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The Seed Exchange

G.M. bad/ Heirloom good?

15 years ago

I know G.M. seeds are bad,Heirloom good. Where does hybrid fit in? If I am going to spend March-Oct weeding and taking care of my garden I want to see results. Diseased tomatoes and other veggies would be hard to take if it wipes out yor whole crop. Realisticaly what success rate can you get with Heirloom? Do some people not use hybrid because of selection only? Or are hybrid a "cousin" to GM? With what Im reading about Monsanto it seems I should grow only Heirloom so I can have seeds for life.I guess what Im asking is are Hybrid safe? You just don't get seeds you can reuse or variety if you use Hybrid?

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Comment (1)

remy_gw
15 years ago
STT,
This really is the wrong place for your question to be posted. Over on the Vegetable Forum would be better. I'll answer what I can here though.
GM(Genetically Modified) seed is not sold to the home gardener at least not now. Most seed companies for the home gardener have signed the 'Safe Seed Pledge' so not to worry about buying them. GM means the plant genes have been altered in some way. Genes from other organism can be placed into the plant. A good example of this is GM corn. It has the Bt bacteria in its genes so the plant becomes toxic to caterpillars that attack corn. Another is the soybean that can grow despite having Round Up sprayed all over it. Many people have ethical problems with GM crops as I do.
Heirloom should be put under the umbrella of OP(Open Pollinated) plants. OP plants whether new or heirloom will come true from seed you save as long as cross pollination has not occurred.
Hybrids are very specific cross breed plants. They will not come true from seed saved. Sometimes, you get lucky and get babies in a grow out that look similar to the parent you saved seeds from. It will take 5-7 generations of plants to get an OP version of a hybrid and that takes a lot of time and growing a lot of plants that get tossed.
So some home gardeners like OP plants because you can buy once and save your own seeds in subsequent year. Some people like certain hybrids because of qualities they may have like disease resistance to possibly something in your area that all the plants are getting. Some hybrids claim bigger harvests, but I'm not sold on that. I've grown certain OP varieties that perform just as well. Of course that is all local too. A plant may do exceptionally well here and not somewhere else.
One thing to know about tomato diseases. Many times gardeners think hybrid tomatoes are more disease resistant, and they are to many viruses. Unfortunately, many gardeners don't have virus problems. They have fungal problems like Early Blight, and hybrids get it just as much as OPs do!
I hope that all made sense,
Remy
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