Breaking Down Seeds: Heirloom, Hybrid, and Organic

It’s December, which means it’s time to start thinking about what you’re going to plant in your garden this upcoming year.

You'll need to get seeds for your vegetable garden if you’re starting plants from seed inside or directly sowing them in your raised beds. As you start browsing seed sites and catalogs, you might notice terms like "organic", "heirloom," and "hybrid." You might wonder, “What’s the difference?” “Is one better than the other?”

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Truth is, there is an overwhelming amount of information on the internet regarding this topic that doesn’t always line up. Gardening influencers make it worse by contradicting each other telling you to only buy one type of seed. This will either send you down a rabbit hole to research this topic to death, or make you give up entirely, because if people get this caught up over a seed-type, then maybe this gardening thing is too much work.

Personally, I’ve used all three seed types and have gotten happy, healthy plants with robust harvests from each. To keep this refreshingly simple for you, here is a breakdown of each seed type to help you choose the right one for you:

Heirloom

There is no true definition of an Heirloom plant or seed, and it’s a topic that tends to spark debate. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, an heirloom is “something of special value handed down from one generation to another.” That is the best way to describe what an heirloom seed is. At some point, someone saw a variety they loved, saved the seed from that plant, and passed it down for generations.

Some would say that the seed needs to come from a plant that is at least 50 years old. Others will say 100. Others will say 50-100 AND before WWII (when apparently folks started creating hybrid varieties).

What's important to know is that an heirloom plant is one that is ‘old’ but has also been open-pollinated. This means that it was cross-pollinated with another plant by nature (wind, birds, bees, etc.) resulting in a new variety. Because it was open-pollinated, the plant you grow from a saved heirloom seed will be the same as its parent.

Heirloom plants tend to have higher nutritional value than hybrid plants and don’t take up as many nutrients in the soil. However, they may be more susceptible to pests and diseases and not provide as high of yields compared to hybrids. Because there's no special breeding to make these seeds, they don't take as much time and resources to get to market and tend to be more cost-effective.

Heirloom Pro’s

·        More nutritional value

·        You can save the seeds

·        More cost-effective

Heirloom Con’s

·        May be more susceptible to pests and diseases

·        May not produce high yields

My favorite Heirloom providers:

Rareseeds Baker Creek

Botanical Interests

Hybrid

A hybrid plant is one that has been cross-pollinated in a contained environment with human intervention. This is done intentionally to capture genetic traits. This is not the same as a GMO plant, which has the DNA of certain plants combined in more of a lab environment (think Jurassic Park).

Each plant is susceptible to certain pests and diseases. It’s totally normal and part of nature. One way to mitigate this is by purchasing a hybrid seed or plant that was bred for certain pest and disease resistance. You can also mitigate this with an efficient planting plan to ensure everything has enough room to grow and is grown alongside companion plants to deter pests and provide a nutrient-dense ecosystem.

Hybrid plants can also be bred for size, flavor, higher yields, and to be more heat or cold-tolerant, among other things. If you’re looking for a plant with specific traits, a hybrid is the way to go.

You’ll see on hybrid seed packets something like “F1 Hybrid.” The "F" stands for "filial" which comes from the Latin word filius meaning "son" or filia meaning "daughter." The number stands for the generation.

F1 means it’s a first-generation seed or plant after cross-pollinating two varieties. An F5 Hybrid would be in its 5th generation. The higher the number, the more ‘stable’ the variety is when breeding for the next generation. This isn’t something for the home gardener to worry about because you wont' be able to breed these plants in your open garden.

You can't save seeds from a hybrid plant if you want it to be true to type. An F3 Hybrid, for example, has to be bred with two F2s in a contained environment. Therefore, to continue growing this variety, you have to continue to purchase seeds from that seed provider. Because so much time and energy goes into creating hybrid plants, they will be more costly than a heirloom. Hybrid plants also tend to take up more nutrients in the garden, so you might have to stay on top of providing additives to your soil.

Hybrid Pro’s

·        Bred for specific traits to give you what you want

Hybrid Con’s

·        Take up more nutrients

·        Can’t save the seed

·        Less cost-effective

My favorite Hybrid provider:

Johnny Selected Seeds

Organic

What’s great about organic seeds is that it can either be a hybrid or heirloom. It’s not a stand-alone seed type.

There are a couple of ways to think about an organic plant or seed. The first is the ‘certification’ provided by the USDA that farmers and providers have to pay for. It can cost anywhere between a couple hundred to thousands of dollars depending on the product size and complexity, among other factors.

Then there’s the practice of growing organically which is growing something without any synthetic additives (fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides). Just because something isn’t labeled as organic, doesn’t mean it’s not actually organic. Some farmers refuse to pay for the label and therefore might advertise their product as “grown with organic practices” instead. However, if you’re growing a non-organic seed using organic practices you’re still technically growing an organic plant.

Organic Pro’s

·        Grown without chemicals

·        Can be hybrid or heirloom

Organic Con’s

·        The label is expensive for farmers & seed providers

·        You can still grow an organic plant with a non-organic seed

My favorite Organic providers:

Johnny Selected Seeds

Botanical Interests