When deciding which veggies to grow in your garden, you know that you need to choose varieties appropriate for your growing season, but beyond that there are many, many options. A common decision point is heirloom or hybrid. There is no right answer. Some people are squarely in the heirloom only camp, and some folks swear by hybrids. In this post, I’m going to focus on tomatoes, since they are the most popular garden plant we grow.
Vine ripe, homegrown tomatoes – does any other homegrown fruit elicit such passion and excitement? If you’re like me, and many other tomato lovers, you don’t even bother purchasing tomatoes at the store. Homegrown tomatoes, regardless if they’re heirloom or hybrids, are far superior in taste and quality than anything you can find in the supermarket.
Heirloom tomatoes seem almost mystical, and there is much debate over what makes an heirloom variety. Some say it must be over 100 years old, while others say that it must predate the rise of post-World War II hybridization. No matter the age debate, heirloom varieties must be open-pollinated. Meaning if you saved the seeds from that plant, and grow it next season, you will get the same variety. Most heirlooms are started from seeds that have been saved by seed exchange clubs and seed preservation programs. Many are hundreds of years old, as tomatoes have been grown in the United States since the mid-1600s.
Hybrid varieties are the result of deliberate plant breeding. There is northing unnatural with plant breeding. You could even do it in your garden which is exactly how Gregor Mendel did it in the 1800s. Plant breeding is simply the transfer of pollen from one specific variety of plant to another. There is no crazy gene splicing or anything like that. Those techniques are used by plant geneticists to create genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. GMO plants are very expensive and generally not available to backyard gardeners. Don’t worry, hybrids are not the same as GMOs.
Hybrids are bred to enhance a specific quality or characteristic. With tomatoes, disease resistance is the most common hybrid variety. You’ll see the resistant diseases along with the designation “F1” listed on the seed packet or label. F1, short for Filial 1, is a genetic designation meaning the first offspring of a specific cross. The drawback to hybrids is that seeds collected and sown will not grow true. In other words, you could end up with a very wild tomato without the carefully selected parental characteristics.
At the heart of the heirloom vs. hybrid debate is the rapid loss of varieties. Believe it or not, some varieties are at risk of going extinct. The best way to save these old varieties is to grow them and eat them. How great is that? You can’t save the whales by eating them. But you can save the tomatoes by eating them!
I particularly like the range of strange colors and shapes available with heirloom varieties. The names I also find irresistible. Who wouldn’t want to grow the exotic green and yellow Green Zebra or the hardy and robust Black Sea Man?
There is a popular misconception that heirlooms are temperamental and more difficult to grow than hybrid varieties. Nothing could be further from the truth. They are susceptible to the same problems of many hybrid varieties, but healthy soil, proper irrigation, and plenty of sunlight are all you need to successfully grow heirloom tomatoes. Your local Cooperative Extension will help you figure out which ones grow best in your region.
Aside from deciding between heirloom or hybrids, you need to choose between determinate or indeterminate varieties. Determinate varieties have flower clusters, and consequently fruit clusters, at the shoot tips. Typically, these fruit clusters will all ripen at the same time, presenting you with a bonanza of yummy fruits. However, this also means that you won’t get a continuous supply of tomatoes all summer long. Many people grow these varieties for canning. Determinate tomatoes also tend to be smaller and work very well in pots on the patio, with many of them having the word “patio” in their names. They also tend to be short season plants, an advantage for Zone 5 and below gardeners.
Indeterminate tomatoes have flower clusters along the sides of the shoots, allowing plants to grow and produce fruit continually until the first frost. These plants usually need some kind of support, such as wire cages or stakes. If you have the space, you can allow these plants to express their true rambling nature. However, many indeterminate varieties have a long season. Be sure to check the label or seed packet to make sure there’s a chance the fruit will ripen before the first frost.
Recommended Reading
The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan
The Heirloom Tomato: From Garden to Table: Recipes, Portraits, and History of the World’s Most Beautiful Fruit by Amy Goldman
Recommended Reading & Listening
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93356124
Patty says
Most of the time, our “heirloom” tomato vines outlast any hybrids we grow. As a matter of fact, the one hybrid we have growing now (out of 30 plants) is the only one that is diseased. The Persimmon and Eva Purple Ball varieties have consistently produced more pounds of fruit than any other varieties we grow. And they are big…the kind that one slice covers an entire slice of bread…this is the only time of the year that I miss bread.
