Looking for Heirloom Tomato Seeds?

The question you have to ask is what is an Heirloom Tomato?

1. What is the talk all about?
2. Is it a particular variety?
3. Are they all that different than a regular tomato?
4. What are the advantages to the heirloom tomato?
5. Isn’t a tomato just a tomato?

“An heirloom is generally considered to be a variety that has been passed down, through several generations of a family because of it’s valued characteristics. Since ‘heirloom’ varieties have become popular in the past few years there have been liberties taken with the use of this term for commercial purposes. ”

Is it a particular variety?

1. Commercial Heirlooms: Open-pollinated varieties introduced before 1940, or tomato varieties more than 50 years in circulation.
2. Family Heirlooms: Seeds that have been passed down for several generations through a family.
3. Created Heirlooms: Crossing two known parents (either two heirlooms or an heirloom and a hybrid) and dehybridizing the resulting seeds for how ever many years/generations it takes to eliminate the undesirable characteristics and stabilize the desired characteristics, perhaps as many as 8 years or more.
4. Mystery Heirlooms: Varieties that are a product of natural cross-pollination of other heirloom varieties.

” ‘Heirloom’ applied to plants was apparently first used by Kent Whealy of Seed Savers Exchange, who first used “heirloom” in relation to plants in a speech he gave in Tucson in 1981. He had asked permission to use the term “heirloom” from John Withee, who had used the term on the cover of his bean catalog. John said sure, that he had taken it from Prof. William Hepler at the University of New Hampshire, who first used the term “heirloom” to describe some beans that friends had given him back in the 1940s. “

Are they all that different than a regular tomato seeds?

Yes,

There are many different varieties of heirloom tomatoes seeds,

“and probably one of the most popular reasons people to plant these tomatoes is their local resistance to pests, local weather, as well as their unique look and flavor. Also, heirloom tomato seeds are frequently grown organically without pesticides, fertilizers, or growth hormones.”

“Most people are accustomed to the look of a tomato in a grocery store; many of the heirloom varieties give a different taste, texture and look to the tomato. This gives them another reason for being a popular hobby farm tomato. People enjoy the distinctive flavors and look of some of the varieties such as Brandywine, Black Krim, Big Rainbow, which is a yellow tomato with interesting red swirls, and other primitive tomato seed varieties.”

What are the advantages to the heirloom tomato seeds?

“Many of the heirloom varieties of tomatoes are easy to grow organically. Since they are resistant to pests, you don’t need to use pesticides, and because they grow easily in local climates, you don’t need fertilizers either. This means that they can be organically grown in local soil; also, being organic is another popular reason for consumers to purchase the heirloom tomatoes.”

Source: what-is-heirloom-tomato

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