Seeds
Open pollinated seeds are pollinated by wind or insects and traits are selected by nature, or humans who can save the seeds from the plants with the best characteristics. These seeds preserve genetic diversity within a species.
Heirloom seeds are a kind of open pollinated seed and have typically been grown for a long time. These varieties are not commercially grown, represent a huge range of choices not commercially available, and are chosen for reasons like flavor, nutrition, texture or color.
Hybrid Seeds or "F1 hybrid" are created by crossbreeding two different parent varieties in order to produce specific characteristics like sweetness, size or disease resistance. Seeds collected from hybrid plants do not breed true but revert back to the characteristics of the original species.
GMO seeds are "genetically modified organisms" that have genes altered by recombinant DNA technology. These plants have induced characteristics like disease resistance from having a pesticide engineered into their genetic makeup.
Collecting and Saving Seeds
