eGarden © 2006 Ed Mues

From The Garden of Ed. Submitted for publication in The Towne Crier on February 22, 2006

Hybrids, Heirlooms, Standards. Does It Matter?

You are the arbiter of taste. And, for that matter, labor and whatever else it is that might make or break your day. Spring is only one month away. The seed and plant catalogs have begun to pile up. The array of offerings multiplies each year.

Now you can choose from "Certified Organic", "Heirloom", "Exclusive", "New", "Top Pick", "Heritage", "Disease Fighter", "Customer Favorite", "Improved", "Recommended", and "Old Time Flavor". These are only some of the enticing headings and labels put out there to seduce us into trying just one more variety. But what's it all about? Are there really differences? If so, what are they?

There are differences, and, I confess that my palate is the first arbiter. So, "Old Time Flavor", "Heirloom" and maybe "Heritage" are the first to attract my attention. They have that old fashioned ring to them. Let me explain. What I'm after is taste. Heirloom varieties have a long standing reputation for having the best flavor, juiciness, acidity, sweetness, dryness, whatever most excites the taste buds and the pleasure centers associated with them. Heirloom varieties (almost by definition) have existed at least since 1940. In some cases they may be centuries old.

In the mid 1800s almost all of our flowers, fruits and vegetables were pollinated the old fashioned way, by insects, wind, and birds. They did the job admirably. Those that survived are today's heirlooms because folks determined they were so good that the seed needed to be saved, passed on and kept going, so as not to be lost.

In the 1700s and 1800s a small number of naturalists reported crossbreeds of plants that became known as hybrids. Long important in agriculture, crossbreeds of certain animals played key roles. Mules were a valuable labor force. Crop producers had another impetus. The desire was to improve quality and productivity. The many hundreds and hundreds of delicious tasting fruits and vegetables and beautiful and fragrant flowers were not without their growing problems. So, the desire to improve on these was born and propelled forward each year.

How to produce new plants with specific desired characteristics led to some complex cross breeding of carefully chosen parent plants. The offspring (seeds) were to produce plants with a combination of favorable characteristics from each parent. The pollinating process is carefully controlled and the resulting offspring is called an F1 hybrid (F1 means "first filial generation"). A lot of time and trouble is involved. Hand removing pollen bearing anthers and hand pollinating to be certain no self pollination or pollination of other females can take place are some parts of the process. Years can be involved to obtain plants with the desired qualities. Carefully controlled inbreeding continues with the next selected generation. In 1922 the first hybrid seed corn was sold to farmers in the United States.

The results are favorable to many home gardeners, and even more so to commercial farmers and professional growers. The hybrids are more uniform in size and shape and growth characteristics, and more likely to endure environmental stresses. Some might produce earlier flowers or fruits or higher yields. Disease resistance is a big plus, especially for the commercial producer since he can save money and time on reduced chemical sprays. He can offer more salable plants and produce. Planning future crops becomes easier. It is important to note here that seeds produced from F1 Hybrid plants will very rarely produce offspring that is even close to the parent plant. New seeds need to be purchased each year. This is an added expense. The seed from the standard varieties and heirlooms can just be saved from the previous years harvest if properly dried and stored.

The technology took off and by the mid-1960s hybrid varieties of every fruit, vegetable, and flower were abundantly available with more to come each succeeding year.

The late 60s and early 70s gave birth to a "green revolution", a "back to the earth movement". Coincidental was America's youth movement fueled by Woodstock, the publication of The Whole Earth Catalog and the Foxfire Books of the 1970s, among many other things. What was operating was a desire to pay attention to and preserve what was so cherished by those people growing up in the late forties and the fifties. The world seemed to be moving too fast, and too much valuable stuff was being lost. Live plants were in every home setting, and society was out to recapture its connection with the soil.

In the past century, we've lost ninety percent of our heirloom varieties. The fragrance of certain roses was being bred out of existence in favor of a longer lasting, better shipping one. Same held true for all kinds of fruits and vegetables. Uniformity, shelf life, ease of harvest ... all these were winning out over the time held values of aroma, flavor, color, etc..

The Seed Savers Exchange, dedicated to genetic preservation, was founded in 1975. Their slogan is "Passing on our vegetable heritage". Thanks in large part to their help and the movement's progress, today we can count many thousands of heirlooms being grown across America and preserved for future generations.

Heirloom plants are "open pollinated". Standard varieties are also "open pollinated", meaning nature's messengers do the work -- the bees and other insects, the wind and the occasional humming bird or other avian visitor. Heirlooms usually have regional, national or cultural significance. There seeds were handed down from generation to generation. Standard varieties may have many of the same characteristics as the heirloom varieties except they are not yet verified by such a long history. They are newer, have many wonderful qualities, but are more recent entries into the pantheon of welcome plants whose seed also breeds true.

They are excellent candidates, are frequently less expensive than many hybrid seeds, and come with the same additional attention requirements that the heirlooms come with. Experiment. Some of these might be tomorrow's heirlooms. Save the seeds of some of the most durable plants and perhaps next years plants will demonstrate a greater tolerance to the natural world's trials and tribulations. The insects and diseases out there have as much right to live as your plants. Maybe they'll strike a balance among themselves. That is precisely how so many heirlooms survived.

My title raises the question, "Does it matter?" You have to decide. The number of fruits and vegetables available as seeds is vast. Thin skin or thick skin, soft or firm texture, sweet or not so sweet taste, colors of the widest palette, small or large. I could continue. You know what you like to grow and eat. Sweet corn? There are plenty of hybrids, standards and heirlooms to choose from, all with unique characteristics. Same for every member of the flora family. Just take a look at the catalogs. I suggest trying some of each if you have the space. You will be the winner, and maybe you'll find something to crow about.

From The Garden of Ed. Submitted for publication in The Towne Crier on February 22, 2006

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