Bad Advice on the Internet

[Mischka]

While the Internet can be a great resource to learn from, it also gives opportunity for some people to post very inaccurate advice that, unfortunately, is followed by other people with very bad results.

Here are two prime examples:



Soaking seeds in Ajax, Comet or any other scrubbing cleanser is bad advice. Why? In addition to powdered chlorine (any pool owner out there knows how caustic this is) there are other chemicals in them that will very likely damage the seed coat that Mother Nature uses to protect the precious embryo within. Kiss your germination success goodbye.

Commerical seed companies don't use Ajax or Comet to clean seeds for resale and neither should you. Period. Seeds saved for long term storage by SSE and the USDA aren't soaked in Ajax or Comet, either.

Dr. Randy Gardner insists all seed saved for storage from his breeding projects are to be fermented. Dr. Carolyn Male is also an staunch advocate of fermentation vs. chemical seed treatment for seeds to be stored for future use.

Bottom line: Save the Ajax and Comet for your toilets, sinks and showers.

Here's another post I came across from someone that advocates saving (and sharing ) seed from F1 hybrid plants:




I'm going to point out the flaws in this persons' logic.

#1. The vast majority of F1 hybrid seed is NOT stable, meaning that the genetic traits from the parents within them will segregate out if you save seed from the F1 plants. Without going into a boring drawn-out explanation, F1 hybrids contain genetic material contributed from two or more parental lines. You can read more about it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F1_hybrid

#2. Commercial breeders guard the identity (and often the seeds) of the parents of their hybrids, much like Coca-Cola guards it's secret formula. Try getting your hands on seeds for Teddy Jones! (one of the parents of Big Boy) No way in hell has the poster above seen what the parents of commercial F1 hybrids look like.

#3. Sharing seeds from fruits saved from F1 hybrid plants is a not a good idea at all. The person planting them will almost always end up with something other than what the original F1 seeds produced. (Hint: This would be a good time to check out the Cross Hemisphere Dwarf Project forum to learn about segregation! )

Many of us here have intentionally saved seed from F1 plants in hopes to segregate out desirable genetic traits contributed from the parents. It takes many growing seasons and a lot of growing space to do this and there is no guarantee of success.

There ARE suspect F1 hybrids that are likely stabilized crosses (Brandy Boy comes to mind) but the vast majority are not. Bottom line: Don't share seeds saved from F1 hybrids unless you make it clear to the person you shared them with. There are some pretty crummy tasting OP varieties that are used for breeding hybrids and it would be very disappointing for someone to spend their time all season to grow plants, only to have them produce tomatoes that are less than edible.