Saving radish seed

Here is a problem that has me stumped! Anybody have any ideas? I planted Cherry Belle radish and ate a lot of them and let a lot of them flower and go to seed. The seed pods were carefully dried and the seed removed. The next spring I planted my own seed - with pride. However, the radishes from this saved seed were a riot of shapes and sizes - very interesting to look at but, unfortunately, most were inedible.

I was really surprized, because nowhere did I see that Cherry Belle was a hybrid. I thought the seed would come true. Is it possible the flowering radishes cross-pollinated with something?

Anybody have this kind of problem with other saved seed?

All information that I can gather supports your assumption that Cherry Belle is open pollinated, so there must have been some crossing from somewhere.

Brassicas are 'outcrossers' which means that a plant cannot pollinate it's own flowers. Pollen has to come from another plant. I 'think' the pollen is windborne instead of insect borne, so something could have drifted in from a neighboring yard or garden. I'm also thinking that some wild stuff will pollinate with them, but I'm no radish expert.

I do know that the whole brassica family presents some unique seed saving challenges, and lots of experienced seed savers won't work with them because of their unpredictibility.

sorry I can't give more definitive answers as to why you got the results you did, but maybe you won't feel like the Lone Ranger now.

Thanks Melody! Ah, those tricky little "outcrossers." It makes me wonder how the seed producers manage it.

I did a little further research and the pollen is insect borne. They also cross with all wild relatives, and suggested isolation distance is 1/2 mile.

That leaves me out for saving radish seed, as my neighbors all grow them, and there's enough weedy relatives in the fields and fencerows to mess up even my best laid plans.

There's a complicated cage system that some growers use with insects that live right in the cages with the plants, but radish seed is cheap and plentiful (I can't imagine why) so, I'll just buy mine.

Yes, it sounds a bit too involved for the average gardener. It just appeals to my off-the-grid, independent, seed saving spirit. Thanks again for the info!