interesting question. I've been using the terms pretty interchangeably, but I'm never pretended to be anything but a noob. I'm interested in learning the formal definition.

All crosses are hybrids. ...and this is about to get muddy here...nonetheless...

This subject on whole is not technically defined as separate entities...but, an initial cross producing a hybrid may not (generally not) come true to type after the 1st generation. Usually the hybrid parents (if the cross is stable/predictable) will produce a singular-quality and stable plant. The continued hybrid parent cross will consistently produce a "true hybrid" who's traits you can count on...even if the seeds grown out from the saved seed of the next generation of the hybrid usually is not.

A released cross, as is it preferred by most people's use even though technically and initially a hybrid, is stabilized and can be predictably seed-saved, and come true to type predictably most all of the time...basically being treated like open pollinated seed at this point. Even though the initial cross was a hybrid, selections over time from saved seed have stabilized the cross.

That said, there is no standard on this. Someone can call something a cross, release it into the wild, and it's genetics may be all over the place. One rather recent pepper seed creator in particular (which I won't get into) is naming and releasing a lot of unstable crosses out into the wild...and years from now it's going to create quite a mess in the seed world if people keep his given names intact given the huge amount of variation these crosses are showing.

This post was edited by nc-crn on Wed, Oct 9, 13 at 18:25

Thanks nc-crn

MY simplified understanding is that HYBRIDIZING is crossing by design and plan for a given end result. So you think that by Xing A and B you are going to get a SPECIFIC "C", as you wish but that might not happen. You might get actually something undesireable.

Most people prefer anything called a hybrid to be true to type year after year and aren't surprised if the seed collected from the hybrid produces off-type offspring...they do expect the seed sold/given to them from the hybrid to be uniform initially, though.

Most people getting crosses either know they're working with something "experimental" in nature or expect the cross they're receiving has been stabilized to some predictable extent. A lot of seed created in this manner that's been stabilized can be reproduced via open pollinated seed via years of selection.

There's a daylily breeder (T's Flowers) that releases unknown/unstable crosses of daylilys out into the wild, but the buyers and growers pretty much know what they're getting into...that they're dealing with experimental crosses that may or may not turn into something they desire. While this seller does have results of some of their crosses, they are not a huge enough grower and developer to produce a huge range of consistently stable crosses compared to what they play around with. They offer these crosses to buyers with the knowledge that they're getting something that might be awesome, but is an on-going and outsourced experiment. Personally, I have no problem with this.

Thanks for all the info, I will use cross or hybrid, but will use the word stable cross or hybrid once my cross gets around to uniformity, and hopefully by f12 or before would be great to have a stable variety.

Mark

Thanks for all the info, I will use cross or hybrid, but will use the word stable cross or hybrid once my cross gets around to uniformity, and hopefully by f12 or before would be great to have a stable variety.

Mark

Here's an example: One of my very favorite peppers is Biker Billy - a Jalapeno hybrid. Don't bother saving its seeds because it is not stable.
John A