ED HUMES list of Non-hybrid seeds!!

came across this list while searching Ed Humes seeds

http://www.humeseeds.com/openpol.htm

from the Ed Humes web page:
Non-hybrid Seeds

Q- Are your seeds true non hybrids? and if so, many that you say are do not specify that on their packages. Is there a reason for this?

A- Ninety percent of our seeds are non-hybrids. Because of this, we specify which varieties are hybrids on the packets. You can view every packet on our website individually (at the Seed Rack) or click on the link for non-hybrids to see the list. (Note that none of our flowers are hybrids.)

there are many Ed Humes seeds that we have planted and had no idea they were non-hyrid because Ed Humes doesnt list it on the seed packages all this time we could have been saving seeds!

thought we would share with our PNW friends since ED Hume seeds are for the most part PNW seeds ( i think )

if anyone wants i can list the seeds that we have tried over the last three years and let you know how they have produced

hugs
rose.....who is soooo excited about this

I think that it is tradition to specify hybrid with "F1" BECAUSE that was the big new thing a couple of generations ago. The practice stuck. This generation of home gardeners are all about heirloom seed. Varieties that are fairly new but not hybrid are Open Pollinated (op) and do not have to be designated as "not hybrid" because, again, only hybrids are listed as such so that you will know not to save the seed.

It took Ed a long time to get on the anti GMO (ie Monsanto) wagon. Monsanto gets garden dollars not by selling us GMO seed to home gardeners, but by buying OP and hybrid seed name rights (thus owning the plants even if you saved the seed yourself). I do not want to give one red cent to Monsanto. TSC still sells seed it gets from Seminis (the name of the company Monsanto owns).

Seminis-Monsanto

I was bummed to find out that my Etna soup beans (TSC) are owned by Monsanto. I do not use this but read all the time that gardeners love Packman broccoli (pretty sure Ed sells this one). Packman is theirs. Uprising quit selling Marketmore 76 cucumbers, which I've been successful with, because Monsanto owns it (yea Uprising).

Ed has been surprising me with the number of heirlooms he is now offering, that is good. TSC is bumming me out with all the Monsanto seed they sell (something I sort of expect from Ed since he buys his seed from others but he is doing better). TSC bumms me out. Steve Solomon is long gone but I keep hoping they still have his rebel spunk. They do not.

Bottom line .....I love that you are getting to know what you are spending your money on..... WooT!!

wow debs we had no idea that Monsanto is buying up and owning the rights to seeds yikes!

all this time we have or i should say i have thought that if it didnt state that it was OP then to view it as a hybrid

thanks for the info Debs!
hugs
rose .....who is off to read all her seed packages.....think there may be a lot of them that are OP :drunken:

Rose I think you did a good thing. Adding F1 to a package is tradition, not law.

Lavender Debs wrote:
It took Ed a long time to get on the anti GMO (ie Monsanto) wagon. Monsanto gets garden dollars not by selling us GMO seed to home gardeners, but by buying OP and hybrid seed name rights (thus owning the plants even if you saved the seed yourself). I do not want to give one red cent to Monsanto. TSC still sells seed it gets from Seminis (the name of the company Monsanto owns).

I don't think this is correct. Monsanto owns the name rights, not the seed or the DNA patent. in other words, Monsanto is the only one that can sell under the name such as "Marketmore". Your open pollinated seed isn't Marketmore© anymore, it's Deb's Homegrown Once Upon a Time Marketmore.

No_Such_Reality wrote:

Lavender Debs wrote:
It took Ed a long time to get on the anti GMO (ie Monsanto) wagon. Monsanto gets garden dollars not by selling us GMO seed to home gardeners, but by buying OP and hybrid seed name rights (thus owning the plants even if you saved the seed yourself). I do not want to give one red cent to Monsanto. TSC still sells seed it gets from Seminis (the name of the company Monsanto owns).

I don't think this is correct. Monsanto owns the name rights, not the seed or the DNA patent. in other words, Monsanto is the only one that can sell under the name such as "Marketmore". Your open pollinated seed isn't Marketmore© anymore, it's Deb's Homegrown Once Upon a Time Marketmore.

I sure hope you are correct. What monsanto owns is considered "intellectual property" that they have bought the patent rights to. They regularly sue small farmers in Canada and the USA (google or bing Monsanto vs small farmers). Judges tend to side with Monsanto. I can call my cukes whatever I want, but if a DNA test (Oh yes they have) indicates that one or more of the parent plants were Monsanto's intellectual property, they can (and do) sue. Even IF the judgment is small, or even more rare, for the farmer, most small farms cannot afford to go to court.......btw, now is the time to contribute what you can to "Farm-to-Consumer-legal defense fund.

Uprising Seed in Bellingham just spent hundreds of dollars to have their Painted Mountain Corn DNA tested to protect themselves. They were clean and happy about it.

