Heirlooms And Hybrids And GMO’s, Oh MY!

Heirloom Seeds

As we move into fall,  vegetable gardening is going to slow down in many parts of the country, so I’m going to have to dig deep to try and come up with some subjects to keep you reading. With those long, cold nights and short days ahead, I’m going to spend some time addressing several of the questions I’m most frequently asked. I’m also going to address some of the rampant misinformation and over complication of topics I see repeated, especially on social media. We will cover topics as varied as soil improvement, composting with worms, best (and worst) fertilizers, seed companies, aquaponics basics, hydroponics for beginners, seed starting vs. buying starter plants, and more. I hope you’ll stick around and join the conversation.

I want to begin with a subject I’m very sensitive to and passionate about. I’m going to tackle heirloom vs. hybrid vegetable (and fruit) varieties and where the whole GMO fits into the discussion. If you look through the archives you’ll see that I have addressed this question more than once, and have done so fairly recently.  I plan to tackle it in early spring in a You Tube episode, but wanted to touch on it one last time this year. It’s probably the most frequent topic I’m asked about, because there’s a lot of confusion about what those words really mean.

In full disclosure, there are some ‘purists’ who are going to disagree with my conclusions and our practices here in the ‘burb, and that’s ok. You get to grow your garden in line with your own philosophies. What I want to be really clear on are the definitions of terms and what that means to the backyard and beginning gardener.  I want to demystify and simplify gardening for you so you can be as successful as possible, regardless of your experience. Let’s start with some definitions.

Heirloom – An heirloom variety is nothing more than one that has been stabilized and consistent for an extended period of time. The catch is, there’s no set time table on when a variety becomes an heirloom. Is it 50 years? 100 years? 7 generations? The jury is still out. A pepper breeder/farmer may define it differently than a tomato grower.  For my purposes, the key is knowing that the seed will produce consistent plants, fruits and seed season after season.

Hybrid – a hybrid is typically a deliberate crossing of two varieties to try and create a new variety that has some of the (best?) attributes of both parents. I’m going to use peppers as an example. In many ways this is an oversimplification, but it will suffice.

Let’s suppose I want to cross a Poblano with a Jalapeno to create a spicier Poblano. I plant them next to each other and do what I can to ensure the plants cross pollinate. There is no indication I’ve had any success in that first year. The Poblano plant will produce ordinary Poblanos and the Jalapeno will produce Jalapenos.

The next step is saving the seeds from some of the Poblanos that were cross pollinated and plant them the next year.  The fruit from those plants will be hybrids. Some will be spicier, some may be mild. Some may look more like Jalapenos, some more like Poblanos. Does this make sense?  It’s kind of like breeding a German Shepherd with a Beagle. Their offspring will be all over the place in size and shape. That’s a hybrid. It takes several generations of breeding to stabilize a hybrid so that it breeds true.

GMO – A Genetically Modified Organism, is dramatically different than a hybrid, because a. it has to be done in a laboratory and b. it’s crossing characteristic or types at the DNA level in ways that would not happen in nature. (Think, placing resistance to a pesticide into the DNA of corn or soy. Or, even more dramatic, splicing a protein from the Golden Orb Weaver Spider into the Embryo of a milk goat embryo (which has been done) with a goal of producing the desired protein in mass for various medical and scientific purposes).

The science is marvelous, though there are still long term ethical and environmental issues that are unknown.

My purpose here is not to debate the ethics of GMO, but merely to demonstrate the difference between a GMO and a hybrid. I prefer to call GMO plants and animals, ‘Chimeras’, but that might give away my biases.

Open Pollinated – Amusingly, many companies use ‘Open Pollinate’ as a synonym for Heirloom, or even as a separate kind of natural, trustworthy seed. Most of us have seen ads that say, ‘we have only heirloom and open pollinated varieties.’ The fact is, open pollinated is really a description of how the parent plants were pollinated. They are pollinated by whatever happened out there in the garden, be it, bees, breezes, wasps, birds, human contact. There were no controls on the pollination. An open pollinated plant in a back yard garden may very well (and probably does) produce hybrid offspring.

For example, if I’m growing dark green zucchini in one row, and Italian ribbed zucchini in another row 50 feet away (or my neighbor is growing it), open pollinating may allow the varieties to cross. I’d never notice until the next year if my seeds produced some interesting hybrids.

I know my definitions will drive some geneticists nuts, but they work for me in a broad brush sense.

One last point; I don’t know of any GMO seeds being made available to the general public or backyard farmer. No seed catalogs offer GMO corn or soy or potatoes. There are no GMO green beans, cabbage or sweet basil. There is zero danger to you of getting any of GMO varieties.

In conclusion, you don’t have to be afraid of hybrid varieties unless you are a seed saver. I grow some every year. My favorite zucchini and cucumber are both hybrids. I grow some hybrid tomatoes every year along with my heirloom ones. There are lots of great hybrids out there. Fear not.

Later this winter I’ll explain what I do to protect my heirlooms from cross pollination if I want to save the seed. For now, I hope this helps clear up some of the confusion. If so, please consider giving us a like and  sharing with your friends. Oh, and join the discussion by posting your comments and questions. I love to hear from you. After all, we’re in this together.

