[mandycharlie]

I particularly like a hybrid "taste the difference" tomato at my local supermarket.  

If I harvested the seed, what would be the best way of doing that? Would it grow? and would it grow true?

[Salkeela]

Hi Mandy

First tomato seeds - harvest the seeds, put in a jamjar with a little water and allow to ferment (3 days in a warm place) then the slimy coat will slip off and you can drain the liquid off and salvage the seeds.  Dry on news paper and save.  (The slime carries a germination inhibitor so you need this process even if sowing quickly after saving.)

Now the F1 bit. Before creating a F1 seed growers take 2 strains of toms and breed them to make them really pure breeding (probably more pure than heirloom varieties).  Pure breeding means  all individuals will be as close to genetically identical as possible - which means all crops will be ready at one time.

Unfortunately (we are told) this pureness has a tendancy to reduce vigour because with inbreeding certain genetic weaknesses can be exagerated.

However if two such pure breeding strains are crossed then the weakness of each should cancel out in the F1 generation.  The weaknesses of either orginal strain could however reappear in the F2 generation.  In fact the characteristics of the two parent strains could turn up in any mix in the individuals of F2 meaning that the F2 generation will not even be like each other!

So in short if you know its F1 grown then you take a big risk in growing to  F2.  Yet if the 2 orginal strains were very similar (and didn't have any significant weaknesses) then it could work.  

Good luck.

[mandycharlie]

thank Sally.  

soo...  mongrel tomato plants it is then

I'll grow a couple just to see what happens.

[king cauli]

mongrel aint always a bad thing,new strains are found and made through genetic through backs,you might even end up with somethin tastier-if you are lucky :!:

[king cauli]

*throw back

[Eristic]

Saving seeds should be done wearing one of two hats. The first, the 'cheapskate don't want to spend money hat' involves dealing solely with pure varieties. Seeds collected from the best plants will ensure a continuity of reliable crops in the future.

The other hat 'The experimenter'  covers everything else. Seeds saved from F1 stock will almost certainly produce inferior plants. To get any tangible results here you need to do your own polinating, and take copious notes. You also require a lot of space and patience. Space because you need to grow each and every seed produced while you make selections for the future. Patieence because breeding from an F1 will requre many years to fix the strain before results can be depended on.

[muntjac]

mongrel aint always a bad thing,new strains are found and made through genetic through backs,you might even end up with somethin tastier-if you are lucky :!:

loike wot i am  

[fluffypebble]

So you is saying that your tastier than the average male cos of some throwback?

[muntjac]

of course ... my dang grand daughters always biting me  lmao

[Trillium]

If you're this new at growing tomatoes, Mandycharlie, then I think life would be infinitely easier for you if you just found an open-pollinated (aka heritage) variety tomatoes that you like as much. Then you'll have saved seeds coming out of your ears, one of the main benefits of open pollinated. I've let some F1 seeds grow the 2nd year (they were buried in the fall rotovating) and the results were always tasteless and pitiful. Don't forget that F1s were primarily developed for store markets to withdstand heavy handling by customers, rough transporting, and to be slow ripening. Not my idea of the ideal tasty tomato I'd spend my time growing.  

[Salkeela]

I'll second that comment Trillium.

And if you really want to try breeding a new variety - much better to select the two parents yourself and start looking for the ideal mix of characteristics from the F2 of the 2 strains that YOU chose at the outset.

I won't have F1 on the place... just incase I want to try seed saving from a variety I like.

[mandycharlie]

Thanks for the advice.  It does sound quite difficult.  Perhaps I'll just settle for something off the shelf this year then.

[muntjac]

picked up a couiple packs of tumbling tomatos today at focus  25p a pack as they had torn edges on the packet ,, someone didnt know that the seeds came in a foil pack inside hehe

[GrannieAnnie]

picked up a couiple packs of tumbling tomatos today at focus  25p a pack as they had torn edges on the packet ,, someone didnt know that the seeds came in a foil pack inside hehe

Oh Karl, I'd like to try tumblers, any chance of swapping a couple of seeds for something else?  Another variety you haven't tried yet???
I can't justify a whole packet, with all the tomato seeds I've got!!!

[muntjac]

pm the address and ur welcome to some grannie