Lavender Debs wrote:What monsanto owns is considered "intellectual property" that they have bought the patent rights to. They regularly sue small farmers in Canada and the USA (google or bing Monsanto vs small farmers). Judges tend to side with Monsanto. I can call my cukes whatever I want, but if a DNA test (Oh yes they have) indicates that one or more of the parent plants were Monsanto's intellectual property, they can (and do) sue. Even IF the judgment is small, or even more rare, for the farmer, most small farms cannot afford to go to court.

There's a great video called "The Future of Food" that talks about Monsantos part in all this. You can view it here for free:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/67878

CC

It's the great weakness of allowing genes (DNA) to be patented.

It depends on what they bought. If they have 'name rights' that's all they have, is the name.

If an individual 'owns' an heirloom and it was patented upon creation, then that's transferable. As for Marketmore 76, who knows since to me, IMHO, the name indicates an intentional breeding program.

As for Early Girl Tomatoes, that's an F1 hybrid. However, the Early Girl patent, expired in 2005. So the gene's are no longer protected, but the name "Early Girl" most likely is still protected under trademark and copyright. Again, IMHO.

According to Wikipedia, "Open-pollinated alternatives that take roughly the same amount of time as Early Girl include Matina, Sasha's Altai, Silvery Fir Tree, and Stupice."

It's an ugly ugly part of law.

I'm sad that I'll be missing the The national heirloom Exposition in Santa Rosa, I'll be up there but leaving two days before it starts.

interesting note on the Patent Office site.
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ahrpa/opa/museum/1intell.htm

"Plant patents are the way we protect invented or discovered, asexually reproduced plant varieties. Hybrid tea roses, Silver Queen corn, Better Boy tomatoes are all types of plant patents."

A-sexual reproduction seems to be key. Which means the genome must match exactly.

M's soybean patent is on specific engineered genes.
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/plant/

Anybody know the patent date on Better Boy Tomatoes? I see wikipedia says they been around 50 years which surely means the initial patent is expired but it is fairly easy to tweak and gain new patents per the mutant/sport note in the prior links.

Lavender Debs wrote:Rose I think you did a good thing. Adding F1 to a package is tradition, not law.

Hybrid seeds are the seeds from two carefully selected parent strains of a plant, and are properly defined as first generation seeds. F2 (second generation) seeds, resulting from two F1 parents, often result in unpredictable plants that may produce unreliable fruit. Open pollinated seeds come from plants that have very similar genetic traits, often the result of years of seed selecting for the desired resultant fruit. Heirloom varieties refer to selected strains that have been grown for many decades or more, with some variation from being grown for many generations in the same climate or area - witness the different strains of Brandywine tomatoes available.
I assume "TSC" refers to Territorial Seed Company. They have NO connection with Seminis or its parent, Monsanto -please see their new catalog, and feel free to call them to confirm that.

Well, I know that this is an old thread, but since it's been revived. A list has been made of GMO-Monsanto companies. TSC may have been on it, I know Johnny's seed is. I don't remember exactly how it went, but had nothing to do with GMO seed, but,the people/friends that worked at 1 company, moved to another company, which Monsanto bought, guilt by association. Johnny's does not sell Gmo seeds either.

I got a pk of seeds from a company, supposedly open pollenated, but, when I looked up the name of tomato, it was listed as a f1 hybrid. When I notified the folks, they said, oh well. I'm afraid that we are facing a bleak future, it's ok to lie about it/ or be harmful to folks if enough money can be made!
Jo

Hi, Jo, I'm sorry that you got a hybrid instead of an expected OP seed packet - that seed company should have done more to correct their mistake, but you can just cross them off your list for any future orders.
Many very reputable seed companies have signed the Safe Seeds Pledge, I think it's called, and I will only order from such vendors, SESE (Southern Exposure Seeds Exchange) is one such company, and you might google them for their online catalog. I think you will like what you see. That reminds me, I have to update my member information, I'm in the PNW (zone 8b) now, not Maui!

littlejo
What a pain to get seeds that are of no point in seed saving.
Last year I great a wonderful type of roma that I thought was an OP and carefully saved the seeds, packaged them etc, and after all that realized that they were F1 hybrids.
FOr me it was my fault, not knowing where to read to find that out.

I shouldn't really care for they were free, but it's just the principle of it. I got them from WINTERSOWN, which folks save seed and send into Wintersown, so they depend on the integrity of their gardeners.

Tomato was Razzleberry F1, Wintersown staff said they knew it was a hybrid, had been saving seeds from it and thought it was mostly dehybridized, that I might enjoy what grows. No telling what kind of tomato will grow, but the bad part of it, I offered some seed to someone else. They say that they save other seed from hybrids too.
I guess I just don't know enough about hybrids.
Jo

pomaikai wrote:That reminds me, I have to update my member information, I'm in the PNW (zone 8b) now, not Maui!

pomaikai - to the PNW! I would love it if you would start a new thread here in our region and tell us about yourself and your garden! Pics please!