Join us for our 2022 Citizen Seed Trial

Posted on Monday, 17 January 2022 under Stories

The 2022 Citizen Seed Trial is geared towards understanding variety selection, differences between open-pollinated and hybrid varieties, and increasing understanding of plant breeding. This year we will be testing varieties of cherry tomatoes, bush beans, and carrots.

For the tomato trial, we will compare the highly popular hybrid variety SunGold against the open-pollinated varieties Soleil and Strawberry cherry. The Soleil cherry tomatoes are from our Research and Education Farm and the Strawberry cherry variety from Metchosin Farms, a local seed grower.

Photo by Fiona Hamersley Chambers

For the bush bean trial, we will be comparing the EZ Pick and Straight and Narrow varieties. These bush beans may look similar, but they have different growth patterns that we will observe. As bush beans are largely self-pollinated, they make a great crop to try out your seed saving skills on. Both bean varieties were harvested last year at our Research and Education Seed Farm.

Photo by FarmFolk CityFolk

Finally, our carrot trial will involve an orange Nantes breeding population developed in BC as a farmer-breeder partnership and the popular hybrid carrot Bolero. Carrots are biennials, meaning they take two years to produce flowers and seed. This is a great trial for folks interested in learning more about biennial seed production.

Photo by Duncan McHugh, UBC Land and Food systems