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["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

Get yourself a copy of "Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties" by Carol Deppe.  It will give you information on how to select a true-breeding variety out of an F1 hybrid (which is what most plants sold as "hybrids" are).  Most of the time, if you are diligent, you can select something out of the seedlings that is similar enough to the original hybrid to satisfy you nicely.   Dr. Alan Kapuler, who bred varieties for Seeds of Change, did just that with a number of varieties, including his super sweet "True Platinum" bred out of the hybrid "Plantinum Lady" sweet corn.
-Lon Rombough
Grapes, writing, consulting, my book, The Grape Grower, at http://www.bunchgrapes.com  Winner of the Garden Writers Association "Best Talent in Writing" award for 2003.
On Jul 2, 2005, at 8:08 AM, loneroc wrote:

<x-tad-bigger>At a dollar a seed for some kinds it would be nice to be able to save them.  I suspect that you would lose the hybrid vigor that contibutes to the impressive performance of some of the new introductions.</x-tad-bigger>
<x-tad-bigger> </x-tad-bigger>
<x-tad-bigger>Save the seed.  After all there just petunias, not apples.  If they don't grow quite as well what are you out from the experiment?</x-tad-bigger>
<x-tad-bigger> </x-tad-bigger>
<x-tad-bigger>Steve H.</x-tad-bigger>