seed from shop bought stuff

Hi Mrs Chopper here,
Last year I collected a load of seed from a galia melon and sweet red pepper bought in tesco, I planted them this year and the melon have germinated and are now 2 inches tall, will they just grow now the same as bought seed or are they going to disappoint !!!

 

There is some risk involved.

Some varieties (so called Open Pollinated) will grow to be like their parents.

Other varieties, such as F1, are carefully bred from two specific parents to combine the characteristics of both. Planting seeds from these will result in a mixture of offspring.

It could be either. Some times Farmers use F1 varieties that have disease resistance, or because they are bred to all crop at once, which suits the farmer (less good for the home-grower who likes his harvest to be spread over a decent time period)

My view is that if a plant fails immediately the cost, of time, effort and materials, is minimal. It can be sown again, or if too late ofr re-sowing a plant can be bought from the garden centre as a replacement.

However, a plant that is grown to maturity, and then fails to deliver, has a much bigger investment of time, effort and materials, plus the cost of the lost crop.

For a Fun Project it is fine, but I would want to grow the normal sure-fire-harvest plants alongside it. You may well get an award winning variety, but in case you don't having some fall-backs would be prudent

 

I'm pretty sure the peppers will be OK, I used to grow them every year like that, you even get yellow ones from yellow and reds from reds etc.

In my view melons are a bit dodgy even if bought from seed merchants, they are not really massive croppers, so a bit of a luxury if you have the space, anyway.

 

Maybe I'll just put them down the plot and see how they fair, thanks for the info. I'll let you know if I get bumper crops

Mrs Chopper