permaculture

[Scott Vlaun <scott@moosepondarts.com>]

The Seeds of Change True Platinum sweet corn, which Alan Kapuler bred 
from a hybrid white sweet corn, is a prime example of this 
de-hybridizing strategy. (And a great OP corn.)

Having watched his breeding projects over the years, it seems like it 
can take 4-8 generations of rigorous selection to get a stable OP 
variety, depending on what species you're dealing with. It's sort of 
like doing mass-crosses and selection, but someone else is doing the 
crossing for you.

Deppe also notes that some "hybrids" may not be hybrids at all, as they 
seem to reproduce just as an OP. She suggests that labeling something a 
hybrid, in some cases, might just be to discourage potential seed 
savers.

If I've learned one thing from Alan, it's just to plant the seeds and 
see what happens. The more good germ plasm that we can get into the 
public domain, the better.

Scott


On Monday, July 7, 2003, at 02:54  AM, Toby Hemenway wrote:

> Alan Kapuler has de-hybridized a number of hybrids (I sure wish his 
> stuff was on line); seems to me Carol Deppe (author of "Breed Your Own 
> Vegetable Varieties") has either done it or has referred to people who 
> have. It's a great idea, and results in some wonderful varieties.