what are hybrid seeds?

Ok, I have been getting tons of seeds catalogs and it is time to start planning this next summers gardens and getting our seeds ordered, etc.

An awful lot of them are listed as "hybrid". Are they genetically modified if they are hybrids? Sorry if that is a stupid question but I still have alot of learning to do! LOL I did get one catalog from Baker Seeds (I think) that is all heirloom seeds. From reading through it, it seems that those are safe seeds. Does anyone know any other companies I can get safe seeds from as well? If I am going to go to all the trouble of growing our food I want it to be safe food! :eek:

Thanks! :)

Heirloom seeds are going to be your best bet. Those are seeds that have not been altered genetically or otherwise. Hybrids as far as I know are in some way altered either genetically or possibly via a special coating which could contain some form of fertilizer/herbicide/fungicide or whatever. You should be able to find plenty of info by googling heirloom seeds. I noticed you are from Michigan as I am. Are you by chance from the southwest part of the state? I know the Gobles/Paw Paw area is big on blueberries. I live in Kalamazoo. Just curious. Hope this helps.


Andy

hybrid doesnt necessarily mean GM. it could just mean cross strains. thats why you can have hybrid stuff thats still organic. i think as long as you stick with an organic company you should be OK. find a small, reliable, organic seed company and call them and ask them your concerns. i used to get my seeds at whole foods--because i believe WF doesnt sell anything GM; and the company that packed the seeds also sold some non-organic ones. i called them and asked them if even their non-organic ones were guaranteed to be non-gmo and they said yes... there were some things i wanted that i couldnt find organic seeds for so i just got those ones.

kb

unbent- I am from north of Grand Rapids. Blueberries is something we planted last year and hoping they produce for us this year. cant hardly wait, but guess I'll have to LOL

kaybee- thanks for the info. I need to decide what we're doing soon.

Thanks!

F1 Hybrids are two plants that have been cross-pollinated to produce plants with increased vigour, greater crop yield, improved resistance to disease, etc, than the two constituent seeds. For example, if one of the parent plants has a high crop yield, but is prone to disease, they cross it with a different plant that has high disease-resistance but may have a lower yield - essentially, they're trying to get the best traits of both plants. The only thing about F1 Hybrids are that you can't keep seed from the plants, as the resulting plants will be the same as one of the two parent plants. F1 hybrids are not GM - they've been producing hybrids in this way since 1920 - long before GM was around.