"The Devil's Advocate" wrote in
:

F1 hybrids are pollinated manually under very strict conditions so
that there is no chance of cross over of pollen from another type of
that plant. That is why they are so expensive.

Not exactly. An F1 hybrid is a particular type of first generation
cross, not just a hand-pollinated plant.

Say I cross: short fat hairy one with tall thin weedy one

First generation of their children - all gorgeous tall slim ones - the
F1 hybrids


Then I breed together two of my F1 hybrids.

Their children may be : tall and weedy, short and fat, tall and fat,
short and weedy etc...


F1 hybrids don't 'come true' when they breed together, because they have
a bunch of different genes that can combine in different ways - however
much you isolate them. Only the F1 generation will all have the same
combination of genes to produce the desired characteristics.

Lots of plants have characteristics that are not governed by one
'perfect' combination of genes. According to a bloke on the telly last
night, Aquilegia vulgaris Black Barlow fits this model - as do most
wildflowers, and pretty much any garden seed that comes in a big, cheap
bag ;-)

They have a bunch of genes that can combine in several different ways to
produce more or less the same results. You get the odd slightly
different one, but on the whole, the children look pretty much like the
parents - they 'come true from seed' without being F1 hybrids.

If you plant 'em next to something skyblue pink, you may get the odd
skyblue pink one. But if you get *all* weird looking skyblue pink
ones, which then go to a mixture the year after, you have created your
own F1 hybrids!

Some plants are not F1 hybrids or 'true from seed'. They may be a
'selected strain' (like a labrador is a selected strain of dog), or they
may be a one-off freaks propagated by cuttings. Most fruit tree
varieties are freaks, which is why growing apples from pips is less
rewarding than reason says it should be.

HTH and that I've got it right!

Victoria