North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[David Consolvo <fruitopia@nexet.net>]

Thanks for the explanation of hybrid vigor, Philip; that clears it up for me
in two sentences.

How's about getting vigor by crossing several varieties, and then over the
years saving seeds NOT for homegeneity but rather for diverse features you
like?  A decade ago I started saving seeds of the favorite cucumbers I grew
from a variety of sources.  Eventually I lost track of which was which.  Now
I just plant all of them together -- some are yellow, some dark green, and
some in between.  They are various shapes, too.  I save seeds not based on
any one color or shape, but rather of the plants which produce early,
produce longest, produce the most, and produce the best tasting cucumbers.

By starting with genetic diversity I hope my seed line will contain lots of
diversity for many decades.  Do other people do this?

David Consolvo
Hungrytown, Virginia



> From: Philip Stewart <philstewart24@yahoo.com>
> Reply-To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2005 09:05:54 -0800 (PST)
> To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: [NAFEX] Hybrid vs OP vigor
> 
> Part of hybrid vigor is a high level of
> heterozygosity, something no seed-propagated plant
> that has been "fixed" can ever have much of.  That
> said, there's no reason highly homozygous plants can't
> be plenty vigorous, assuming the deleterious recessive
> have been sorted out in the process.
>