Gardening Question of the Week
Are Hybrid Vegetables Genetically Modified and are Heirloom Vegetables Better for You?
Thursday January 31, 2008
Hybrid vegetables are the result of two plants cross pollinating. Plant breeders and seed companies do this intentionally, to produce a new plant, but hybridization can happen in nature when the pollen of one variety of plant pollinates another variety. This is not the same as genetically modified organisms. Here are the basic definition and differences between open pollinated, heirloom, hybrid and GMOs.
Photo: © Marie Iannotti (2008) licensed to About.com, Inc.
Comments
Your statement that “kentucky blue is not stable is not true. Yes it is the product of hybridization, beans are a self pollinated species and Kentucky Blue is a stable selection of the cross of the two parents. The seed will be true to its parentage.
Good catch. You’re absolutely right, that was a bad example. I was recently shopping for bean seeds with a non-gardening friend who found the amount of seeds with similar names to be very confusing, so beans were in my head.
I find by the time I start talking about stable hybrids, my friend’s eyes start to glaze over, so I originally tried to stick to the basics with this faq. I’ve added a bit more detail and I hope it is still clear and accurate. If anyone sees another error or finds it too confusing, please let me know. I think these are important distinctions and I’d hate to see gardeners shy away from hybrids because they think they’re mutants or avoid heirlooms because they think they’re obsolete or worse, trendy.