I had I hybrid tomato planted in the pot this year, nothing special, early large cherry bush hybrid - Tumbler. After it was gone at the end of the summer I found bunch of tomato seedlings growing from the same pot. I replanted one and took it inside. So far it follows the parent properties - early, large cherry, very compact. It already have two ripe fruit despite not ideal growing conditions. And here is the question: if I take a tomato from this offspring, will it keep the same properties as offspring itself, or I still have a chance to get something different? If it is, what about next generation? When (if at all) the new tomato will be a stable kind?
A hybrid tomato is a misnomer. All Tomatos are just diffrent expressions of the species Solanum lycopersicum any offspring of two a. lycopersicum would result in a s. lycopersicum even if there expression where completely diffrent from its parents. Given that they are not displaying traits from a diffrent tomato. These seedlings are likely recombination’s of the parent. After selecting several generation of recombination’s of the parent. You have a stable strain.
To get a hybrid you need to cross with plants closely related to the tomato, such as, S. pimpinellifolium , S. peruvianum , S. cheesmanii , S. galapagense , S. chilense ,
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You started with a hybrid (F1) tomato. The resulting (F2) offspring that you’re growing now didn’t show segregation, but subsequent generations (F3, F4 etc…) may still show segregation. It’s not considered stable until you take it past the F9 generation.
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