Heirloom; Hybrid... Let's Call the Whole Thing Off...

Every May, I plant tomatoes. My goal is to one day have a huge garden like my Dad did, but for now, I stick with tomatoes in pots since they're easy to grow, maintain, and provide fabulous fruit.

This year, I chose three different varieties that I purchased from the local big box hardware store. In late July, I brought some of my fresh, home grown tomatoes to a family function. I brought a mixture of hybrid Big Boys and an heirloom German queen variety. I was very excited about both of them, regardless of their small stature because of this year's drought. Even with watering everyday, plus fertilizer, this has been my smallest tomato crop (by actual size) in five years of growing tomatoes in planter boxes.

Despite size, I was happy to bring my bounty... until the genetically-modified organism versus hybrid versus heirloom discussion came up... three times. Every time, I felt under fire. So here's what I brought to the table. 

BASIC DEFINITIONS
Heirloom - According to the Vegetable Garden Guru, heirlooms are "a variety that is at least 40 to 50 years old, that is no longer available in the commercial seed trade, and that has been preserved and kept true in a particular region.... The classic examples are heirloom tomatoes, which often have superior flavor, color, or texture, but lack the holding ability, disease resistance, early maturity, or other characteristics that would make them commercially viable."



F1 Hybrid - According to the Vegetable Garden Guru, it "means the first filial generation made by crossing two different parent varieties, the offspring of which produce a new, uniform seed variety with specific characteristics from both parents.... For example, breeders may choose to cross two tomato varieties to make an F1 hybrid that exhibits the early maturity of one parent and a specific disease resistance of the other. The unique characteristics of an F1 hybrid are very uniform only in the first generation of seed, so seed saved from F1 plants will not come true if replanted and may exhibit many distinct types in the second generation, often reverting to various ancestral forms."

I often hear people talking about the down-side of hybrids, almost even a fear of hybrids as if they don't reproduce or you can't save the seed. This isn't 100% true. There is a definite misunderstanding of the word "hybrid". What it comes down to is understanding the difference between selective cross-pollination, open-pollination, and genetic modification.

When you realize that cross-pollination is a natural process that takes place when one plant variety's pollen is introduced to another plant variety's pollen of the same species, you begin to realize, unless you're a plant purist, that it's okay to have a hybrid.  

Open-pollinated - According to he Vegetable Garden Guru, "open-pollinated seeds are a result of either natural or human selection for specific traits which are then re-selected in every crop. The seed is kept true to type through selection and isolation; the flowers of open-pollinated seed varieties are pollinated by bees or wind. Their traits are relatively fixed within a range of variability.... All heirloom varieties are open-pollinated, but not all open-pollinated varieties can be considered heirlooms."

Hybrid - 

A hybrid seed, per Biology-online.com, is:

noun
Any of mixed origin or composition, or the combination of two or more different things.
(biology) An offspring resulting from the cross between parents of different species or sub-species.
(molecular biology) A complex formed by joining two complementary strands of nucleic acids.

adjective
Of or pertaining to the offspring produced from crossbreeding.

The University of Missouri Extension has a great site on "Growing Home Garden Tomatoes" with an article in their Garden Spade newsletter, entitled "Saving and Storing Vegetable Seeds" by Katie Kammler, that explains, "If you were to save the seed from any of these hybrid varieties, you would still get viable seed that would produce plants and tomatoes but they will not be like the parent plant. They will be a completely new combination of the good and bad traits that were initially crossed. There is no way to predict what the outcome of the seed will be that is saved from hybrid plant."

What does this mean? This means that in most cases, your hybrid tomato seed will reseed, but it won't be what you're expecting.

Genetically Modified Tomatoes - As of 2012, there are no genetically modified organism(GMO) tomatoes on the market. If a GMO tomato existed, it would be a tomato that may have genes introduced into it's DNA that come from a different species (meaning, not a tomato). 

There is LOTS of confusion out there between a hybrid seed versus a GMO seed. GMO seed, per About.com Gardening, "can be any plant, animal or microorganism which have been genetically altered using molecular genetics techniques such as gene cloning and protein engineering. Plants like corn that has the pesticide Bt engineered into its genetic makeup to make it resistant to certain pests are GMO crops. Bt is a natural pesticide, but it would never naturally find its way into corn seed."

So what is "Bt"? The University of California - San Diego explains that Bt is a "natural insecticide" that is "produced by the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (called "Bt") that has been used for decades by organic farmers to control crop-eating insects and by the World Health Organization to kill mosquitoes without using dangerous chemical pesticides."

Companies that create GMO seed utilize Bt and introduce it's traits into the genes of other plants in order to make the plant withstand pressure from unwanted insects that can damage an entire field, or worse, an entire state's crop if not treated manually (sprayed). 

HOT-HOUSE VERSUS HOME GROWN

I love this debate. Does your tomato taste better if it was grown in a room full of tomatoes, babied from seedling stage to fruit producing stage? Or does your tomato taste better growing naturally in a field full of tomatoes with no special help, except whatever love the farmer provides (potentially fertilizer, water, etc.)?

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE?

Personal preference. That's what it comes down to. You can debate taste, cost, availability all you want. When it comes to picking tomatoes, purists will choose heirloom because of their perceived benefits. Everyone else will pick a variety of heirloom or hybrids. 

• PERCEIVED HEIRLOOM BENEFITS - taste, texture, juiciness, can save the seed to reproduce, more varieties available
• PERCEIVED HYBRID BENEFITS - better at withstanding diseases because of breeding techniques/introduction to new genetics, highly productive, consistent performance, dependable, early maturity, specific plant size, taste 

This brings to question reproduction and hybrids ability to produce offspring. Can it happen? The answer is yes. Yes, you can save certain hybrid seed and it can reproduce. Not all hybrid seed will reproduce.

IS ONE BETTER THAN THE OTHER?

It depends on your taste, opinion, pocket book, and land available to play with.... Not everyone grows tomatoes. Not everyone cares how juicy or tasty a tomato is.... Not everyone has the ability to pay for fruits and vegetables, which we could consider a "first-world problem".

I look at it this way. My dad planted both. I plant both. Dad didn't save seed. I don't save seed. Saving seed is for the expert gardeners who don't purchase at Big Box stores like me. I appreciate, admire, and commend farmers who produce and save heirloom seed to ensure genetic integrity and strong lines. However, I'll always think of heirlooms as the royal family of inbreeding when I consider them. Good or bad, take it or leave it, I'll buy my hybrids and heirlooms at the Big Box. 

Do you have a favorite? Can you tell the difference?