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Just thought id have a go at growing some different types of courgettes, so i brought "One Ball f1" and "Eight Ball F1" both cost £2.09p per packet, when i looked only 8 seeds in each pack !!! Can i save some seeds from these fruit to save costs next year? made sure i kept the reciept incase they dont germinate!!!

You can provided you're careful; these things are promiscuous crossbreeders. Pick out a male and female bud, and bag them (the ends of old stockings are good) just before they open. When fully open, pick the male flower, strip the petals, and use it to pollinate the female. Bag the female again till it withers, and mark the fruit so you don't pick it by mistake. Leave it until it's well ripe before you harvest the seeds. That way you'll get pure seed.

Robert, are you sure you can save F1 hybrid seeds? I'd thought you couldn't.
Good info about saving seeds, I'm going to try to save some seeds this year too, including squashes. :)

I'm concentrating on open pollinated varieties from this year on to save seeds forever (and money). I just cannot justify the prices of some F1 seeds!

You will be very lucky to get any reasonable results from seed saved from F1 hybrid plant.They are first generation and do not come true, but surely 25p for a seed almost certain to germinate is not too pricey.You will get many fruits from each plant so why not save some seed for next year.

You can't save seeds from F1 hybrids even if you isolate flowers from the same plant (well, you can but you'll get a mixed bag of offspring). F1 hybrids are produced by crossing two pure-breeding parent plants to maximise the characteristics of both and produce 'hybrid vigour'. When you cross it with itself you will get offspring with a variable mix of the original genes - some like parent 1 and some like parent 2 and some a mix of both.

That's why F1 hybrid seeds are more expensive. It's a very labour intensive process to select and isolate parent plants and then manually pollinate to produce hybrid seeds.

Robin

F1's are evil, and their benefits are often pure marketing spiel.

remember that for next year!!!!

That's what comes of posting first thing in the morning with the leftovers of an attack of migraine; I never noticed it was an F1 variety! Dont bother; get proper varieties next year. Those things are partly ence for agrobusiness, which wants the whole field to ripen at the same moment, and partly a scam to force growers to buy seed every year. Get traditional varieties, have crops which ripen over a period, and save your seed!

Aye, F1, mumble mumble. However, I saved seed from Tumbler F1 tomatoes last year and will see what I end up with..

Although I've also found Gartenperle does similar and isn't F1, so that may have more potential in the hanging basket tomato stakes.. There usually are alternatives if you look hard enough.

Melanie

are F1's less wildlife friendly too??

Apparently so, something to do wiht pollinations as thye are F1s. Generally I try not to buy them an I have only have bouhg tone pack this eyra- Tomato Tumbler F1. Cheers, Dan :-)

Like most of you I prefer not to plant F1 varieyies, however I do think that just occasionally they are the "best buy" as often they are bred for resistance to particularly nasty bugs or diseases.

I grow loads of F1 and also `open` varieties-but one tip-that Cherry tom `sweet million`might be classed as an F1 but it comes true

I have grown F1 sprouts Per gynt for around 20 years,it was one of the first and would not change it.They tell me it may go off the market so I have bought two packets this year to last me.They are far better than most ordinary ones.I start picking in September and am still picking now, even F1 cabbages do not split as much as others.