F1? F4?

What do these numbers mean when talking about seeds?

generations.

if you cross 2 stable strains the resulting seeds will be F1's. if you take those seeds and grow them then pick a male and female and breed them their resulting seeds will be F2's. do it again and you get 3's.

so...F4 is better or worse than F1? I've seen seed bank ads talking about both like its a good thing. Thanks

Id say the fewer number of crossing the better, you are more likely garenteed the genetics of the parents then if you cross them over and over, watering down the genetics in a way.

F1's are supposed to be the most stable until you get up to 6. the F1's will have 1/2 of each parent equally. after that it becomes somewhat random. F2's can have 10% of one parent and 90% of the other for example. you must then selectively breed the traits you want together until you get to an F6. then you can call it a stable strain. a lot of seed bank seeds are F1's. this is why when you seed seed bank seeds with themselves you don't always get an exact copy of the parents.