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Making work
Mar. 9th, 2022 11:52 amSo. Controlled cross breeding.
If two plants breed true (the offspring are similar to the parents several generations in a row) and I cross them, the first generation seeds of that cross (F1) should all be pretty much the same. So the first year after a cross there's not too much to grow out-- a couple plants per cross.
The second generation (F2), assuming there are multiple traits that are different between the two parents, almost every seed produced will probably be a different plant. So if I grow out three plants from the second generation seed I'll get three different plants; if I grow out fifty or a hundred I'll get many of those being different. So it makes sense to grow out many of these second generation seeds to find the best out of the offspring, which might be one or many different ones.
Then of those best offspring the process of growing many plants and choosing the best should be repeated in the third (F3) generation and so on, until the plants are mostly the same as their parents in F7 or so.
So I'm planning to make a bunch of crosses this year, and growing the offspring out the first year isn't such a big deal. But after that, F2 generation and so on, ideally many plants would be grown out in each subsequent year. Alternatively I could grow out the F2 in multiple years, say 10 plants per year, but it's harder to compare them to each other across years and then that really slows down the time until the end of the process.
So anyhow I'm planning on doing a bunch of crosses this year. Next year will be fine! And honestly the F1 plants will probably be relatively boring, many of the fun traits are recessive and won't come out until F2.
But 2024 will involve some interesting choices.
I'm not sad about having that to look forward to.
If two plants breed true (the offspring are similar to the parents several generations in a row) and I cross them, the first generation seeds of that cross (F1) should all be pretty much the same. So the first year after a cross there's not too much to grow out-- a couple plants per cross.
The second generation (F2), assuming there are multiple traits that are different between the two parents, almost every seed produced will probably be a different plant. So if I grow out three plants from the second generation seed I'll get three different plants; if I grow out fifty or a hundred I'll get many of those being different. So it makes sense to grow out many of these second generation seeds to find the best out of the offspring, which might be one or many different ones.
Then of those best offspring the process of growing many plants and choosing the best should be repeated in the third (F3) generation and so on, until the plants are mostly the same as their parents in F7 or so.
So I'm planning to make a bunch of crosses this year, and growing the offspring out the first year isn't such a big deal. But after that, F2 generation and so on, ideally many plants would be grown out in each subsequent year. Alternatively I could grow out the F2 in multiple years, say 10 plants per year, but it's harder to compare them to each other across years and then that really slows down the time until the end of the process.
So anyhow I'm planning on doing a bunch of crosses this year. Next year will be fine! And honestly the F1 plants will probably be relatively boring, many of the fun traits are recessive and won't come out until F2.
But 2024 will involve some interesting choices.
I'm not sad about having that to look forward to.
