WALL STREET JOURNAL– In the kingdom of vegetables, the heirloom tomato is high nobility. Genetically unchanged from one generation to another, it offers an intense flavor prized by gardeners and gourmets.

But it has a reputation for being persnickety in the garden. While modern hybrids are tweaked and improved to resist common diseases, the old stalwarts seem to easily succumb to pathogens that can cause plants to suddenly wilt just as they seem ready to produce.

Tasty Tomatoes

Now, as gardeners prepare to plant this summer’s crop, a number of plant breeders are offering hybrids they claim have the distinct flavors and funky looks of heirlooms but are more disease-resistant and abundantly productive.

To tomato purists, the hybrids amount to heirloom heresy. “I cringe when I hear the term ‘heirloom hybrid,’ ” says Amy Goldman, board chairwoman of the Decorah, Iowa-based nonprofit Seed Savers Exchange. The group champions the tradition of passing along heirloom seed from one generation to the next.

Some of the new varieties are bred to better withstand diseases and microscopic critters that can harm plants. Little worms are why Roger Chetelat can’t grow heirlooms. “The soil where I live is infested with nematodes,” says the director of the C.M. Rick Tomato Genetics Resource Center at the University of California, Davis.

Continue reading about Heirloom Tomatoes Are Being Hybridized.

© Wall Street Journal, 2010

Photo by flickr user Jackie Alpers