digitS'
Garden Master
This would also be more true of ones that we are responsible for. DW was looking at the tiny plants from the tiny seeds from those tiny fruits of my attempt at crossing Kimberley and Buisson last season. I could tell that she was trying not to say anything but I went ahead and pointed out that the genes are all there if indeed, I was able to properly move pollen. By the way, there are 3 of those tiny plants now.
Here's what I have been thinking about: why there is often such consistency in the seedlings of the seed companies' hybrids?
I've been moving around a lot of all kinds of tomato plants. I think that I will have 30+ varieties in the garden this year. Most of my plants are hybrids but there must be about 20 heirlooms in the mix.
Something like an Early Girl or a Sungold - the plants are so similar, one after another. I think of them as "sisters" but it is more than that. Their parents are like brothers and sisters. The Mom and Dad to these things may be a good deal different, genetically. But, the Moms are probably about as close to being identical twins as the plant breeders can get them. It would be true of the Dads, too.
Some characteristics were very important to the plant breeders. Of course, it was the characteristics of the offspring that was most important for the bottom line. I wonder if one parent, or both, might have something that we would really not care for in our garden plants but it really doesn't come through to the offspring.
You have probably figured this all out but I think that it's just kind of interesting that there must be some highly-valued little fields of inbred parent plants grown somewhere, each year. There might be some highly-valued grandparent plants, also.
The hybrid offspring? Yeah, bushels of seed must go out from the hybridizers' operations each year. But, it's the parent plants that have the value to the companies. They probably just have a few Early Girl plants outside their lunchroom door where the people there can just sort of entertain themselves by looking at them and picking a fruit, now and then.
Steve
Here's what I have been thinking about: why there is often such consistency in the seedlings of the seed companies' hybrids?
I've been moving around a lot of all kinds of tomato plants. I think that I will have 30+ varieties in the garden this year. Most of my plants are hybrids but there must be about 20 heirlooms in the mix.
Something like an Early Girl or a Sungold - the plants are so similar, one after another. I think of them as "sisters" but it is more than that. Their parents are like brothers and sisters. The Mom and Dad to these things may be a good deal different, genetically. But, the Moms are probably about as close to being identical twins as the plant breeders can get them. It would be true of the Dads, too.
Some characteristics were very important to the plant breeders. Of course, it was the characteristics of the offspring that was most important for the bottom line. I wonder if one parent, or both, might have something that we would really not care for in our garden plants but it really doesn't come through to the offspring.
You have probably figured this all out but I think that it's just kind of interesting that there must be some highly-valued little fields of inbred parent plants grown somewhere, each year. There might be some highly-valued grandparent plants, also.
The hybrid offspring? Yeah, bushels of seed must go out from the hybridizers' operations each year. But, it's the parent plants that have the value to the companies. They probably just have a few Early Girl plants outside their lunchroom door where the people there can just sort of entertain themselves by looking at them and picking a fruit, now and then.
Steve
