that went without saying ha lol

Robert
"Victoria Clare" wrote in message
.205...
: "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
:
: