Open-Pollinated Alternatives to Your Favorite Hybrids

Hybrids are bred for reliability, but their seed does not come true, so you buy it again every year. If you want to save your own seed, these open-pollinated and heirloom varieties get you close to the hybrids people love most.

Instead of Sungold, try Black Cherry or Isis Candy

Sungold's intense, fruity sweetness is hard to match, but Black Cherry brings a rich, complex sweetness in a dark cherry, and Isis Candy offers candy-sweet bicolor fruit. Both are open-pollinated, so you can save seed.

Instead of Early Girl, try Stupice or Moskvich

For an early, dependable red that you can save, Stupice is a cold-tolerant Czech heirloom that ripens very early, and Moskvich is an early Russian slicer with richer, old-fashioned flavor.

Instead of Better Boy or Big Beef, try Aussie or Cuostralee

For a big, meaty, open-pollinated beefsteak, Aussie and Cuostralee both deliver large, richly flavored fruit. The tradeoff is the hybrids' disease resistance, which these heirlooms lack, so they do best where blight pressure is lower.

Instead of Sweet 100, try Matt's Wild Cherry

For heavy chains of tiny, intensely flavored red cherries, Matt's Wild Cherry is an open-pollinated option with real disease tolerance, though the fruit is smaller and the plant sprawls.

A note on the tradeoff

Open-pollinated varieties let you save seed and often taste wonderful, but most carry less disease resistance than a modern hybrid. In a wet, blight-prone summer, that resistance can be the difference, so it is worth keeping a resistant hybrid or two in the mix.

Varieties mentioned

SungoldBlack CherryIsis CandyEarly GirlStupiceBetter BoyAussieSweet 100

Sources