/2006/07/f1-hybrids-what-every-gardener-should.html)
A few of us did the same with supermarket Piccolino tomatoes, which were listed F1 :)
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Thanks for the feedback guy's I forgot to say I live in N.Ireland so can't get seed anymore from the mainland ( what did we do to deserve this ) but I got a brother who lives in England if you catch my drift thanks again guy's.
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A few years ago, my experiment with growing Crimson Crush from saved seed made two distinctive plants, one lot failed to blight, the others went rampant, and didn't succumb at all!
I'd have used those latter seeds again, but gave up The Patch, so didn't try a third year!
Seems that there are plenty of Ferline for sale on line, hope you get there in time!