Creating new strains from selection?

TomNJ · August 30, 2009

I just started saving seeds (what a deal!) and am curious if I can affect future crops from the tomatoes I select for seed.

For example, for a given variety of tomato, if I save seeds from the very first tomatoes every year, will I eventually create a strain of earlier tomatoes for that variety? Likewise, if I save seeds from the largest tomato each year will I create a larger strain over the years. Or are the characteristics of a variety fixed in the genes/DNA regardless of which tomato you save the seed from (discounting random mutations)?

It would be a kick if I can alter a variety from selection over time!

TomNJ

August 30, 2009	#1
TomNJ Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2009 Location: Floyd VA Posts: 771	Creating new strains from selection? I just started saving seeds (what a deal!) and am curious if I can affect future crops from the tomatoes I select for seed. For example, for a given variety of tomato, if I save seeds from the very first tomatoes every year, will I eventually create a strain of earlier tomatoes for that variety? Likewise, if I save seeds from the largest tomato each year will I create a larger strain over the years. Or are the characteristics of a variety fixed in the genes/DNA regardless of which tomato you save the seed from (discounting random mutations)? It would be a kick if I can alter a variety from selection over time! TomNJ