diff --git a/code/modules/hydroponics/gene_modder.dm b/code/modules/hydroponics/gene_modder.dm
index 1796cd487ef..13cce41ed77 100644
--- a/code/modules/hydroponics/gene_modder.dm
+++ b/code/modules/hydroponics/gene_modder.dm
@@ -407,6 +407,7 @@
 			return
 		seed.variant = null
 		seed.apply_variant_name()
+		to_chat(usr, "<span class='notice'>You remove the [seed.plantname]'s variant designation.</span>")
 
 	interact(usr)
 
diff --git a/code/modules/hydroponics/seeds.dm b/code/modules/hydroponics/seeds.dm
index 0b8eee55145..8cd43d55827 100644
--- a/code/modules/hydroponics/seeds.dm
+++ b/code/modules/hydroponics/seeds.dm
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 	var/plantname = "Plants"		// Name of plant when planted.
 	var/product						// A type path. The thing that is created when the plant is harvested.
 	var/species = ""				// Used to update icons. Should match the name in the sprites unless all icon_* are overriden.
-	var/variant = ""				// Optional custom name to track modified plants. Can be set with pen or from gene modder.
+	var/variant = null				// Optional custom name to track modified plants. Can be set with pen or from gene modder.
 
 	var/growing_icon = 'icons/obj/hydroponics/growing.dmi' //the file that stores the sprites of the growing plant from this seed.
 	var/icon_grow					// Used to override grow icon (default is "[species]-grow"). You can use one grow icon for multiple closely related plants with it.
@@ -335,6 +335,7 @@
 
 // adj parameter changes what Adjacent is called from, such as the gene modder or a tray
 /obj/item/seeds/proc/variant_prompt(mob/user, obj/item/container = null)
+	var/prev = variant
 	var/V = input(user, "Choose variant name:", "Plant Variant Naming", variant) as text|null
 	if(isnull(V)) // Did the user cancel?
 		return
@@ -349,7 +350,8 @@
 	variant = copytext(sanitize(html_encode(trim(V))), 1, 64) // Sanitization must happen after null check because it converts nulls to empty strings
 	if(variant == "")
 		variant = null
-	to_chat(user, "<span class='notice'>You [variant ? "change" : "remove"] the [plantname]'s variant designation.</span>")
+	if(prev != variant)
+		to_chat(user, "<span class='notice'>You [variant ? "change" : "remove"] the [plantname]'s variant designation.</span>")
 	apply_variant_name()
 
 /obj/item/seeds/proc/apply_variant_name()