Disease Resistant Varieties vs Herritage Seeds

[Susan BBPM]

I find the idea of saving my own seeds to be very appealing. However, reality is starting to bite and I'm thinking it's time to switch to disease resistant F1 varieties. (this year's long, hot, dry spring led to rapid growth and reduced airflow around plants, followed by weeks on end of no sun and endless rain - result....all sorts of fungal diseases on pretty much everything).

First thing I'm realizing is the difficulty of seed saving. You not only need to ensure that there's nothing they can cross with nearby, but also you have to make sure you save the best specimins each year. For the inexperiened gardener the chances of success on all fronts is low.

I guess I'm interested in two prongs to this topic:

1. YOUR thoughts on herritage vs Hybrid seeds.
2. What veg would you favour herritage and saving your own, and what veg would you opt for F1?

 

[pepper]

This is the first year I tried growing new verities outside my normal ones. Some I am having good luck with, some I would never plant again. I think for me it doesn't matter much because I almost never save seeds anyway. I find it less problematic to just buy new seed packs each year because they are so cheap. Tomatoes i stick with beefsteak but other things I don't mind trying hybrids. I wouldn't be surprised if half the time those beefsteak tomatoes are some kind of hybrid anyway with a beefsteak name tag slapped on them.

Something I have actually noticed being on this forum and could be coincidence but seems a lot of the time when someone posts about disease and problems they are having with something they planted it seems to often be seeds they harvest and use year after year. I am not refering to new growers who might over or under water sort of thing, but more experienced growers who run into disease problems. That's what it seems but I could be wrong.