Heirloom Tomato Guide

Heirloom Tomato Guide

While there are over 10,000 varieties – heirloom tomatoes have become very popular and widely available. An heirloom is generally considered to be a variety that has been passed down, through several generations of a family because of its 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. TomatoFest Garden Seeds (see the link) has adopted the definition used by tomato experts, Craig LeHoullier and Carolyn Male, who have classified down heirlooms into four categories:

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 de-hybridizing the resulting seeds for however 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.

PS….All heirloom varieties are open-pollinated but not all open-pollinated varieties are heirloom varieties.

http://www.tomatofest.com/heirloom_tomato_seed_store.html