 

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What We’re Doing To Preserve Leftover Seeds For Future Use

It’s getting to the time of year when gardeners and homesteaders in many parts of the country are trying to figure out what to do with their leftover seeds or seeds they’ve saved from the summer.

If properly preserved, seeds can last many years. While there are urban myths about seeds from King Tut’s tomb that have germinated, those ‘ancient grains’ stories are all unconfirmed. There is, however, a documented date palm seed discovered at Herod the Great’s palace in Masada that sprouted. This date palm is roughly 2000 years old. How cool is that?

My point is, seeds can remain viable for a very long time. Chances are, you need to keep yours for somewhat less time than Herod’s Date Palm seed and the very best way I know of, is in an ordinary freezer.

I recently ordered a package from  The Seed Guy to be used for long term emergency. The seed packets are already in a Mylar bag, so I will simply write a date on the bag and stick it in the freezer. Simple.

Similarly, as soon as I have finished planting my fall and winter garden for this year, I will go through my leftover seeds and put them into labeled envelopes. I will place the envelopes into Mylar bags like the ones in the photo accompanying this update. I will label and date the bags and into the chest freezer they will go.

If you don’t have access to a freezer or Mylar bags, I recommend wrapping your seed envelopes or packets in aluminum foil and putting them in a tote, tackle box or even shoebox to keep them from being exposed to the sun.  It’s not rocket science and doesn’t have to cost a ton of money.

Sometimes, seed companies offer end of the season sales that can save you a ton on the ever rising cost of seeds.  By storing them properly you can have a great head start on you future gardens.

Finally, in 2016, we’re going to start saving our own seeds. In the past, seeds have been cheap enough that I haven’t wanted to put in the effort. In recent years, however, some seed prices have gone through the roof.  Careful planning and storage can help stave off impulse buying in January when all the catalogs start hitting our mailboxes.

One last tip before I go; check out deals at your local feed store. They often have fantastic prices on bulk seeds. I’ve saved a packet over big box stores by purchasing certain seeds from our feed store.

What are you doing to preserve seeds for future use? I’d love to hear from you. After all, we’re in this together.

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Garden Myth Exposed: Hybrid Vegetables Are NOT The Devil!

It’s garden planting season all over the Northern Hemisphere; aka, Spring.  Seasoned gardeners have been pouring over seed and plant catalogues for months, deciding which old favorites will grace their gardens for the umpteenth time and which new varieties we’ll try.

Those of us in the more moderate to warmer climates have the majority, or even all, of our gardens totally planted. A few of the most fortunate are already enjoying early harvests.

For thousands of beginning gardeners, and those in the northernmost zones, it’s just now decision time.  We’ve studied our hardiness zones and prepped our beds, but deciding on plant varieties seems almost overwhelming.

As we look through catalogues and websites, the options make our heads spin. How can there be this many kinds of tomatoes, green beans, or cucumbers, etc. to choose from?

Among the areas of confusion for new gardeners is the misinformation that hybrid varieties are all bad, while heirloom varieties are all good.

The confusion lies in the mistaken idea that hybrids are synonymous with GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) varieties, which is simply not true.

Hybrids are merely cross bred varieties that are created to emphasize certain traits like size, shape, seedlessness, disease resistance, or any number of other characteristics. While hybridization crosses different strains, it does not introduce foreign DNA into the plant.

A GMO, on the other hand, has had its DNA tampered with in a laboratory environment. The most hyped kind of GMO is ‘Round Up Ready’, which means the DNA of the seed has been ‘enhanced’ chemically to resist the introduction of the herbicides found in Monsanto’s ‘Round Up’.  Fields of Round Up Ready crops can be freely sprayed with Round Up, without, theoretically, damaging the crop itself.

A hybrid tomato, then, is comparable to a designer dog, like a Labradoodle, while a GMO tomato would be more like something from ‘The Island of Dr. Moreau’.

Currently, there are no GMO seeds being sold to the general public from seed catalogs or garden centers. The same is true for starter plants.

Most gardeners are familiar with Bonnie Plants, who seem to have displays in nearly every garden center.  Bonnie offers a wide selection of both heirloom and hybrid varieties.  You are perfectly safe choosing which varieties you like.

The biggest downside of growing hybrids is that they are not good for seed saving. Chances are, the seeds will not breed true to the same characteristics of the plant the seeds were saved from.  Apart from that, the only other negative is that some people think hybrids lack the flavor complexity found in heirloom varieties.

I disagree.  While it used to be true, and in a few tomato varieties, hardiness trumped flavor; these days many of the hybrids taste just a great as open pollinated, heirlooms. I would go as far as to say, the sweetest sweet corn and melons come from some of the hybrids. My absolutely favorite Jalapeno is the ‘Biker Billy’ hybrid, which has great Jalapeno flavor with more than double the heat of the traditional ‘Early Prolific’ variety.

My favorite cabbages are heirlooms, while my favorite cauliflowers are hybrids. I love heirloom basil and hybrid cantaloupe. I could go on, but you get the point.

Grow the varieties of fruits and vegetables you and your family love to eat and don’t worry about the heirloom vs. hybrid myths. Unless you’re planning to save seeds, the whole catalogue is open to you. Have fun. Experiment with different types. Find your old favorites and see if there are some new favorites out there.  Rest easy. Hybrids are not the devil.

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