North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Rosholdt <rosholdt@erols.com>]

Naomi,

I attempted to stabilize (make open pollinated) the Silver Queen 
hybrid.  If you plant hybrid seed, you get an unnerving result - 
inbreeding depression.  You have to be patient through several 
generations of inbreeding depression, selecting out the ones that are 
not what you want, and then saving seed each year, until you get about 5 
generations.  Then grow the corn out in a large area (an acre would be 
great, a quarter acre would be minimal, and do a final selection of ears 
to save.  In my ignorance, I introduced problems.

If you are interested in seed saving, which I HIGHLY recommend, please 
get hold of one of Carol Deppe's books on plant breeding or John 
Navazio's The Organic Seed Grower.

Open pollinated varieties do not suffer from inbreeding depression. They 
are maintained as Lee Reich suggested.