Why is cross-pollination bad?

16 years ago

I've searched and read many posts about cross-pollination and saving seeds from hybrid plants. They all tell me things like ways to avoid this and that it's bad.

But I haven't really seen WHY it's a bad thing. I understand if you're growing for commercial purposes, but as a home gardener who simply wants fresh veggies for my own use, why would I be concerned? I probably couldn't tell you the difference between one variety of a tomato to the next...to me, a tomato is a tomato. I'm sure I'm missing out on something by not trying new varieties, and someone will surely tell me about it. Besides maybe this is a way for me to try new varieties (even if I don't know what they are!!!) :-).

So, give me the dirt (pun intended)? Will the seeds not grow? Will the fruit be un-edible?

Thanks.

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Comments (5)

zeedman Zone 5 Wisconsin
16 years ago
Cross-pollination is only a bad thing if you are trying to save pure seed of a particular variety (such as a family heirloom), or if you intend to share seed with others.

For your own use, there is no need to prevent crossing. The results will be unpredictable, but can be fun as well. Many heirlooms were originally created this way, by intentionally crossing varieties with good characteristics, and selecting from the best plants each year.

You may - or may not - get crossing with tomatoes, even if you do nothing. Some varieties are more likely to cross than others:
- potato leaf
- currant
- double blossoms
- some older heirlooms
Paste tomatoes, in my experience, seem the least prone to crossing.

Even if you do get a cross with tomatoes, the result should still be edible. If snap beans cross with other beans, however, the result might be stringier than you would like. You can get some VERY strange crosses with squash.
minesrah
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
I am in a situation where cross-pollination could be a disaster. I am growing a Coyote Gourd or Cucurbitia Foetidissima (sp?) in a community garden. many of the other gardeners have plots with some form of domesticated edible cucurbit - squash - pumpkin - cucumber and the like. My native or wild plant is extremely bitter and in-edible. If pollen from my plant gets into their plots their produce could be ruined. I will remove every male flower unless I use it to pollinate a female. Then the male gets destroyed. The female flowers get bagged until they drop off of the growing gourd.
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minesrah
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Another problem if a wild or ancestral variety of your domestic edible is growing within pollination range. If they can cross-breed you may get seeds producing unpalatable to inedible produce.
joe LeGrand
2 years ago
The only reason for "pure seed" is to keep a plant as is, like a clone only from seeds.

If you do not care if your seeds are a clone of the plant that produced it, no worries.

All seeds that are in the garden today are hybrids of some kind, man has been selective growing for thousands of year & hybridizing for over four hundred years.

https://www.abebooks.com/Hybrid-History-Science-Plant-Breeding-Kingsbury/30966688106/bd?cm_mmc=ggl--US_Shopp_Textbook--product_id=COM9780226437040USED-_-keyword=&gclid=CjwKCAjwpMOIBhBAEiwAy5M6YPYFnbj41yPAd_qhF21SAeq7WE518_plLXZTNd5DMQAxJ9JGzEdMzRoCtxwQAvD_BwE

Why is cross-pollination bad?

Comments (5)

zeedman Zone 5 Wisconsin

minesrah

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minesrah

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