Plain Talk, Please

[nctomatoman]

So - let's forget the mystery surrounding Big Zac (in terms of ensuring that any seeds labeled F1 are indeed hybrid, etc).

Big Zac apparently was created by crossing two large tomatoes - so someone took pollen from one variety and applied it to the emasculated blossom of the other variety. The fruit that developed is the F1 (first Filian generation) hybrid, and seed saved are F1 hybrid seeds - they will produce the very large tomato known as Big Zac - and the only way to get that fruit is to get those F1 seeds - either purchase them, or do the cross yourself (but you would have to know the two parents!).

So, if you save seed from Big Zac fruit produced by planting the F1 seed, you have the F2 generation - this is now the dehybridizing activity that people around here tend to get involved with when trying to stabilize a non-hybrid version of a well known or favorite hybrid. In the F2 generation, all bets are off in terms of what you may get - it may look like one or the other parent, or something in between. If the tomato you purchased is a hybrid, and there are more than 2 parents (we won't go there, but some crosses are very complex), the F2 generation could be highly variable.

so, say you get a plant in the F2 generation that looks very much like Big Zac - if you save seeds from a fruit and grow them out, that is the F3 generation - it is still quite variable, but if you grow out a bunch, you can select again for what you want - save seeds, grow out the F4, etc - this is how we in R&D are creating new, different colored dwarf varieties.

hope that is clear, and helps!