Will a Hybrid Tomato Plant Reproduce?

Hybrid tomato plants require special pollination techniques.

Hybrid tomato plant seeds saved from plants you grew in your garden can reproduce. But they do not produce the same type of tomato. If you want to grow tomatoes that resemble the plants you started with, heirloom tomatoes work better.

Hybrids

To produce fruit, hybrid tomato plants require manual pollination. The process involves pollination between the same two varieties to create a certain type of tomato. The fruit may take on more characteristics of one parent plant than the other, so the results may vary.

Heirlooms

Unlike hybrid tomato plants, heirlooms require open pollination. The seeds must grow in isolation from other types of tomato plants, or they may produce a different type of tomato than expected. Most heirloom varieties of tomatoes offer the same flavor and characteristics as they did decades ago.

Differences

Planting heirloom seeds means you'll get a more tasty tomato. But growing hybrid tomatoes from transplants available from the nursery means you'll get more disease-resistant fruit. Hybrid tomatoes also offer more toughness, rather than flavor, so they can be stored for longer.

References

• Tomato Gardening Guru: Tomato Types -- What to Grow?
• Texas A&M AgriLife Extension: Hybrid Varieties and Saving Seed

Resources

• University of Illinois Extension: Planting the Garden