If you planted a hybrid tomato seed, you would get tomatos. But if you saved the seed from that tomato and planted it, it would not grow a plant. Why?

Baloo55th

It might. The seed for the hybrid is produced by crossing two particular strains of tomato, which give offspring with certain desired characteristics (mostly to do with shelf-life nowadays rather than taste). The seed from this F1 generation plant may or may not be viable. However if it is it's very unlikely that it will have the same characteristics as the F1 The F1 has a certain combination of recessive and dominant genes that give a result. The F2 stirs things up again, and the results are likely to be varied, as the genes recombine in totally different ways. You won't get peas, though. This mixing of genes is how diffrent varieties arose in the wild, and from them different species, so it is quite possible that from an F2, F3 or F4 plant you might get a super tomato that lasts for months and tastes superb. You might also win the lottery..... May 02 07, 5:57 AM