I'm with Ace on this in regards to the two types of F1s. Though, I am not sure how close to true F1s the Night Owl seeds are... Still, it does not stop me from picking them up.
I like the way is article explains this. It is talking about veggies, but I think the principles hold.
"An F1 variety is a plant variety created by crossing two distinct parents. The resulting F1 hybrid has certain characteristics of each parent. Typically the F1 designation is limited to vegetable varieties.
The advantage of F1 hybrid seed is that the plants grown from it are very predictable and uniform. They have been bred for specific characteristics, such as flavor, color, number of days to harvest, resistance to disease, etc. F1 hybrids also possess "hybrid vigor." Typically this means more plants survive the seedling stage and mature plants are large and healthy.
The disadvantage of F1 hybrids is that they while they may be strong in one aspect, they can be vulnerable in another. They are also usually sterile, meaning that they will not produce seed. You'll have to purchase seed every year if you want to keep growing that variety. Even if the variety is not sterile and does produce seed, the seed will be unstable—it won't necessarily produce plants with the same traits as the parent. F1 hybrids are more expensive than other varieties because of the additional costs associated with controlling pollination of the parent plants, and because they are sometimes trademarked/patented by the breeder, so the retailer must pay a royalty to sell the plant under the registered trademark name."
That being said, I don't know how True of an F1 you can get with autos without stabilizing each strain to IBL before crossing.
Thems my two pennies.
