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Puzzled

Mary370Mary370 Posts: 2,003
in Plants
I'm very puzzled with regards to seeds and new plants.  It is stated on many seed packets that the seeds of x plant will not come true/be the same colour as the mother plant.  How then can seed manufacturers produce seeds of one colour/true to the mother plant?

Posts

  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,142
    It's a complex business.
    Many plants are cultivated varieties of a species, the biggest and the best have been selected and bred to make the largest/brightest blooms. This can't be passed on via seed, they have to be propagated by division or cuttings
    Some are hybrids, a cross between two species, if seeds are produced they may resemble one or other of the parents.




    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • Silver surferSilver surfer Posts: 4,425
    If you want all your plants to look identical then look for the more expensive packets labelled F1

    However the seeds from these plants will not be identical to the parents.

    https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=710
    Perthshire. SCOTLAND .
  • Mary370Mary370 Posts: 2,003
    @Silver surfer it's not that I want all my plants to look identical, but I find i'm buying the same seeds regularly eg. white foxglove, lupins.  I'm just curious as to how the seed companies can offer seeds in one particular colour, when if we gather seeds we know that they will be different to the parent plant. The same with lupins, you can buy seed packets of one colour eg. yellow or white, yet when I collect seeds they are different colours.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 83,720
    It takes two parent plants to produce seeds ... if the bees and hoverflies are allowed to do the pollinating it is likely that they will not just stick to visiting the flowers of one colour ... they may visit a purple foxglove and then go straight to a white foxglove ... the pollen from the purple one will be transferred to the white one and the resulting seeds will have the characteristics of both parents.

    As I understand it, the reason why some commercially produced seeds are so expensive is because the pollination is controlled by the grower, so that plants aren't cross-pollinated by different coloured varieties of the same species.  

    But of course, sometimes the insects win and find a way ... that's why we sometimes get the odd purple foxglove appear when expensive white foxglove seeds have been sown. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Mary370Mary370 Posts: 2,003
    ahh thank you @Dovefromabove that makes sense.......
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 83,720
    Does it???? Hurrah!!!!  :D

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





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