By Dulce Levitz

t’ s that exciting time of

Heirloom The“ Heirloom” variety is a plant variety that has a history of being passed down within a family or community.

A Heirloom variety must be openpollinated, but not all open-pollinated plants are heirlooms. While some companies create heirloom labels based on dates( such as a variety that is more than 50 years old), Seed Savers Exchange identifies heirlooms by verifying and documenting the generational history of preserving and passing on the seed.

Heirloom seeds are wonderful!“ Back in 1998 I received some Amish paste tomato seeds from Amish friend; every year I save the new

generation of seeds and have a wonderful supply year after year; these are still the best tomato plants and tomatoes I grow. These types of seeds are a great choice for seed saving.”

" Open pollinated " generally refers to seeds that will " breed true." Openpollinated varieties are also often referred to as standard varieties or, when the seeds have been saved across generations or across several decades, heirloom varieties.

A second use of the term " open pollination " refers to pollination by insects, birds, wind, or other natural mechanisms. The seeds of open-pollinated plants will produce new generations of those plants; however, because breeding is uncontrolled and the pollen( male parent) source is unknown, open pollination may result in plants that vary widely in genetic traits.

Because there are no restrictions on the flow of pollen between individuals, openpollinated plants are more genetically diverse.... As long as pollen is

not shared between different varieties within the same species, then the seed produced will remain true-to-type year after year. Some plants( such as many crops) are primarily self pollenizing and also breed true, so that even under open pollination conditions the next generation will be( almost) the same. These types of seeds are a great choice for seed saving.

Hybrid In agriculture and gardening, hybrid seed is seed produced by crosspollinated plants.

Hybrid seed production is predominant in agriculture and home gardening. If you save and grow seeds from an F1 hybrid plant, don’ t expect a similar plant in the next generation; this is one disadvantage of hybrid seeds. The resulting plants in the second generation are

usually much lower yielding, have less vigor, and are quite variable in their physical characteristics. You don’ t know what you are going to get, and usually you’ ll lose all the advantages you had in growing the original hybrid. In other words, all of the hybrid seeds planted by the farmer will produce similar plants while the seeds of the next generation from those hybrids will not consistently have the desired characteristics. Controlled hybrids provide very uniform characteristics because they are produced by crossing two inbred strains. Elite inbred strains are used that express welldocumented and consistent phenotypes( such as high crop yield) that are relatively good for inbred plants. Hybrids are chosen to improve the characteristics of the

resulting plants, such as better yield, greater uniformity, improved color, disease resistance. Not the best choice for seed saving.

GMO Seeds If we think about it humans have been genetically modifying plants and animals for years; seeds are no different. Many, as well as myself argue that the long term effects of these seeds and plants on our bodies, as well as, the the impact on our environment is unknown.

GMO Seeds: The Consequences … Biotech firms like Monsanto argue that the GMO seeds they create are so unique that they need to be patented; something that has farreaching and devastating effects on the global economy.

Unlike the seeds

listed above, GMO seeds are not created using natural, lowtech methods. GMO seed varieties are created in a lab using high-tech and sophisticated techniques like gene-splicing.

Furthermore, GMO seeds seldom cross different, but related plants. Often the cross goes far beyond the bounds of nature so that instead of crossing two different, but related varieties of plant, they are crossing different biological kingdoms: like, say, a bacteria with a plant.

GMO seeds, in some cases are genetically modified with genes from fish, herbicide-resistant proteins and other chemicals, rather than DNA from

another plant. They are also designed to be resistant to pesticides such as( Glyphosate),( N-( phosphonomethyl glycine) which is a broad-spectrum systemic herbicide and crop desiccant. It is an organophosphorus compound, specifically