John_fender said:So would it be possible from the magellan F2 generation to determine which ones look closest to the parents, cross them to obtain something similar to magellan ? Would that cross yield uniform F3 plants ?
Hi John,
That cross would yield partially uniform plants. You would need to reselect the best ones in the F3 generation as the basis for an F4 generation. You would get closer to a pure breeding Magellan approximation with each re-selection. After 5 or 6 generations you would probably have a reasonably pure strain. That process is sometimes called "de-hybridization".
John_fender said:The magellans are so vigorous that new growth is starting to cover 1 week old blooms. Too soon I'd say.
As a bit of serendipity, sometimes you will actually see an improvement over the original F1 among the F2 (and higher) recombinants. That process may occur more than once, so that your stabilized non-hybrid can actually be significantly better (in your eyes) than the original F1 hybrid. You have already seen an opportunity to improve Magellan by having slightly longer stems on its flowers. You could select for longer stems when picking which specimens to use in each successive generation. Also, as you inspect your zinnias in greater detail as part of your process for selecting which ones to use for seed, you may develop a preference for other details in your zinnias. For example, I prefer zinnia leaves to be pointed instead of blunt. The leaves on these zinnias are examples of what I mean by pointed leaves.
In addition to pointed leaves, I like long narrow leaves, like the zinnia on the right.
But all that is purely a matter of personal taste, and you might have a totally different preference in leaf shape. I am just saying that there are a lot of details about a zinnia plant that you might have preferences for. While you are evaluating candidates to save seeds from, you just as well apply your own personal preferences for features and details that you like. The Magellans are not necessarily the exact zinnias that you would like. And you have the opportunity to tweak them toward your own preferences.
ZM
