What is a Heirloom plant/seed? What are the advantages and disadvantages to growing them? What is the opposite of a heirloom plant called? I have started growing vegetables the past few years and am learning each year and heirloom seeds keeps coming up - so I figured it might as well be a good idea to see what there all about. Thank you.
Hi there! I hope this helps. An heirloom seed is an open pollinated seed, and the oppisite of an heirloom seed is a hybrid. ~tgplp
Heirlooms are also old varieties, which have been around a long time. I believe it is something like 50 years old. They are also open pollinated, which means that as long as the seeds are pollinated by the same variety of plant, they will breed true and you can save the seeds. Hybrids do not breed true and will not produce the same plant from seed. You cannot save the seeds from hybrids for future years.
Here is an article that you may find interesting. http://www.motherearthnews.com/Orga...campaign=FG&utm_source=iPost&utm_medium=email
Here are a few sites for you check out. http://www.seeds.ca/ http://www.seedsavers.org/ Heirloom cultivars are great to grow. Cheers kim
Thank you everyone for your responses. I will diffidently have to check out those links and maybe fallow up with some more questions. This forum is so helpful.
Ok after reading your articles and hearing about your success I bought 2 Heirloom varieties of Tomatoes today - Red Cherry Large and Brandywine Pink. Few questions if I just grow those two varieties will they cross pollinate (I want to collect and save seeds for next year) and not give me true to the original variety seeds? On the same note: If I plant a hybrid (I think that is the right term) variety like Beefsteak or Better Boy will the cross pollinate and not give me true to the original seeds. Thanks for the help.
To prevent cross pollination completely you would have to bag the blooms and self-pollinate them. In regards to your original question since some plants usually don't come true from seeds, Such as apple trees, they can still be called heirloom if they have been around for more than 50 years.
Heirloom, think precious and valued.... you have a true seed with the intrinsic sought after qualities not common in today's free market.... save them and replant year to year for millenium...