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IPFS News Link • Agriculture

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HEIRLOOM, OPEN POLLINATED, AND HYBRID ORGANIC SEEDS

• https://www.naturespath.com by Nan Fischer

For seed saving, you need heirloom or OP varieties. These will grow true from saved seed, meaning you will get the same plant as the one you harvested seed from. If you're not interested in saving seed, a hybrid might work for you.

OPEN POLLINATED SEEDS

Open pollinated means the flowers are fertilized by bees, moths, birds, bats, and even the wind or rain. The seed that forms produces the same plant the following year. Some OP plants are self-pollinators. This means the structure of the flower allows fertilization before it opens.

OP varieties grow out true every year. They are genetically diverse, so there can be a lot of variation in the plants and fruits. Since agriculture began about 12,000 years ago, people have been choosing the qualities they like in a plant, such as fruit size, flavor, growth habit, heat and cold tolerance, and uniformity, saved the seed, and continually grew it out year after year. This is plant selection and can only be done with OP seed.


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