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Hybrid&heirloom was Garden Plan 98

At 06:21 AM 12/6/97 -0800, you wrote:
>"Heirloom" is a rather vague term that refers to older varieties of a
>plant.  They are virtually always "O.P." which means "Open Pollinated"
>as opposed to hybridized.  Hybrids are simply plants which have
>controlled pollination.  (Kind of like monogamy, as opposed to the
>promiscuous nature of OP's.)  Hybrids are *not* genetically engineered
>or in any way genetically different from OP plants.  (Except, of course,
>inasmuch as any two plants of the same species are genetically
>different.)

If you are interested in saving seed from your own garden then your
preference will be for heirloom or OP varieties--the seeds of hybrids are
unpredictable and not true to type.  F1 refers to a first generation hybrid
cross--these are usually the most vigorous. I can't claim to understand the
genetics of it all but I've read some interesting articles on the subject.

>On the other hand, many hybrids have better vigor in marginal
>conditions, produce larger quantities of food and have greater disease
>resistance than their OP cousins.

OTOH, certain heirloom varieties have been regionally adapted for specific
climates and conditions over generations, and maybe just right for a
specific set of marginal conditions.  When I grew tomatoes in a greenhouse
in Alaska's Matanuska valley, I was always on the lookout for
Siberian/Scandinavian and other northern latitude heirloom or hybrid
varieties from climes like my own.  One way is to find seed vendors from
geographically similar areas.  You might want to try Johnny's Selected
Seeds in Maine or Richter's Herbs (they sell veggie seed too) in southern
Ontario.  
They are both on the Web--
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/
http://www.richters.com/

I have a big list of online seed catalogs at my Web site:
http://vegetablegarden.miningco.com/msub11.htm

Johnny's used to sell an heirloom tomato called "Moskvich" --which did very
well up north and was very flavorful, and one called "Kotlas" very early
and prolific if not quite as delicious.

And then just as Steve says--experiment and find out what's working for
other gardeners in your area.

There's also a pepper website of someone growing peppers in Maine--you
might check out:
http://firegirl.com/growing.html

cheers
Havi





Havi Hoffman
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vegetablegarden.guide@miningco.com
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