A basic guide to F1 hybrid seeds

Mention the term F1 to many people and it will conjure up images of powerful cars, fast drivers and glamorous pit lane scenes. Say the same thing to gardeners and they will have completely different thoughts. To gardeners F1 is a note on a seed packet that tells us there is something special about the contents. Are these seeds really as finely-tuned, fast and glamorous as a scene from a Formula One race track? Let’s have a look at the pros and cons of F1 seeds and hope it doesn’t drive us round the bend.

What are F1 hybrid seeds and how they made?

F1 means filial one or first child. F1 hybrid seeds are created by careful cross pollination of two different parent plants, to give the seeds the best qualities of both parents. The parent plants are careful selected and pollinated with plants of their own variety to ensure they maintain the required qualities. If seeds are F1 it should be stated on the packet. It’s important to know if the seeds you are buying are F1 or not, particularly if you want to save seeds for future use.

Seeds that are not F1 are known as open pollinated seeds.

What are the advantages of F1 vegetable seeds?

Plants grown from F1 seeds are likely to be vigorous and yield good harvests with consistent characteristics and quality. Many are produced to be resistant to disease or pests. They are also likely to reach maturity in a predictable and consistent period of time, though to the average amateur gardener this may be considered as much a disadvantage as an advantage because it makes gluts more likely to occur.

What about disadvantages?

The main disadvantage of F1 seeds is that the seeds they produce themselves will not be ‘true’. That is to say they will not produce plants identical to themselves. Instead they are likely to show random characteristics of one of the parent plants. This can be very disappointing. If you plan to harvest seed to use in the future, F1 seeds are not for you.

Another disadvantage, also listed as an advantage above, is that seeds are likely to germinate, grow to maturity and be ready to harvest at the same rate. This is perfect if you’re a farmer, market gardener or professional grower aiming to get a large crop to market but can be a problem for us amateurs as it means we are more likely to have gluts to deal with. This is more of an issue with some vegetables than others. Parsnips, for example, will happily sit in the ground for weeks without spoiling so F1 hybrids can be helpful, particular for their resistance to diseases like canker. Conversely a batch of F1 cauliflowers sown at the same time will reach maturity together and as they go over quickly they will all need to be harvested at the same time. This can be overcome by successional sowing of course, but in my own experience we gardeners usually sow too many seeds just in case they don’t all germinate and find it difficult to discard any so there’s a danger of your allotment or vegetable plot filling up very quickly with this method.

F1 seeds can also be expensive. This is understandable as a lot of time, effort and careful experimentation goes into creating them. You need to be aware of this when selecting your seeds though. A packet of F1 seeds and a pack of open pollinated seeds may be a similar price but the open-pollinated ones might contain fifty, a hundred or even more seeds whereas a pack of F1 seeds will almost certainly contain a lot less.

Should I use F1 seeds?

It’s a personal choice. The first and most important thing to remember is that if you want to harvest your own seeds you must avoid F1 hybrid seeds as you just don’t know what the results from the seeds they create will be.

I tend to avoid F1 seeds unless I have a reason for using them. Over the years I have had quite disappointing results with Brussels sprouts, but since switching to F1 varieties my sprouts have been perfect! I also sow F1 carrots resistafly or flyaway because our allotment site is plagued by carrot fly and I’ve found that these varieties genuinely do reduce the damage. Other than that I (mostly!) stick to open pollinated seeds.

Whatever seeds you choose, enjoy your growing and your crops.