David Hare-Scott wrote:
A recent thread on heirloom tomatoes showed that there is quite some
confusion about this subject. Also there is a tendency to take up
positions on the topic that are not necessarily supported by fact. To
start with heirloom and hybrid are not two mutually exclusive categories
that together describe all edible cultivars. It may be useful to speak
of commercial and home varieties but in this we should distinguish
between the situations where seeds are selected for either commercial or
home growing and seeds that are supplied commercially or saved at home.

[snip]
So what should you grow heirloom or hybrid? It's a meaningless
question, they are not strict alternatives. What you should grow is the
cultivars that suit you, the ones that have the characteristics that you
want for your situation. These may be available from friends or seed
companies and they may be "heirloom" in the sense of being identifiably
old strains that have been around for centuries or they may be new
varieties. If you particularly want certain F1 hybrid characteristics
you might be happy to buy your seed each year, if you don't really want
that or even know what it means then save your seeds and your money.
It is better to be eclectic instead of religious about growing.

David



I like saving the seeds from F1 hybrids (and the resulting F2
hybrids) and planting them to see what I get. Often the offspring
is indistinguishable from the parent variety. And sometimes you get
a surprise.

Bob