Horrible F-2 tomato plants.

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TomHillbilly
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Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2020 10:38 pm

Horrible F-2 tomato plants.

#1

Post: # 38719Unread post TomHillbilly
Mon Jan 18, 2021 10:54 am

I was a racoon hunter in my youth, as were many. There were also real coon hunters? They paid as much for their dogs, as their newer autos costs. They subscribed to real coon hunting magazines. They competed in organized coon hunting trials. Big trophies were awarded to winners. You had to own a registered dog to enter such a competition. Those people wouldn't let a mutt hunt with their registered dogs. Their dogs were bred for certain valued traits in their character. Which meant they were the superior dog. Kinda like hybrid tomatoes.  
I'd be the first to say I understand that. And I know why farmers rely on registered livestock to fit their purposes in farming. And why they pay big bucks for those breeding animals. Why those that actually farm can't take any risk with their seed. They gamble on too many producing factors, the way it is. 
There were many miles of open hunting woods just past our corn field, at a bend in the road. Sometimes the real hunters would stop by, and get me to go with them. I was asked to go with those hunters several times as a guide. I walked in the rear, I only spoke if directions were needed. My dogs had to stay chained up at the house. My dogs didn't have the registered papers needed. I listened to those Blow Georges say the dangest things about their dogs, and hunting in general. Those guys were all belter and bark, with few coon hides to show. I knew the better dogs were chained up back at my house. For a couple of years I felt like a small celebrity. Grown men that owned mutts like me, would question me about everything that took place on those hunts. They laughed and poked fun at those real coon hunters. 
 Not every regurgitated article rings true. For several years, I would never dream of collecting hybrid F-2 tomato seeds. Because the next generation was so UNCERTAIN? The tomato was destined to morph into some horrible F-2 plant--- right ??  So many people wrote about it, so it must be true?  Kinda like one of those coon hunter magazines. 
  I noticed a small group of people were collecting seeds from hybrid tomatoes they purchased at markets. Some were collecting seeds from the hybrid plants they got from a nursery. And people were doing dehybridization on hybrids. They wrote about the changes they noticed in the 3rd through 6th generation. Not much written about the F-2 changes. Didn't these people read these coon hunting articles by real coon hunters? Those F-2 plants have to be inferior? 
   Here is what I have learned. Those looking through a microscope, may see some chemical composition change in F-2 plants, and fruit. Most likely you will not with the naked eye, or taste it. The percentage of hybrid tomatoes that are listed as HIGHLY UNSTABLE. Those most likely will have a huge radical morphed change in the 3rd generation. To be on the safe side collect seeds only once. Stable hybrids change so gradually, a person might fail to see the changes with the naked eye.  I've never been extremely disappointed in the results of a F-2 plant from a favored F-1. But I have been extremely disappointed with many of those thoroughbred varieties I gambled experimenting with. Most are dogs that ball and bark, but can't tree.
You are taking a bigger gamble on liking a new experimental variety, then you would be growing a F-2 plant from a favored hybrid. Don't believe what I tell you--or the claimed horror stories about morphed F-2's. You grow a single trial F-2 plant, with the seed that was collected from a favored F-1. You see for yourself, how much change occurs in the first year only. If you like the results-- then look at how much free seed you got out of the experiment? Come back and tell me who was blowing smoke about how risky it is collecting seed from a F-1 hybrid? Your mutt might be a better dog than those with papers. LOL....PS-- What I told you applies to tomatoes only-- no other garden crop.

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Rockoe10
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Re: Horrible F-2 tomato plants.

#2

Post: # 38729Unread post Rockoe10
Mon Jan 18, 2021 2:02 pm

I probably wouldn't expect something too similar from an F2 of two F1's, but that would never stop me from doing it lol
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Rob, ZONE 6A with 170 days between frost dates, Western Pennsylvania

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