This is another terminology tip that will almost certainly come up when you are shopping for seeds, especially in these times of GMOs and other manipulated foods. There can be a lot of confusion about heirloom and hybrid, so you should have your facts straight before you make purchases based
on misinformation.
Heirloom: Think of these as the good old-fashioned seeds that your grandparents would have had. There are no strange cross-breeds, and you can be assured that any seed you save from these plants will produce exactly the same variety as the original plant. Many people prefer these seeds because they are more natural and are better options if you want to save your seeds from one season to the next.
Hybrid: Now, don’t confuse these with genetically modified seeds. Hybrids are the result of natural cross-breeding, though it’s done in a carefully controlled manner. You’ll find hybrids if you are looking for certain qualities not usually present in the original plants. Varieties that mature very quickly, or are more frost tolerant, or produce dwarf-sized plants are a few examples.
The catch with hybrid plants is that the seeds they produce usually contain the features from one of the original parent plants, not the hybrid itself that you planted and grew. So if you collected the seeds from your hybrid plant, and grew them the next year, the results would be closer to the parents of your hybrid.
GMOs: While we’re on the subject, here’s a word about the infamous GMO. These are genetically modified organisms that are artificially created with gene manipulation, which is not the same as natural cross-breeding whatsoever. In most cases, the inserted genes don’t even belong to the same species as the original plant. Long-term testing on the safety of these products hasn’t been done, not to mention the possible damage to the ecosystem once their pollen and seeds start spreading outside their designated farms.