HEIRLOOM SEEDS Vs. HYBRIDS

by Elizabeth
(Willow Grove, PA USA)

Is there a value in purchasing Heirloom seeds for the home garden vegtables? I want to avoid hybrids (a personal choice against messing with God given nature). I subscribed tonight and also searched for the answer. This past year was my first gardening experience. I double dug and composted over 100 sf in our backyard. Our friends liked to tour the "farm". I harvested some seed and hope to improve each year, Lord willing. Before I order "Heirloom" or "Heritage" seeds for Spring 2010, I wanted to get your advise. You are right down to earth and not about the money. I appreciate that. Thanks! (PS I grew celery, and it was great!)

Doug says that the major difference is that you can save your own seeds from open pollinated seeds. Heritage seeds are open pollinated (there are other open pollinated seeds that are not heritage)

There are also philosophical differences about which you should grow - supporting hybridizers etc etc. But I'm not going to get into that here. Here's my practical take on this.

So the challenge is not whether you should - but whether you like the taste and performance of these Heritage seeds in your garden. Some people prefer the taste and disease resistance of the hybrids but it all comes down to personal choice.

For example, my favorite tomato is a hybrid called "Ultra Sweet" but my partner is a heritage seed expert (she started and ran a heritage seed company for many years) so we tend to grow a LOT of heritage vegetables and we save all the seed (with the exception of my tomatoes) :-)

So - in general - I'd say go and buy your heritage seeds and learn to save your own seeds. Over a few years of "messin' about in your garden" you'll discover the ones that both grow best for you and that you prefer the taste of. Grow those. (we don't grow plants just because they're heritage - we grow the ones that grow best for us)

Once you've done that - got your garden growing well, then experiment with a hybrid or two here and there but keep the main crop heritage. That way, you'll have some basis for making comparisons and tests in your own garden with your tastebuds.

Because that's what it comes down to - which do you grow the best and which do you prefer to grow.




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HEIRLOOM SEEDS Vs. HYBRIDS

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Heirloom varieties
by: Moni

Elizabeth
Since there are so many wonderful heirloom varieties of all the different vegetables and we only get one season per year to grow them, you might want to visit your local Farmers Market in the summer and try some of the varieties they have that are heirloom. If it grows in the area you know it should grow in your garden. This could help find your favorites faster! They may also sell some of the plants for you to try!

Note - Soil amendments can affect the flavor of fruits and veggies. My neighbor gardens organically just 1000' down the road from my organic garden, however my Heritage red raspberries for one are more flavorful than hers. I feel this is probably due to the extra minerals I have added to my gardens including kelp, basalt and granite dust as well as lots of coffee grounds. She has added some of the same compost that I have added, but not the extra minerals.
Good luck with your new gardening venture and taste testing all the wonderful varieties!!
Heirlooms vs hybrids
by: The Lovely Janet

A couple of clarifications - a good many open-pollinated varieties have been developed with disease resistance and tolerance to various weather conditions, so you don't have to choose hybrids to obtain these features.

It does all boil down to what you want on your table and/or what you intend to do with your fruit. Hybrids often were developed to tolerate delays between harvest and consumption and to tolerate shipping conditions - in other words they were developed with features to benefit wholesalers and merchants. But again, some heirlooms have been developed with these features (Pink Shipper being an obvious example).

I will get into the politics because it impacts choices we may have or not have in the future. Some hybrids have been genetically modified so that they not only cannot produce viable seeds themselves, but their pollen will kill the viability of other plants around them - in other words, they can change open-pollinated plants and make them sterile. This has already happened to traditional corn grown by indigenous people in Mexico. This is forcing those people to buy seeds each year from a different variety. I believe hybrid selling businesses are doing this intentionally. If for no other reason, I won't support them over this kind of destructive, freedom-stripping behavior.

Additionally, they are developing plants that will tolerate the use of highly poisonous herbicides, permitting a more injudicious use of these chemicals. The implications there are beyond horrific ("oh, don't worry that we're spraying the entire state with Round-up to get rid of Kudzu -- yes, it will kill desirable plants, too, but see - we have developed replacement plants that are immune to Round-up.") Scary enough?

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