Open Pollinated Seeds (OP) vs Hybrid Seeds (F1) – Which Side Are You On?

An article published recently in the New York Times has added fuel to the open pollinated seeds (OP) vs hybrid seeds (F1) debate. Pitting George Ball of Burpee against Rob Johnston of Johnny’s Seeds, NYT writer Michael Tortorello paints defenders of heirloom seeds like Johnston as anti-science Luddites and corporate breeders like Ball as laughing giants hell-bent on destroying the mom and pop heirloom-only seed companies.

I hadn’t realized that there was such a passionate argument about which seeds I should plant in my garden. And we’re talking backyard gardens here, not agricultural farming or GMO’s – that’s a subject for a different post.

What’s the difference between OP seeds and F1 seeds?

Hybrid seeds (F1 in seed catalogs)

F1 seeds, also known as hybrid seeds, are from the first generation of a plant produced by breeding two related plants together. This is done to develop a particular trait like size, color, sweetness, or disease resistance. In most instances, the new hybrid plant and its seed become the patented property of the company or university that bred the plant. Hybrids are not to be confused with Genetically Modified Organism (GMOs), which are created with recombinant DNA techniques to produce, for instance, corn seed with a pesticide built into its genes. GMO’s are primarily produced for Big Agriculture. Typically, if you plant the seeds produced by the fruit or vegetables of an F1 hybrid in your garden, the plants will not be true to the parent plant – they may only bear a passing resemblance to what you were expecting. But it might also perform just like or better than the parent plant – it’s a gamble.

Open Pollinated seeds (OP in seed catalogs)

Open pollinated seeds include Heirloom seeds, as they are produced from parent plants that have been pollinated naturally by bees, flies, gnats, wind, etc., for many generations. They cannot be patented. A seed from an Open Pollinated plant, when properly selected, dried and stored, should produce relatively identical crops year after year, subject to soil and weather conditions. If you prefer to grow only Open Pollinated heirloom fruits and vegetables, there is a vast selection at Seed Savers Exchange.

The OP F1 garden seed divide

Now you can probably see the dividing lines: the corporate plant breeder who requires that you purchase the same seeds every year vs the heirloom seed company which sells you the seed once for you to grow, harvest and save year after year.

Which side is a humble gardener to stand on? A tomato bred to resist blight or a tomato selected to resist blight? Corn bred to taste sugary sweet or corn selected for sweetness? Aren’t there benefits to both? If I like the taste of a particular variety of sweet corn or tomato and it produces well in my garden, I’m going to plant it year after year. If it disappoints in some way, it usually doesn’t get a second chance and I move on down the list of hundreds, maybe thousands of alternate choices (that’s a simple version of natural selection).

One of the things I enjoy about gardening is experimenting with different plants and growing things I haven’t grown before. The Danvers Carrot, an heirloom from the mid-19^th century, is right at home in my raised beds along with F1 Beefsteak tomatoes and heirloom Black Krim tomatoes. Whether it’s OP or F1 isn’t important to me. I judge a fruit or vegetable by how well it grows and tastes, not who it’s parents were. Besides, every gardener knows that ANYTHING grown in their garden tastes better than supermarket produce, whether OP or F1. So vote your conscience with your gardening budget. The market will select who thrives.