With all of the controversy surrounding GMO seeds, peopleare seeking out non-GMO options for their gardens. Organic and heirloom seeds are two suchoptions, but it can be difficult to know exactly what each one means. I did some research to clarify the distinction.
So, what is the difference between organic and heirloomseeds? Organic seeds are non-GMO, USDA certified seeds, coming from plantsgrown with only natural fertilizer, pesticides, and fungicides. They can be either hybrid or open pollinated. Heirloom seeds are always open pollinated,and come from plant varieties that are at least 50 years old. They may also be organic, and they areusually non-GMO.
Of course, this answer may raise even more questions. For example, what does GMO mean? What does USDA organic certification mean? What is the difference between hybrid and openpollinated seeds? Let’s dig a little deeperto get a little more background on these topics and go into detail on thedifferences between organic and heirloom seeds.
What Is The Difference Between Organic And Heirloom Seeds?
To understand the difference between organic and heirloomseeds, we need to know some other terms first.Let’s talk about what we mean by hybrid and open pollination, GMO, andorganic or hybrid seeds.
What Is Open Pollination?
Open pollination means that plants are pollinated by bees, moths, birds, bats, wind, or rain(the plants are “open-pollinated”).
With open pollination, you are allowing plants to breedrandomly, with nature taking its course.Bees or other pollinators visit the flowers of plants and fertilize withwhatever pollen they are carrying around.
For more information, check out this article from Wikipedia on open pollination.
What Is A Hybrid Seed?
A hybrid seed is producedby a cross pollinated plant. Hybrid seedsare specifically bred for improved characteristics, such as higher yield,disease resistance, flavor, or color.
To achieve this, a seed grower will deliberately take pollen from a selected plant and use it to fertilize another selected plant. The idea is to produce seeds that have characteristics of both parent plants.
For more information, check out my article on the advantages and disadvantages of hybrid seeds.
To get a better sense of this, think back to high schoolbiology. Gregor Mendel noticed that ifhe crossed two tall pea plants, their offspring (seeds) were more likely togrow to be tall as well. In the modernday, seed companies can do the same thing to create seeds with the desiredcharacteristics.
For more information, check out this article from Wikipedia on Gregor Mendel and his experiments with pea plants and genetics.
When we talk about hybrid seeds, we may often hear “F1hybrid” or “F2 hybrid”. The number afterthe “F” simply refers to the generation.So “F1” refers to a first generation seed. “F2” refers to a seed harvested from an F1plant (which was grown from an F1 seed).
Remember that with hybrid seeds, you may not be able to growthe same plant again from F2 seeds. Forinstance, let’s say you plant an F1 hybrid seed, which successfully grows intoa plant.
Then, you harvest the F2 seeds at the end of the growingseason. When you sow those F2 seeds thenext year, the plants that grow may not be at all similar to the plant youharvested the seeds from.
This is why gardeners often buy hybrid seeds from seedcompanies every year. Of course, onealternative is to cultivate your own heirloom varieties (more on this later).
For more information, check out this article from Wikipedia on hybrid seeds.
What Are GMO Seeds?
GMO stands for “genetically modified organism”. According to Wikipedia, “a GMO is anyorganism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineeringtechniques.”
A GMO seed is a seed that comes from a GMO plant (one whose geneticmaterial has been altered). GMO plantsare created in a laboratory for characteristics such as:
- Increased yield or productivity
- Improved flavor
- Longer shelf life
- Heat or drought resistance
- Cold resistance
- Disease resistance
- Pest resistance
- Herbicide or pesticide resistance
These traits sound like a good thing for most plants, and itis true that these crops can help to avoid famine and feed more people than we couldotherwise. However, there is somecontroversy surrounding the question of whether food grown from GMO seeds issafe for human consumption.
For the most part, GMO seeds are used in large-scale, commercial operations for major crops such as corn and soybeans. For more information, check out this article from Wikipedia on genetically modified crops.
Of course, there are ways besides genetic engineering tocreate plants with desirable characteristics.For instance, we can breed hybrid varieties or cultivate heirloomvarieties over time (more on both of these later).
What Are Organic Seeds?
“Organic” refers to the way that seeds (and the plants thatthey come from) are raised. In order tobe certified as organic by the USDA, seeds must be raised according to the USDA’sNational Organic Program (NOP) standards.
