Every year when I sit down and plan the next years crop, I have to decide what seed I need to purchase. Seed can be described in a lot of ways. Organic, heirloom, open pollinated, cross pollinated, hybrid, and recently GM. What do all these terms mean to the average home gardener? Here are a few insights into some of the definitions of seed.

Organic Seed

In general, when you buy organic seed you’re getting seed that has been grown without the use of synthetic pesticides and has been grown, stored, and handled in such a way as to avoid contamination. It’s one thing to grow a crop organically, but if it gets contaminated by some floor cleaner, or the wrong sterilizing agent is used to clean the harvest bins there is a problem. These issues are covered with the new Organic Products Regulations (OPR) which came into effect in Canada in 2009, making the new Canadian Organic Standards (COS) mandatory. The OPR legally requires organic products to be certified according to the COS if they are traded across provincial or international borders or use the Canada Organic Logo.  Look for the Canada Organic Logo when buying seed.
Pros
One thing I like about organic seed is that when I’m planting by hand, I do not need gloves because there are no seed treatments. My young son can help me seed and I don’t have to worry about what or if there is a seed treatment.
Cons
One thing I don’t like about organic seed is the cost. It is generally more expensive, but there is a reason. There is a lot more care and attention required to grow and sell organic food, and the easy solution to many pest problems (pesticide) is generally not an option. This means it’s often more challenging to grow an organic crop, and input costs in labour and fertilizer are generally higher than conventional agriculture, making it more costly.

Open Pollinated

Seed that is described as open pollinated is seed that was created thru the union of two plants of the same variety. The seed that this union creates reproduces true to the parent crop, meaning the offspring have the same characteristics as mom and dad. It can take years of selection and breeding before an open pollinated variety becomes stable and reproduces true. If you plan to collect your own seed it is important to use open pollinated seed. Hybrid seed will not produce seed that reproduces true to the parent.
Pros
Being able to collect and store seed for next year is an important feature of open pollinated seed. There can be surprises however. I’ve grown some pretty strange zucchini / gourd  Frankenstein like things with open pollinated seed. In the city, where neighbours are only a few feet away, the open pollinated crops may inadvertently get cross pollinated with another variety, and create something never seen before.
Cons
I grow several open pollinated crops each year. Not because they are more productive or more disease resistance, but because they are delicious. Open pollinated crops lack the genetic advantage the hydrids have. They are often less productive, or more susceptible to disease, but they are often the tastiest veggies in the patch.

Hybrid Seed F1

Hybrid seed is created by cross pollinating two compatible varieties that each have desirable characteristics. For example, cross pollinate a cucumber that grows vigorously but only grows a few tiny cucumbers, with a cucumber that produces an abundance of beautiful cucumbers but grows slowly. The seed from this union may grow into a fast growing and abundant cucumber plant. Unfortunately it is not that easy to find compatible varieties that produce good seed. Sometime you end up with seed that expresses the parent’s bad characteristics.
The advantage to using hybrid seed is it that the crops are generally more productive as result of combining the parents strengths. If you plan to collect and use your own seed however, the seed will generally not reproduce true to the original hybrid seed, but instead revert back to the original varieties used to make the cross pollination.
Hybrid seeds are often labelled as F1 or F2. The F1 is a first generation hybrid or filial generation.

Heirloom or Heritage Seed

In the late 40’s, after WW2 the technology to grow hybrid seed commercially began to take off. Until then the majority of the crops grown were open pollinated varieties that had been collected and handed down thru generations of farmers. The new hybrid varieties, although often more productive, do not produce seed that would reproduce true to the parent plant. In 1951 hybrid seeds became widely available, and many view this as the latest year for a variety to be recognized as heirloom. Another way to look at heirlooms is to consider their merit. Heirloom varieties have survived because they are worth saving. They are the result of hundreds or thousands of years of gathering and nuturing seed where only the strong, beautiful or tasty survived. If the heirloom variety was developed in your region, where is has had to survive the local vagaries of weather and pests, there is a good chance it will be hardy and productive in your garden.

Genetically Modified

Genetically modified (GM) seed is seed that has been created using genetic engineering techniques. Genes from one organism are spliced into another organism.  When genes from a different species are crossed it is referred to as transgenic. An example is transgenic bt corn where the genes from a bacteria (bt) have been spliced into corn resulting in a corn crop that is resistant to a wide variety of insects.
There is a lot of debate around the use of GM crops. Concerns about the safety, environmental and ecological impacts associated to the introduction of these new plants has resulted in the EU banning the import of GM crops. There is also a concern around intellectual property laws, making it illegal for farmers to collect seed from a GM crop they grow. The reality is that much of the North American diet consists of GM crops. Corn, canola, cotton, soybeans, and even papaya are mostly GM varieties (~90%) and other crops like rice are soon to be on the market. From a home gardener perspective GM crops are not really an issue because they are not readily available. Perhaps in the future the home gardener will see GM crops offered in the seed catalogue, but for now GM seeds are generally commercial crops that are grown large scale.

Searching for seed is a something many people enjoy, and understanding what you’re buying makes the decisions easier. When you’re paging thru the seed catalogues or surfing seed company websites, embrace the fact that it is hope and optimism for the future that drives you to dream of a beautiful garden. Happy Seed Hunting!