What is a Hybrid ?

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Oct 28

HYBRIDIZING

From a commercial perspective it is a process by which new, plants are developed with particularly desirable qualities therefore making them more marketable. Hybrids are developed for their disease resistance, growth rate, size of plant, flower, fruit or size of fruit, increased flowering, color, taste, or any reason a plant might be considered special. Most modern plants currently available to home gardeners are hybrids.

A mountain of hybrid tomatoes

What Is a Hybrid Plant ?

Simply put, a hybrid plant is the result of cross-pollinating two different plant varieties and growing the seed the cross produces. The plant that grows from that seed is considered a hybrid. It is bred for many reasons.

How Plants Are Hybridized ?

Step 1

To create a hybrid, pollen from one variety of plant is transferred to the flower of another variety. The pistil is pollinated manually. To prevent the plants from self-pollinating, all the stamens have to be removed from the plants that are going to pollinate. The fruits that form as a result of this cross-pollination are harvested and the seeds are collected.

Typical flower diagram showing pollen grains germinating and travelling down the pistil

Step 2

Getting to the desired result can take years of cross-pollination. First-time crosses are grown out the following year and the plants they produce are evaluated. If they meet expectations, the cross will be repeated and the seeds will be marketed the following year.

It can take many years before a hybrid with the desired traits is even created. If the resulting plants are disappointing, the breeder is back to square one.

Step 3

Even when the breeder has a winner, the process continues. Seeds for popular commercial hybrids, like Sungold and Early Girl tomatos, have to be crossed, harvested, and saved every year.

These are called F1 hybrids, for first generation, because they are the direct product of a cross. The breeder who first creates a hybrid owns the rights to it, which is why they can be more expensive than non-hybrid or open pollinated plants. Breeders guard the parentage of their hybrids closely.

F1 hybrid petunia Hoola hoop

Meyer lemon trees are a hybrid plant created by crossing a regular lemon tree with a mandarin tree. A favorite amongst chefs, the resulting fruit is sweeter, the flesh is dark yellow, and the skin is thin and smooth.

Myers lemon tree

Success growing hybrid plants in the garden is no more difficult than growing non-hybrids (open-pollinated plants). In fact, many of the most popular varieties of garden plants are hybrids because they have proven to be top performers in the garden.

What Happens When You Plant Seed From Hybrid Plants ?

Because hybrids are a cross between varieties, the seed produced by hybrids will not grow true to the parent. This is because it is expressing the traits of the two plants they are crossed from. Therefore, seedlings grown from a hybrid could exhibit traits of one, or both parent plants, or be something totally surprising. Sometimes the seed is sterile and does not grow at all.

This doesn't mean you can't save and experiment. You could be totally delighted with the new plants. Just don't get attached to them, because you may never see plants like that again.

Once a Hybrid, Always a Hybrid?

It is possible for the hybrid seed to be stabilized and become an open pollinated plant so that it continually grows true to type. The process involves growing out several generations of seed, carefully selecting only those that are identical to the parents and discarding the rest. However many non-hybrid seeds are a result of this painstaking process.

Are Hybrid Plants Unnatural?

Most hybrid plants are intentional crosses, but hybridization can occur in nature. In fact, it happens quite often. Two nearby plants of different species can be cross-pollinated by insects or the wind and the resulting seed simply falls on the soil and grows into a hybrid. Few of the flowers and vegetables we grow today are in their original wild form. In nature, hybrids are hit or miss. Commercial hybrids come about after a great deal of work and many attempts are discarded if they do not produce the desired results.

Rhododendrons are know to easily cross pollinate and form a hybrid

GMO ?

Whether the cross occurs naturally or intentionally, do not confuse hybrids with genetically modified plants - GMO's , which are created using techniques such as gene cloning. Hybrids are simply two plants that cross-pollinated.

For a garden full of hybrid flowers

call Plant Specialists today!

PLANT SPECIALISTS

GREENING NEW YORK FOR OVER 52 YEARS !

Article written by our Staff Horticulturist, Peter B Morris, BSc, MSc, MBA

All photographs used with permission @SHUTTERSTOCK

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Peter Morris

Peter was born and raised on a beautiful green island in the midst of a tropical rainforest. He was introduced into the world of plants at the age of six when his grandmother, an avid Spanish gardener herself, asked him to help her grow seeds for her pepper garden. He was hooked! By the time he was a teen, he had his own rose and orchid collection numbering in the hundreds. Botany was in his blood, and that is what he set out to study.

His passion brought him to NY in the late seventies to further his education. His tenacity allowed him to work full time at Plant Specialists while he completed a MS in Plant Biology. As a manager at the time he felt unsatisfied with his knowledge of business and business processes. Peter felt compelled to learn, so he then pursued and completed an MBA in Quality Management within a few short years.

Peter’s other passion is teaching. His natural ability is quickly consumed by our staff in all subjects in Botany, Horticulture, and Landscaping. He created an immense reference library of more than 3,500 plants providing an invaluable resource for our staff.

Peter’s breadth of knowledge and wisdom allows him to effectively diagnose the needs of plants. Sometimes just by walking into a garden he can create a prescription that fixes even the hardest issue. He is our Staff Botanist, Diagnostician, and all around Mentor. Recently, he has put his immense knowledge and skills into developing a new department that focuses on Plant Healthcare. As he puts it, “Magic through Science”. The PHC staff that surround him have avidly consumed his teachings. Substantially developing their own plant wisdom, many have taken on difficult plant health issues with spectacular results.

Plant Healthcare has been an instant success with customers! The proper treatment of insects and diseases including Organic methods has made pest control a necessity for every plant. Correcting hormonal imbalances caused by planting in containers or refurbishing soils leached of nutrients by irrigation systems are big challenges PHC has become quite comfortable addressing. The scientific approach to the complex demands of keeping plants healthy in our harsh city environment has made many a customer say WOW!

What is a Hybrid ?