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Return to Kathy’s Portfolio

did you know?

The Advantages and Disadvantages
of Using Hybrid Seed

Learn more about hybrids in
Greenhouse Gardener’s Companion
Revised & Expanded
by Shane Smith

Advantages:

1. Hybrids can  have up to 25 percent higher yield.
2. Hybrid plants are physically uniform. This is advantageous for farmers who harvest with machines, but it’s usually not a big deal for small-greenhouse gardeners.
3. Hybrids often show greater vigor and faster growth.

Disadvantages:

1. Hybrids cost up to five times more because they take longer to develop and are more trouble to produce.
2. They often require a more exacting horticulture. When things aren’t optimum, they may suffer more than plants grown from nonhybrid, open-pollinated seeds.
3. If you save and grow seeds from an F1 hybrid plant, don’t expect a similar plant in the next generation. The resulting plants in the second generation are usually much lower yielding, have less vigor, and are quite variable in their physical characteristics. You don’t know what you are going to get, and usually you’ll lose all the advantages you had in growing the original hybrid.

Fulcrum Publishing – 16100 Table Mountain Parkway, Suite 300 – Golden, Colorado 80403
1.800.992.2908 – 303.277.1623 – fulcrum@fulcrum-books.com