F1 Seed

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Shallot Man
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Notice in the seed catalogues that are arriving, it is getting harder and harder not to buy F1 seed. The only people who need these products are the supermarkets. I personally do not need a row of identical cabbages that look like pea's in a pod. When am only taking home one at a time. Starting to do my own tom's. Started with, Alisa Craig. Moneymaker, and Gardiner s Delight. Trying to do my own leek seed. Well that's got that of my chest. :wink: :wink: :wink:
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oldherbaceous
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Well said Shallot Man :) .....I think some of the smaller seed companies still have a fair selection. Wallis seeds are always pretty good and I buy most of my seed from them.
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.

There's no fool like an old fool.
PLUMPUDDING
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I get a lot from Real Seeds and the Heritage Seed Library. They're all open pollinated non f1s. I save seeds from the best plants of my favourites every year to keep a really good strain and all the French beans and tomatoes i particular have been wonderful this year.
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Primrose
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It really bugs me that supermarkets might state the country of origin of their vegetables but often they don't state which variety it is. I suppose to the non vegetable grower this is probably of no interest whatsoever, but three years ago we bought some really nice large plum shaped salad tomatoes from Waitrose and I tried in vain to discover what variety they were. However, it doesn't really matter - I'm not sure if they're an F1 variety but I've saved seeds from them every year and grown them. It may be my imagination but I do think the ones I grow may be slightly smaller in size than the original supermarket ones but the flavour is still very good.
robo
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We saved the seeds from a butternut squash we bought from Morrison's dried them then planted them the following spring I did not get one squash on them all male flowers if my memory is correct
Westi
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Actually makes sense - if the seed companies sell only F1 then we have to buy again each year if we want true to form plants and can't save our own seeds. Hmm? Not quite rip of Britain but if F1 infringe anymore it will get close, not to mention what varieties will be lost.
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tigerburnie
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I use a mixture of seeds and I had great success with F1 seeds, the Swift sweetcorn was very good and the F1 Red Pearl onions are the best reds I have ever grown. The Romanasc, F1 Celio were also a success, all my other seeds were non F1, with mostly good results, my key aim is to grow things I like the taste of, rather than what the seeds are. I have looked for organic seeds, but I found a lot of the seeds on Organic sites were not actually organic.
Been gardening for over 65 years and still learning.
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Johnboy
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Hi Shallotman
It is quite simple to have a succession of F1 cabbages by simply not sowing them all at the same time and there are very few open pollinated varieties the can match the the vibrancy of an F1 hybrid. Having said that I still grow the open pollinated pointed cabbages myself and no longer grow anything large in th cabbage line. I have but one mouth to feed and something like a Primo cabbage would be about 6 meals to me. In my younger days I had 7 mouths to feed and the need was that bit greater.
F1 seeds are simply a hybrid of two varieties of plant that each have a stable backgrounds of each producing true seed on their own account.
The one seed I buy every year is runner beans because there are so many ways runner beans can be hybridized by any passing insect and fail to breed true with a very iffy crop the following year.
If you want to have good crops really you are best to grow using F1 seeds and grow in succession.
JB.
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Geoff
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And if you have clubroot there are resistant hybrids.
robo
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I have cub root this year but in only one of my raised beds I will be putting onions in that bed in the near future
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Pa Snip
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There is still lots of choice out there that isn't F1 but you cannot deny how successional Lewis Hamilton has been in winning or how much Mercedes have been a blight on the other manufacturers this year.

Oh and there's lots of seeds out there that aren't F1 as well.

Introducing a new variety that reproduces true takes investment both in time and money, why shouldn't seedsmen protect their investment.

The danger when people start to believe their own publicity is that they often fall off their own ego.

At least travelling under the guise of the Pa Snip Enterprise gives me an excuse for appearing to be on another planet
tigerburnie
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I know a lot of gardeners like saving their own seed, it's all part of the satisfaction, to be honest, I've never done that and probably never will. I do enjoy getting plants from others, I have some really strong looking plantlets from the Mara des Bois strawberries I bought this year, each to our own I guess
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Monika
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I always use F1 seeds, simply to utilise their good breeding for robustness and resistance against diseases. And, like Johnboy, I sow them in succession. There are usually just the two of us nowadays, so no cabbages or cauliflowers but brassicas like kale, sprouting broccoli and flower sprouts, much easier to portion out.
Even if there are lots of seeds left in the packet, I find that, other than parsnips and carrots, they stay viable for at least one more year. That certainly appears to apply to beans and peas. So, no saving of own seeds for me, I'm afraid.
PLUMPUDDING
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I use both open pollinated and F1 varieties but they have to grow well, be tender and have the best flavour I can find. A lot of the ones with the best flavour are very tender too. They cook much more quickly but you don't find them in the shops as they don't travel well so they aren't usually the popular F1 names that we are familiar with in the seed catalogues.

You are also saving lots of money by saving your own seeds and you can grow from vigorous fresh seeds every year.

I do like the new flower sprouts and Lark sweetcorn is another of my favourite F1s
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