What can I expect from Hybrid seeds ?
 

Hello. Last year I had a BHN 602 - Bonnie Hybrid tomato in a large container pot located in a sunny spot on my porch. To my surprise I discovered two or more seedlings growing there this season. My question is what can be expected from these plants. I seem to recall that hybrids are not successfully raised from the next generation. Any information is appreciated. Thanks.

Hi Bill, welcome to Tomatoville!

I've never grown BHN 602, but according to the info at Tomato Growers Supply online catalog, it is a large, red, round slicer or canner with VFFF resistence to various diseases. There is nothing wrong with using next generation hybrid seeds or volunteer seedlings, they will produce just fine. However, at the genetic level, they will not be exactly the same as your original hybrid. Without knowing the parents that went into creating BHN 602, it's not possible to predict what you will get, but when dealing with round, red hybrids, it would be surprising if you did not get round red fruit when you grew them out. It might look or taste very similar to your original hybrid, or it might not! :lol: You won't know til you try, so give it a go if you have the curiosity and space.

Seed from F1 hybrids will grow just fine, but they won't necessarily be identical to the F1 plant. I've grown seeds from "Italian Ice F1" which grew into something distinct (and better to my tastes) than the original. I've also grown seeds from "Roma F1" which grew into plants that were more or less indistinguishable from the parent.

F1 hybrids can be designed to generate unwanted diversity in the F2 generation, but generally they are only designed to have high production or other useful characteristics.

In your case, you might find the seed produces plants with different colored fruit because many of the color mutations are recessive and might have been found in one of the parent lines. If you intensely hate the colors yellow and orange, this might be a problem for you.
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If you grow seeds from a burger at McDonalds, you are likely to end up with something you might not like. Those tomatoes have a trait that interferes with ripening until the fruit has been exposed to ethylene gas (a common plant hormone involved in ripening). This allows the grower or user to store the tomatoes year-round and then induce them to ripen when they need the final product.

This is the most significant trait I know if in tomatoes that is useful to some sections of the industry, but not for home growers (generally). I've thought about growing this type of tomato so I can reliably have green tomatoes through the length of winter in MN...

It really is a myth that seeds from hybrids will not grow successfully. It is pushed by purveyors of hybrid varieties as a way to help maintain their market share and then spread along by people who don't have sufficient experience with the biology to know any different.

In some crops, like corn, there are intense losses to production in later generations if extreme care isn't taken in how the seeds are selected for saving. In other crops, like tomatoes or squash, there is generally no loss apparent.

Don't expect anything good from a store bought seed or one from a fast food joint.
They are a waste of time.
I cannot tell you how many times I have had to explain to people that you cannot grow an F1 store bought seed and get anything better than store bought.

It isn't because they aren't vine ripened it is just the genetics that makes them garbage.
As was stated in the post above me.

A Cape Buffalo raised at the house is still a Cape Buffalo.
By the time it is 4 or 5 years old you will have to kill it before it kills you.:lol:

Worth

The area in my high tunnel where I had Jet Star last year is now full of volunteers, growing out the edge of my plastic mulch. The biggest two of them are almost as big as my high tunnel plants. I am looking forward to trying Jet Star F2.