Just heard the term "landrace" for the first time the other day. Did a little googling about it. Does one need to grow more than one variety of a plant for cross-pollination to get to the "survival of the fittest" or are environmental factors enough (although limiting)? I've only collected tomato seeds in the past as far as vegetables are concerned.

I think that a central part of the meaning of "landrace" is that it developed from a very diverse gene pool.

Just one variety of plant would not have a great deal of genetic variety. Both OP and hybrid cultivars come from inbred lines that are as genetically uniform as their breeders could make them.

ATP is lucky to have @Joseph as a member. He is breeding multiple landraces using the widest possible variety of cultivars as his source gene pool.

His climate selects ruthlessly and his yields increased greatly the first few years he combined many cultivars and kept only those plants that survived his weather.

Joseph also has a landrace blog with the Mother earth news:
http://www.motherearthnews.com...

I did read the MEN article before I posted the question. I initially heard the term for the first time last month from @chelle and I got curious. It makes sense about the genetic variety but I wasn't sure if environmental factors had any influence on the genetics. I have such a small gardening area and I grow a lot in pots so I wasn't sure if I could squeeze in enough variety to experiment with. Thanks for clarifying.

Cindy,

The seeds I recently sent to you were from plants I originally grew out of Joseph's seeds. Just thought you might like to know, and I couldn't recall if I'd mentioned it before.

chelle - I remember you mentioning landrace but didn't know that the seeds came from the Joseph in the MEN article. Thanks again for those seeds. I think I'm going to try a few of them in the fall to see what happens. Seems a shame to only grow them in the spring.

You're very welcome.

Shadegardener said: ... It makes sense about the genetic variety but I wasn't sure if environmental factors had any influence on the genetics. I have such a small gardening area and I grow a lot in pots so I wasn't sure if I could squeeze in enough variety to experiment with. Thanks for clarifying.

Certainly your environment will select for traits that support survival and propagation where you live (climate, pests, diseases, soil, etc). However, with most commercial seeds, the genetic variety has mostly been bred out of them.

So starting a landrace with commercial OP or F1 hybrids is like looking for needles in a haystack, where the haystack has very few needles. You'll find that variety's best genes for your region, but the odds are against that one variety having many extra-suitable genes.

I think that the breeding game is a numbers game: it works faster and gives more options if you're choosing the best few plants out of 1,000 plants or 10,000 plants. Picking the best plant from ten plants will go much slower, and it might be many years before you see an unusually good combination of genes.

Thanks for all of the explanations. Sounds like years of daunting trial and error to find the very best variety but the fun's in the trying, right?

>> the fun's in the trying

I agree.

Also, it almost feels liberating to think that there IS NO "one best variety".

There's what grows fastest in one area, what yields the most, what needs least irrigation, what survives the cold years best, what survives the hot, dry years best, what tastes best in good years, what tastes OK in stressed years, what resists pest #1 best, what survives disease #7 best ...

Every possible breeding goal can be in the melting pot of a landrace, and each grower's situation and concerns define what goals matter most to that grower.

With enough genetic diversity to draw on, all those goals can contribute to the population of genes most sought after.

Whoa - I should live so long.