To the plant, pollination is pollination. To the gardener who wants particular results (such as wanting to keep an heirloom variety pure), cross-pollination (cross-breeding) is something to avoid. To a grower or scientist who is trying to create a new variety, cross-pollination is desirable. It's all on your point of view. Like Dave said, some varieties are very genetically stable, like his Nantes carrots. Others, like curcubits, are notorious for cross-pollinating. If you're growing certain kinds of decorative gourds, and zucchini or other squashes, insects will cross-pollinate them very easily, and if you saved the seeds from your wonderful zucchini and planted them, they could end up being something almost unrecognizable and tasteless. "Does cross pollination always create a hybrid?" Yes and no. Technically, every pollinated plant is producing a hybrid, because every plant from every seed has a tiny, microscopic difference from the plant next to it, although it is, for most purposes, the same. Only cuttings, cloned or tissue-cultured plants are exactly the same as the parent stock. Plants labeled 'hybrids' have been crossed from plants with noticeably different qualities. If you crossed two of these 'hybrids', they would most likely revert back to the qualities of one or the other of the 'parents'. Granny Smith apples came from crabapples. If you planted a Granny Smith seed and nutured it for several years, you would probably end up with some sort of crabapple or similar variation. Two additional bits of info (just to confuse you a little more ;-) ): 1) You can be growing two similar plants near each other, but if they flower at different times, they won't (can't) cross-pollinate. Corn is a good example: there are early, mid-season and late varieties of corn. Corn cross-pollinates easily because it's wind-borne, but if they tassle (the 'flower') at different times and there is no other corn around (esp upwind), they won't cross. If Alfie's apples (above) needed a pollinator variety, and he accidentally planted a variety that bloomed a month after his Macintosh, he wouldn't get any apples. 2) OP varieties can be 'manipulated' even within the variety. You can have a packet of seed of a single variety of an OP plant, and each seed inside will have a tiny difference about it. Many people will grow a particular variety that they like, and they will watch for 'special' ones among that variety: a tiny bit earlier, a slightly larger fruit, a sweeter flavor, a slightly higher yield, etc, and they will mark it and let a few fruits of that plant mature and collect the seed. The next year, they plant that seed, and again look for 'special' plants. Every year, they keep doing this, and end up (hopefully) with localized variety within a named variety that is especially suited to their local conditions. It's still the same variety, it's still OP, it's just an improved variation within that variety. If you bought seeds from a grower in BC, and you bought the same variety from a grower in ON, the local seeds might produce plants that had a slight edge on local conditions, concerning earliness, adaptibility to hot summers, or ability to grow with a bit less water. The seeds from BC might adapt better to cooler summers, more humidity, and a longer season.

mmm some say some won't cross pollinate, me i dunno? so i'll leave that one alone, pumpkins are noted for cross pollinating and you never know when it has happened until you keep and grow from your own seed. X-s can be good fruit but have had some that are only good for wood carving unless you like pumpkin soup. i would say if you want to grow a particular pumpkin then source known heirloom seeds open pollinated. from planting to picking is a long gap if picked only when ripe. i have kent/jap and queensland blue's growing together (they are about the best eating)haven't decided what i am going to do about next seasons plantings as yet, a bit of effort paper bagging coming female and male flowers so i can hand pollinate then bag the female again until the next day. anyhow give them a try. a ripe pumpkin is great eating len Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page

I think the little plastic bags might cause humidity problems/clumped pollen, but then again if you can glue a bud shut to induce self pollination (low success rate though) the bags may work to some extent. I had poor results bagging individual buds with the little mesh wedding rice sachets (your 25% sounds about right), but very high pollination rate bagging the whole plant or large branches. I think the weight of the little bag and/or manipulation putting it on may cause damage and promote blossom drop. When half of a plant was bagged it had comparable fruitset to the unbagged half. I was surprised and very pleased with the results, especially when I ended up with dozens and dozens of little pea sized cumari fruits each having only a handfull of seeds. Roadkill, You can pollinate with self-pollen by hand and then bag the same way you do when creating hybrids but you either have to open a mature bud or get to the newly open blossom before a bee does. There is a good chance that fiddling with the blossoms will cause them to abort so its just a lot easier to bag buds.

Hi Christy, So sorry about my not coming back to the forum in awhile! Anyway, I got my book out and let's see... Carrots cross very easily even with wild carrot aka Queen Anne's Lace! Radishes cross pollinate with each other very easily. Basils will cross pollinate, but if you can keep the varieties 150 feet apart(much less distance than most plants need for isolation!)you will be ok. I double checked the eggplant. It seems the flowers are not very attractive to bees so that is why you've heard they won't cross pollinate. So they might, but chances are low like tomatoes. Bees do like peppers so they will cross easily like I said. I hope this helps you! Remy