The NOP is a public-private partnership, and providesaccreditation and training to private companies. These companies then inspect farms andbusinesses to ensure that they satisfy the standards for organic certification.
These farms and business can then receive the USDA organic seal (you may have seen this on food packaging at the grocery store). For more information, check out this article from the USDA about organic seals.
According to seedsavers.org, the NOP guidelines say thatorganic seed growers must plant organic seeds, unless there are nonecommercially available. Also, theseorganic seeds are not exposed to prohibited chemicals (such as certainfertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides) during growth, harvesting, orprocessing.
For more information, check out this article from Seed Savers on organic seeds and NOP guidelines.
You may also want to check out this article from the USDA on the national organic program.
Organic seeds are never GMO, and they can come from eitherhybrid or open-pollinated plants. Sincethey can be hybrid, they may not “breed true” if you save the seeds and plantthem the next year (that is, you won’t get the same variety of plant in thesecond year that you got in the first year).
What Are Heirloom Seeds?
Heirloom seeds areseeds that come from an heirloom plant. Accordingto Wikipedia, “An heirloom plant is an old cultivar of a plant used for foodthat is grown and maintained by gardeners and farmers.”
In practice, this means that a family of farmers orgardeners collects and passes down seeds through generations. Generally, heirloom seeds come from plantvarieties that are at least 50 years old.
Heirloom seeds are always open pollinated (see thedescription of open pollination earlier in the article). This means that farmers and gardeners are notspecifically choosing certain plants to cross pollinate to breed for certaincharacteristics.
Instead, gardeners and farmers choose the seeds of the mostdesirable plants every year. Anyresulting changes in plant characteristics happen naturally over time.
Often, these characteristics include improved flavor,increased resistance to pests or diseases, and acclimation to local climate andweather patterns. Choosing the seeds youwant from the plants you want is a modern spin on Darwin’s theory of evolution.
Heirloom seeds are usually not GMO. However, if an heirloom seed is accidentallyopen pollinated with a GMO crop, the result could be a GMO seed. However, this is probably a rare occurrence.
Heirloom seeds are often organic, but this is notguaranteed. For instance, a gardenerusing heirloom seeds could conceivably use chemicals in his garden that would disqualifyhim from USDA organic certification.
So, there can be overlap between organic and heirloom seeds. In this case, the seeds would be open pollinated (not hybrid), they would come from a plant variety at least 50 years old, and they would be certified organic by the USDA.
For more information, check out this article from Wikipedia on heirloom plants.
Where Can You Find Organic Seeds?
Most seed companies will have the option to buy organicseeds, although they are more expensive than traditional or conventional seeds. This should be indicated in the print oronline catalog for the company.
Johnny’s Selected Seeds, based in Maine, is one company my family has bought seeds from for many years. For more information, check out the seeds from Johnny’s Selected Seeds.
Where Can You Find Heirloom Seeds?
You can find heirloom seeds at a seed swap or seedexchange. At these events, farmers andgardeners meet to exchange seeds, including heirloom varieties that have beenin the family for over 50 years (some are over 200 years old!)
Heirloom seeds may also be referred to as heritage seeds. If you are a beginner, you may also be able to learn gardening skills at a seed swap. For more information, check out this article from Wikipedia on seed swaps.
Seed swaps help to preserve the genetic diversity of plant species. They also help farmers and gardeners to find new varieties of plants that they can grow and cultivate to their own tastes over time.
Just remember that you cannot save seeds forever – they must eventually be grown, and you can harvest more seeds from the plants for later years. For more information, check out my article on how long seeds last.
If you cultivate your own interesting variety over many years (generations of plants), you can bring the seeds to a swap to trade. You can even host your own seed swap if you wish. For more information, check out this article from the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange.
You may also want to check out the Seed Savers Exchange website.
Conclusion
Now you have a better idea of the difference between organic and heirloom seeds. The distinction can be confusing, but hopefully this article helped to clear things up a bit.
You can learn more about heirloom tomatoes here.
You can find over 30 heirloom tomato varieties of various colors (with descriptions) here.
If you found this article helpful, please share it withsomeone else who can use the information.If you have any questions about organic or heirloom seeds, please leavea comment below.
