Heirloom? Open-polinated? Organic? What does it mean!?

When shopping for seeds it’s helpful to have a little base knowledge otherwise the language can seem a little overwhelming.

I’m here to demystify a few terms that you may encounter when shopping for seeds.

Heirloom Seeds

These guys have been passed down through the ages and replanted, tended and harvested year after year after year. A seed that has been grown and passed down for 50 years is technically an heirloom.

Heirloom seeds often come with a rich history. They follow people as they move around the globe. They hold stories of those who have perpetuated them for years. If you choose to grow heirloom, you are ensuring that this rich part of civilization (seed saving and passing down) continues.

Open Pollinated Seed

This is a term meaning that seed will produce seed naturally. Pollination will occur just as nature intends by bird, bee, wind or by hand. As long as there are no other plants of the same species nearby, each open pollinated plant will produce seed that will grow another plant identical to the parent.

All heirloom seeds are open pollinated. But not all open pollinated seeds are heirlooms.

My favorite part of growing heirloom and open pollinated varieties is that it’s the ultimate do-it-yourself way to garden. And it also feels like you’re sticking it to The Man! There’s no patent on your plants. It’s yours for as long as you can care for and save your seeds year after year after year.

Hybrid Seeds

If you’re growing a hybrid seed it will usually have a little F1 on the label. Hybrid plants will not produce seeds that are true to type and they will have significantly decreased vigor. Which means no saving hybrid seeds! You must buy them again each year.

Hybrids are created by crossing different plant varieties to form new varieties in order to produce some sort of desired trait (better disease resistance, better shelf life, better taste, etc). But don’t worry, they’re save and have nothing to do with GMOs.

Here’s a cool thing too: hybrids can be stabilized over the years by growing and selecting for traits and perpetuating that variety. But for most of us, this is a bit over the top.

Organic Seeds

Organic seeds are always non-GMO and produced by growing the parent crop in accordance with the organic standards for certification.

You can have organic or non-organic heirlooms, organic or non-organic open pollinated and organic or non-organic hybrids. Whew!

GMO

So I just went straight to the non-GMO project website for this one:

“A GMO, or genetically modified organism, is a plant, animal, microorganism or other organism whose genetic makeup has been modified in a laboratory using genetic engineering or transgenic technology.

This creates combinations of plant, animal, bacterial and virus genes that do not occur in nature or through traditional crossbreeding methods.”

Fortunately none of my favorite seed resources have anything to do with GMOs. Unfortunately, GMOs can be harder to tease out when we’re in the grocery store.

Just remember: organic is always non-GMO.

Seed Resources

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds - sells exclusively heirloom seed.

Seed Savers Exchange - sells exclusively heirloom seed in both organic and non-organic varieties.

Johnny’s Seeds - has some of everything: heirloom, open pollinated, organic and hybrid.

Fruition Seeds - all organic-heirloom or organic-open pollinated seeds.

High Mowing - all organic seeds in either hybrid, open pollinated or heirloom varieties. They have a fun variety pack for sale that’s called “Heirloom Vegetable Lovers Organic Seed Collection” for $19.25.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave your favorite seed sources in the comment section below :)