The hybrids from inbred lines are uniform and robust. Drawbacks and Advantages One of the main disadvantages of using hybrid seed is that you cannot reproduce the same quality of plants from seed you save to plant next year. Should you replant seed from your hybrid plants, instead of robust, uniform plants like the first generation, the second generation will be low in productivity and variable. Therefore you must always buy new hybrid seed each year. The suppliers, unfortunately, may gradually change their hybrid seed offering or may choose not to offer some hybrid you like.
Many gardeners think that the advantages of hybrids far outweight their disadvantages.
It is often impossible to get uniform, robust plants with many desirable characteristics without using hybrid seed. For the most part hybrids are higher yielding, and of better quality than straight line cultivars. There is an assumption on the part of some people that hybrids are not as good nutritionally as old line cultivars. In most cases, however, hybrids out-perform the heritage cultivars. Ward is a staff member with the Department of Horticulture Science.