GMO, Hybrid, Heirloom, & Organic Seeds - Understanding the differences 

I"m jealous of the hairline; Half his age, but also half his hair!

Yeah, GMO seeds are only developed for farming use such as fodder crops and cover crops and not for commercial homegrown garden vegetables, herbs and flowers that's why you see only mostly GMO corn, wheat, clover, fodder alfalfa, cotton, fodder beet and other fodder/farm crops

Things have changed y'all

Thank you, Charles!

Biology major here. You are completely right 100%. "heirloom" plants that are open pollinated will be introduced new genetic material, by definition through their pollination. This is the point of the process. However, you are missing a huge part of the context. When an heirloom tomato seed is made-- even though it's possible to have large genetic changes through the fundamental fact that there are two individual and unique parents--- they just won't be that different. an heirloom tomato would be made in a field with basically all the same heirloom tomatoes. they would cross pollinate, and you'd get heirloom tomatoes. The amount of genetic variability would simply not be that high in a field of thousands of heirloom tomatoes the hybrids are pollinated on purpose, very intentionally. and they use very different plants and because the way chromosomes work/combine etc (you don't need to know all the details) you will get the most dramatic changes in the first generation because those offspring will be the most thoroughly (and consistently) mixed offspring. a second generation may be more mixed, or less mixed, but it's entirely random. Imagine if i had a dozen dogs that were all the same, making babies. Any baby made there would be fairly similar, no matter which the parents are, because the starting material is not very different to begin with. if i, on purpose-- bred a golden and a chihuahua. that would insert A LOT of changes. And this genetic offspring would carry the most consistently mixed genes. If those offspring were to breed with eachother, you may get something more mixed, less mixed, completely the same... but the point is that it won't be consistent. Theoretically an heirloom tomato would be or could be contaminated with other tomato varieties, but that defeats the purpose. These places are growing heirloom plants specifically because they like their characteristics, and don't want it to change.

Ah, I think I understand what you are getting at Jeremy. You are wondering about the plant being cross pollinated once its in your garden... by insects. It is very unlikely this will happen because of the way the tomato plant works. Tomatoes are by and large self-pollinated. Their flower has both male and female characteristics, and is closed (very roughly speaking). It is pollinated by vibration... this caused the pollen to drop from the male part of the flower to the female part of the flower. Hence is is unlikely to be pollinated by another plant. Hope that makes sense.

@@jasontan6013 OMG, thanks I understand now 😊

@@eliandkate wow, thanks for replying, I understand now, thanks!!!

@@jeremymassimino1176 Those (tomatoes, green beans, for example) are called "perfect" flowers, both sexes within the same flower on the plant. Every tomato and green bean bloom contains male and female sexes within that flower. Look into "monoecious" and "dioecious" to learn a bit more. Basically, a monoecious plant has both male and female flowers on the same plant, squash and corn are two easily understood varieties of monoecious plants. Squash plants have male flowers, that will NEVER produce fruit, only pollinate, and female flowers which produce the fruits, located on the same plant. Corn is the same, the "tassel" is the male flower and the "silk" on the cob is the female flower. The tassels have to pollinate the silks to produce the kernals we love to eat (every silk is a potential kernal). In "dioecious" plants the plants will only have one sex flower on the entire plant and depend on a separate plant of the opposite sex to pollinate. Very common in shrubs, some trees, etc. more so than vegetables. This can be a bit confusing. Sorry so long winded, hope this helps! The real confusion comes in when learning what will cross pollinate and what will not! Then you are dealing with genus/species identification. Plants with identical genus AND species can cross pollinate. Let's use some common kale varieties as example. Lacinato Kale is "brassica oleracea" (brassica is the genus and oleracea is the species) Portugese Kale is also "brassica oleracea" so these two varieties could cross pollinate under the right conditions. Now, those two "brassica oleracea" varieties would never cross with Red Russian Kale since it is a member of "brassica napus", and even though they are all members of the same genus (brassica) the Red Russian is a different "species" (napus). They will not cross no matter what. Gardener Scott mentioned seed packets and what info is excluded sometimes, well this information is rarely ever on seed packets and it's extremely important in my opinion. Some companies (Sow True, Johnny's, Hoss Tools, Seed Savers Exchange, and others) are good about providing the genus/species of their varieties, but most don't. Here's a link to that Red Russian Kale we were talking about. You will clearly see the proper Latin name of genus/species listed. sowtrueseed.com/collections/kale/products/kale-red-russian

