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Re: Will it work for survival?

There is one more issue to be considered when using hybrids:  Some
qualities can be lost when saving seeds.  You may get another plant that's
totally different from the one the seed came from.

> > Finally, is anyone doing SQ FT farming using non-hybrid, open-pollenated
> > seed stock, as would be required without a supply of standard hybrids?
> > Please comment on the use of non-hybrids in this SQ FT environment.
>
> On the other hand, hybrids have some characteristics that you probably
> don't even *want* in your scenario. My understanding is that most
> hybrids are bred for conventional commercial agriculture, which means
> that they're bred for toughness in shipping, for simultaneous ripening,
> for ripening after they're picked green, for machine harvesting. None of
> these things are really useful in your scenario - when you're growing
> your own food, you don't really *want* forty cabbages or a hundred bean
> plants or several hundred tomatoes to be all ready to pick at once, and
> then to go out of production.
>
> (Well, the bean plants were a bad example, actually - I don't think that
> anybody actually sells hybrid bean seed? There are a number of crops
> that are seldom sold as hybrids.)
>
There are hybrid beans.  One of the most recent is a cross between Blue
Lake and Kentucky Wonder.  I believe it's name is Blue Wonder.  Supposed to
include the best qualities of both varieties.

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