This has been nagging me for days, silly I know, the question is if you cannot save F1 tomato seed how do the seed companys obtain it to sell year after year, have Googled question and found nothing, can anybody direct me to a site that can explain please, maybe there is a very simple answer, thanks. ???
Don't they cross varieties in a specific way?
They pollinate two specific varieties, the fruit and seeds obtained from this cross are the FI, to get more of the same they repeat the process.XX Jeannine
Thank you Jeannine, that has been bugging me for days, as they say ''simple when you know how''.
You develop two inbred strains, which are almost genetically identical, and aren't necessarily any good in their own right. The two are crossed to produce a hybrid which, once again, is almost genetically identical in every plant, and completely predictable. Some years ago, a couple of big American bee breeders were doing it, and eventually gave up because of the work involved. One was actually using four strains, and the queens he sold were the result of crossing two F1's. Maybe it's easier with plants, but I avoid the things.