It can, but when you till it into the soil it can cause a temporary depletion of nitrogen and may affect plants growing in that area.

@@GardenerScott will letting them age for a few years make it better, are still best to add nitrogen? How is azomite for replenishing with the chips. Thanks much for your help.

Aging will help them break down faster in soil but there will still be some nitrogen depletion until they decompose and release nutrients back into the soil. Azomite does not contain nitrogen but does have other trace elements that can be beneficial if your soil is deficient in them.

Yes, that's right.

They should. Hybrid seeds may not produce a plant true to the parents, but GMO seeds can. Currently there are no GMO wheat seeds and none of the home garden seeds will be GMO.

Your post is FALSE!!! GMO technology seed are not true to the parents same as NON GMO technology seeds. They do retain the gmo technology traits used though in most instances. GREAT Video for the general public to watch. Organic is just an old inefficient farming method and thus the reason organic cost 3 and 4 times more. @@GardenerScott

You're right, Jeff. I discuss some of that in other videos, particularly the resistance to disease.

You're right about how heirlooms develop. Seven generations is a good target to stabilize the genetics. The discussion in this video was focused on just the first hybrid generation and how it is still unstable in the second generation.

Thanks am learning even from the comments.

Assuming you have two plants of the same variety, if an organic open pollinated seed pollinates with a non-organic one, the resulting seed will still grow to become the same plant.

They are non-GMO and often hybrids, especially sweet corn.

Yes, that was me in the Air Force many years ago.

In the beginning there would have been one, somewhere in Central America.

It's variable. It could be nothing like mom and dad.

Yes, hybrids can be produced organically.

They are in most stores and available from many online seed companies.

It is unlikely. Each generation would be different until the genetics stabilize. It can take many years to reach that point.

I think generally, if you keep selecting the same characteristic / similar fruit year after year or successive growing out periods, then after about six to seven rounds the seed would become "stable" and should now closely replicate itself from that point on. If you grow out a hybrid it will likely revert back to one of the parents, of which could be many not just two, and often they are also hybrids. I have grown out hybrid peppers from saved seed and sometimes it is hardly changed, other times not even close....lol. The only difference between a hybrid and an heirloom is that it is not stable such as an "F1" which pretty much gives exclusivity to the seed company that engineered it. Gardener Scott has it pegged. Merry Christmas all.

Joel, I am attempting that with a tomato plant I recognized had a mutation I like. Seven years is a good target and I'm at year four, still selecting the fruit with the same characteristics for saving seed.

@@joelmesh9127 Very well stated, and it's exactly how we got so many varieties! I guess the old Mortgage Lifter tomato is probably the most famous. After 6 or 7 generations it was stable enough to market.

Couldn't agree more! And the "NON GMO advertising phobia" on garden seeds is a sham! If I advertise a NON GMO green bean seed, for example, is it untrue, no it's not, because there's no such thing as GMO green beans. They are legally clear to advertise, but I find it very disingenuous and targeted at taking advantage of people's "fears". We'd all be better served if they would try to educate as much as advertise. Sorry, but it's a pet peeve of mine, I'll get down off the soapbox now! ;)

@@tommathews3964 I'm with you. "GMO-free" labels apply an unjust and non-scientific negative connotation and have a hugely negative impact on the public understanding of agricultural science.