Primal Recipe says
Hi Patty, sounds like heirloom is the way to go when it comes to the garden. I just got whatever was at the garden shop for sale but it seems like if I could get my hands on some heirloom seeds I could plant them next year and get them going. Maybe have as many plants as you!
paleoish tom says
Do you know what process is required to save the seeds? It’s funny, my Mother-in-Law brought some heirloom tomatoes home from a street side fruit stand and I was thinking about saving the seeds and maybe planting a few for this year.
I’ve done ok by spreading squash seeds out on a paper towel and letting them dry out. I wonder if I can do the same for tomatoes.
Joanne (The Real Food Mama) says
Cool article! Thanks. Although I am not growing my own tomatoes this summer, I have been shopping at our local farm for lots of veggies, they have your garden variety Hybrid tomatoes, that are very yummy and pretty looking, but there is something so cool about buying those Heirloom tomatoes in all their crazy looking odd shaped glory! Its kinda cool to think that those tomato varieties have been around for so long!
Rudy Kearney says
Good post. Too many people hear the word ‘hybrid’ and panic. Not all hybrids are bad!
Another common misconception I hear about is that all open pollinated (aka non-hybrid) seeds are heirlooms … All heirloom seeds are open pollinated, but not all open pollinated seeds are heirloom varieties.
Open pollinated seeds produce true offspring plants, unlike hybrids. In other words, you can save your seeds and know you’re getting the same thing you grew before.
There’s no formal definition of what an heirloom seed is, but I like the definitions that Victory Seeds uses:
http://www.vintageveggies.com/information/glossary.html#heirloom seed
an heirloom plant variety is one that has been valued by a family, tenderly and carefully preserved, and handed along from generation to generation.
If you can find local heirlooms, you’ll get MUCH better results than anything else, because by definition they’ve been cultivated for your area. Can’t beat that!
jj says
Last year we planted 4 tomato plants, 3 hybrids, 1 heirloom. And then we got a tomato virus… it wiped out all 3 hybrid plants, but the heirloom Brandywine hung on like a champ. It ended up putting out four tomatoes, each over 1.5 pounds! It taught me a lesson, I don’t assume anymore that hybrids are more robust, and I’ve continued to plant a mix of heirlooms and hybrids for variety and disease resistance.
kem says
Did you like the Brandywines? Ours made lots of those large tomatoes but the flavour and texture sentenced them to the bottle. That’s OK, we put up about a hundred 600ml recycled pasta bottles (retrieved from the dump), gotta see us through for six months. We had four plants and they finished up early compared to the other 40 some toms.
Mark. Gooley says
Of course, most heirloom varieties started as the result of careful selection or serious crossbreeding, with desired qualities stabilized into a given variety over a series of generations. Hybrid seeds are usually F1 hybrids, the result of a first-generation cross between two established varieties — sometimes both heirlooms. Hence the seeds from the fruit of such a hybrid plant probably won’t produce plants quite like the plant they grew on.
My limited experience in north Florida, growing mostly peppers and eggplant: sometimes a hybrid variety will outperform most heirlooms. The hybrid sweet pepper “Gypsy” tolerated wet clay soil far better than any heirloom sweet or hot pepper I tried, notably, and the peppers were of good q
kem says
We grow a few varieties of tomato. Early girl gets tick 1, Moneymaker tick 2.
We had a few seasons of a hybrid called Voyager… fifty sents a seed but consistant fruit about the size of a tennis ball, prolific and tasty. Seemed pretty disease and aphid resistant, but the older varieties above have all those qualities in spades.
Middle of winter and Early Girl is still ripening on the laundry room table. mmmm, those tasty nightshades.
Squatchy says
Sometimes if you make friends with people at the farmers markets, or contact some of local farmers, they might give (or sell) you some good seeds. Some of the heirloom varieties are really neat, and make it a little more interesting.
skink531 says
You know I went with the hybrids because I thought they would be easier to grow than the heirlooms. I’ll know better for next year. It didn’t really make a difference either way. The drought we had been having in South FL took care of that.
Primal Recipe says
No drought up here in NY. Our stuff is growing like weeds because of the wet spring and summer we have had. I guess we stole all your rain!
Kim says
What a fascinating post! I have never questioned the difference between GMO and hybrid–I’m not sure why. A few years ago there was someone selling heirlooms at a farmers market, and he sold out within 15 minutes of opening. I was fortunate enough to get a “German Green” and a “Pineapple” heirloom tomato. Unbelievable flavor. I have never tried growing them at home, mostly because we always get abundant tomatos, and my mom and I are the only ones who eat them–what to do with the rest? Can heirlooms be frozen and saved for wintertime? Anyway, thanks for sharing your knowledge!