Many people are under the assumption that hybrid vegetables are also GMO, genetically modified organisms, but that is not the case. 

Hybridization in plants refers to the process of crossing two different plants, typically within the same species to produce offspring or hybrids that contain traits from both parents. Kind of like having your dad’s eyes and your mother’s hair color. Hybridization can occur naturally though cross-pollination, but most often is done by plant breeders to achieve certain characteristics, such as improved yields in crops, more disease resistance, or in the case of flowers more vibrant colors. Tomatoes and Peppers are two of the most hybridized vegetables. Tomatoes to either be meatier or juicier and peppers to be hotter. Now don’t think you are going to be able to try cross-pollinating your tomato and pepper plants to make a really good salsa, because it is just not that simple. 

True hybrids take years to perfect as many of the seeds from the first successful hybrid will revert back to one of the parents when planted again. Only a few seeds out of thousands will behave like the true hybrid and through multiple generations of plants and seeds, the true hybrid will be perfected. 

GMO’s on the other hand are created through direct DNA manipulation in a lab. Some common GMO traits include improved pest resistance, resistance to herbicides like Roundup and improved nutrient content. According to the FDA, Food and Drug Administration, GMO’s are extensively tested for safety and environmental impact before commercial use, but there is a lot of debate about that because the labs doing the testing are the same labs that produced the GMO. I make no bones about it that I am no fan of GMO’s. Mostly because of the testing process and the fact that there are few long term studies on the effect of GMO’s. With the companies producing the GMO also in charge of testing the safety of that GMO, it’s like making Bernie Madoff the head of the Federal Reserve. In case you forgot who Bernie was, he was the creator of one of the worlds largest ponzie schemes. The other reason I am not a fan of GMO’s is for the fact that many GMO crops can be sprayed with Roundup while they are growing. Roundup was never designed to be sprayed on anything you wanted to eat and should not be. Roundup has been around for over 70 years while the first GMO patent was only granted in 1985. 

None of the vegetable plants that we sell as starter plants are GMO, but we do have a lot of hybrids. Tomatoes like Early Girl that ripen in less than two months or Better Boy which is a beefsteak hybrid that has better disease resistance. Peppers like Carolina Reaper which is a cross between a ghost pepper and a red habanero for high heat and Pablano which is a mild chili pepper. 

And then of course there are heirloom varieties which are just the same varieties that our grandparents grew in their gardens seventy to a hundred years ago. The Brandywine Tomato was first introduced in 1885 in the Johnson & Stokes seed catalog in Philadelphia. The variety was originally grown by Amish farmers near the Brandywine Creek in Chester County, PA, but probably came from Europe. Heirloom or hybrid, you’ll be able to find the right plants for you. Besides most retailer’s don’t even have a source to get GMO plants as wholesale greenhouses don’t usually grow them. GMO’s are mainly for commercial farms that are sowing seed directly into the fields. I hope this clears up a little of the mystery for you.