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cousinfloyd

minimum population for eggplant/selfing species?

cousinfloyd
10 years ago

Is there any reason to worry about minimum population at all with self-pollinating plants like (as far as I understand) eggplant?

I have a couple eggplant varieties that I originally bought from two different sources I don't normally order from. I'd like not to place separate orders again, but I let my seed get old, and I only got one of each variety to germinate this year. I can isolate them and save seed, but is there any reason not to save seed from a single eggplant plant grown all by itself?

Fedco says simply, "Crossers require minimum populations to maintain vigor and avoid inbreeding depression," which seems to imply that minimum populations are of no concern with self-pollinators, but Southern Exposure says, "Crops that are mostly self-pollinating can be maintained with relatively few plants and better recover from population bottlenecks." That seems to imply that I could still have problems, perhaps especially with just one plant.

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