Pure seeds versus not so pure seeds

[treecutter]

This summer after a very good crop of: golden burley, harrow velvet, tn90, cherry red, long red, black mammoth, catterton, little dutch, nostrano del brenta, shirey , I did not bag any seed heads. Lots of cross pollination has been going on including some beautiful humming birds. I kept all the flowers up because the wife likes them and I'm allowed to smoke indoors. So I would like to know if I take seeds from Harrow Velvet, I know they will not be pure, but, will the resulting plant be 80% Harrow Velvet or more, or less? Will the resulting plant still be a burley with only slightly different characteristics?

 

[deluxestogie]

if I take seeds from Harrow Velvet, I know they will not be pure, but, will the resulting plant be 80% Harrow Velvet or more, or less? Will the resulting plant still be a burley with only slightly different characteristics?

Most N. tabacum self-pollinates to about 90%, prior to the blossoms opening. The problem you encounter with open pollination is that if you were to germinate, say, 100 of those contaminated, Harrow Velvet seeds, the resulting 100 plants will not be the same hybrids. You would likely see numerous different heights, leaf shape, leaf size, leaf color, and other traits that one expects from homozygous seed. The ones that appear most like Harrow Velvet may not cure like a burley. They may or may not have attributes that you expect from a burley. And each 1st generation plant will likely be different in that regard.

My personal opinion is that growing tobacco, though simple, is laborious, time-consuming and dirty work. The few dollars it costs for seed that will produce what you expect is well worth the investment. And I am an opponent of selling or giving away impure seed.

If you want to try the hybridization process, expect about 7 years of selecting, intentional crossing and back-crossing, and extensive documentation to end up with a stable, predictable hybrid that consistently displays whatever trait or traits you are striving for.

For reliable seed production, you need to bag only one plant of each variety you wish to save, since each plant may produce up to ¼-million seeds.

Bob

 

[treecutter]

Thank you Bob for clarifying that for me. I will be putting in my order to Northwood Seeds for next years grow. I've already tried the Harrow Velvet which is fully color cured and has a reputation for fast ageing. It was very satisfactory and shows a lot of promise when further aged. Right now my favorite mixture is 50/50 WLT burley and lemon flue cured. I'm hoping to have a close to similar result from 50/50 Harrow Velvet and sun cured Cherry Red.