Heirloom vs Hybrid Seeds

Heirloom Seeds

First, let's get our terms straight. There are 'heirloom' seeds and there are 'hybrid' seeds. What's the difference? And does it really matter that much?

An heirloom seed, but strictest definintion, is a seed that can be traced back at least 100 years, but generally before 1940. They reproduce through pollination (as in they're pollinated by bees, wind or other natural pollination sources). They are considered 'true' plants because they're exactly the same as their parent plants. They're generally found from gardeners or seed exchanges. (Beware of some seed companies that say they sell heirlooms but are only using the term for marketing!)

Heirloom vegetables are chosen for flavor. They're not generally as 'uniform' as hybrid fruits, nor are they as predictable. They haven't been bred, but chosen--gardeners will choose their best fruits and harvest the seeds from them.

Hybrid Seeds

A hybrid seed, on the other hand is a seed that has been 'bred' and grown specifically to aid in their production and resistance to disease. They are made by breeding two different plants together to get a third variety--the hybrid.

Although a hybrid plan produces a more dependable and uniform harvest, sometimes taste has been sacrificed (they were originally bred for commerical growers--more fruit, longer storage, etc.), so profit was more of a concern than taste.

Another problem with them is that most hybrid seeds from the vegetables you grow will be sterile--so that means no saving of the seeds. If they aren't sterile, however, and you can get one to grow, you have no guarentees what kind of plant you're going to get because they aren't exact replicas of their parents.

Seed companies love to sell hybrids because it's much more profitable. For one, it keeps you buying seeds from them year after year because you can't harvest your own seeds from the hybrid plants.