Hi,

I have recently rediscovered my stash of seeds, and have planted up several varieties of heirloom tomatoes. I would like to attempt the creation of a hybrid, and breed it until it can be bred true to type, I guess in the same way that an heirloom will. After reading in the American Hybridization forum, I am thoroughly confused.I have a few questions, and hope someone can help me with the answers! Or if you could recommend an article/book that is easy to understand, I'd really appreciate it. Here goes....

I have two 'parent' varieties. Green Grape (G), and Tigerella (T).

Q1. Does it matter which variety is the male parent plant, and which is the female?

Now, the fruit of these two parents will give me an F1

hybrid.

Q2. If I cross and F1 with an F1, I get an F2?

(From what I have read, this is where the differences in the plants start to show up.)

Now, I'm looking at my hypothetical plants, which are all lovely and mature, and see that the fruit size varies, as does the colour and taste. To go further with the hybridising, and to breed for what I want, I choose two plants with characteristics that I like, and cross-pollinate them.

This gives me an F3 hybrid, am I right so far?

If I keep breeding different plants together, from each generation (eg. 2 F3's, then 2 F4's etc) will I achieve uniformity?

Or do I need to breed the plants with themselves? Eg pollinate a plant showing all characteristics that I want with itself, and continue this with subsequent generations?

Not sure if this makes any sense, but I hope you can provide me with some insights. Thanks heaps,

Kristy