When buying seeds for your veggie, herb or flower patch, should you opt for heirloom seeds or hybrids? Does it matter if they’re open pollinated? Can you save seeds if cross pollination has occurred?

Here’s our guide to hybrid vs heirloom seeds, and tips for making your seed choices count!

Open Pollinated vs Cross Pollinated Seeds

Open pollinated seeds are seeds that have been naturally pollinated by insects, birds, air or other animals. They will grow true to type from one generation to the next, unless cross-pollination occurs. That means you can save open-pollinated seeds from this season to grow again.

Over time, open pollination can result in plants that are well adapted to the local environment. When passed down for many generations, they are called heirloom seeds. All heirloom seeds are open pollinated, but not all open pollinated seeds are heirloom.

Cross pollination is when one plant pollinates a plant of a different variety. This can occur naturally in the garden, particularly in the cucurbit family (think pumpkin, zucchini and squash) and between corn varieties. When cross pollination does occur, it means the next generation won’t be true to the parent plant. 

Sometimes cross pollination is done on purpose to create hybrid seeds that have specific traits.

What are Hybrid Seeds?

Hybrid seeds are seeds that have been bred for specific traits – for example stronger pest resistance, bolt-hardiness or longer shelf life.

This makes hybrid seeds appealing for commercial growers who can often get more disease resistant and higher producing crops by using hybrid seeds. Hybrid seeds also tend to have more uniform growth making them easier to harvest all at once which can be advantageous for commercial growing.

Hybrid seeds are created by cross-pollinating the genes of two carefully selected parents. This creates a particularly strong first generation crop. However, if you were to collect seeds from this crop, the offspring would not grow true to the parent plant. For this reason, hybrid seeds need to be cross-pollinated every year. For the home gardener, that means seed saving isn’t worthwhile with hybrid seeds – you would need to buy new seeds each year.

Hybrid seeds are typically patented and protected, and in many cases it is illegal to propagate them.

Since hybrid seeds are selected for commercial markets, they tend to be disease resistant, produce uniform fruit / veg and have a longer shelf life. On the down side, they tend to be less tasty than heirloom varieties. It’s also harder to find interesting shapes, colours and quirky varieties with hybrid seeds.

What are Heirloom Seeds?

Heirloom seeds are seeds that have been passed down many generations. Seeds from the healthiest vegetables, herbs or flowers are collected and used again next season. The offspring grows true to the parent plant (unless accidentally cross-pollinated in the garden).

Heirloom seeds are typically grown and saved regionally. Over many generations, this means the seeds have often adapted to local conditions. Buying local heirloom seeds can help improve performance in your own garden.

While hybrid seeds have been bred for traits that are advantageous in a commercial setting (such as long shelf life, disease resistance and uniformity), heirloom seeds are typically selected for their excellent taste and suitability to local growing conditions.

Grow an heirloom variety in your garden for the first time and you’ll often be shocked by how delicious the taste is compared to the produce you tend to find in supermarkets. 

You can usually find a much larger range of interesting varieties, colours and shapes with heirloom seeds. Think knobbly pumpkins, gorgeous ribbed tomatoes, colourful carrots and stripy beetroots. 

Since heirloom seeds grow true to their parents, you can save seeds from one season to the next. This is a great way to save money in the long run, and can be a pleasurable part of the growing process. Once you have your own store of heirloom seeds, you can participate in seed swaps or give your excess seeds to people in the community. An awesome way to contribute to greater food security!

Hybrid vs Heirloom: What’s Best?

Depending on why and how you’re growing, there may be cases when hybrids are more advantageous. However, at Urban Revolution, we almost always recommend home gardeners grow heirloom seeds for better taste, and to support biodiversity. 

Here are some great reasons to buy heirloom seeds:

• The taste is incomparable, and there are a wide range of unusual and interesting varieties to choose from. 

• Every time you grow an heirloom seed, you’re helping preserve this variety for future generations. 

• Even better if you can opt for locally grown heirloom seeds as they’ll be better adapted to your local region.

• We also believe heirloom seeds play an important role in food sovereignty – allowing people to choose what food we grow!

• Heirloom seeds are an important part of our cultural heritage, passed down through many generations. By growing heirloom varieties, we can be part of that legacy.

• Buy from local seed suppliers and support small businesses who are doing their bit to protect biodiversity.

Come browse our very large, very beautiful heirloom seed library! If you need help selecting varieties, chat with our friendly team.

Where to Buy Heirloom Seeds in Perth

Come and visit Perth’s largest heirloom seed library at Urban Revolution. We stock local heirloom varieties from some wonderful seed suppliers such as: Yilgarn, Seed Station, Thrive Sustainability and Pear Cottage.

Prefer to buy heirloom seeds online? Simply send us a text or email with the type of seeds you’re after and our team will look after you.

Also check out our seasonal seed packs if you’d like us to pick a selection of gorgeous heirloom seeds that are ready for planting now. 

Our seasonal seed packs are handpicked by our team with a selection of heirloom seeds that are perfect for planting now.