In article ,
Me wrote:

An F1 hybrid, AFAIK, is just a cross that produces offspring whose progeny
is either unviable or not-true-to-type (eg, mating a horse and donkey
produces a
mule, but a mule won't produce little mules because it is sterile). F1
hybrids have improved characteristics, but you have to repeat the cross to
reproduce the same hybrid. So yes, you can have an organically grown F1
hybrid, but you won't be able to propagate it from its own seed. This is
part of the normal kind of hybridisation that humans (and nature) have been
doing from time immemorial.

And which certain companies do in order to ensure they get a repeat
order for seeds every year. "Farmers growing their own seed? Ye Gods,
we'd go out of business!"

Yes, but the F1 hybrid has to have outstanding characteristics to be worth
that. I assume that mules are more robust than horses and stronger than
donkeys (despite their notorious bad temper), so they keep being produced.

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

http://chookiesbackyard.blogspot.com/