436
Why tho
(thelemmy.club)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 14 Jul 2026
436 points (98.7% liked)
Gardening
6621 readers
514 users here now
Your Ultimate Gardening Guide.
Rules
- Be respectful and inclusive.
- No harassment, hate speech, or trolling.
- Engage in constructive discussions.
- Share relevant content.
- Follow guidelines and moderators' instructions.
- Use appropriate language and tone.
- Report violations.
- Foster a continuous learning environment.
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
"Heirloom" varieties that are sold are poorly maintained and extensively contaminated (often exceeding 50%). So not stable at all.
In order to properly maintain them you'd need closer to 1,000,000 plants with extensive but careful rogueing over over 30 generations with extensive genetic profiling to clean them up. They are all an absolute mess at this point.
Once you got them cleaned up the same 1,000 plants could maintain the population.
I guess when I said heirloom varieties I meant those that have been used by indigenous communities for generations.