It’s that time!!! Fall is my favorite time of the year for many reasons….seed collecting being one of them! Not only do I love collecting the seeds, but I love cleaning them, sorting them, and weighing them. The whole process of gathering seeds to disseminate to other places is exciting!! Our 4-year prairie is producing a number of good seeds and in quantities that are sustainable for collecting. If there are only a few plants, I buy or barter for seed. If the plants are plentiful and the seed appears to be good, then I collect 30-50% of each plants’ seeds. I want to make sure not to overcollect because I want them to self sow.
- On a sheet of paper, I note the date and the species collected
- A label with the species name stays with those particular seeds at all time (date and collection location is added if there’s more than 1 location or a large area with management units)
- Once the seed is processed, I note the weight on the sheet of paper mentioned in step 1 of the process
- 4-5 gal. buckets
- A strap to carry the bucket
- Sharp clippers
- Various sizes of seed screens
- Large plastic tubs or sleds
- Paper bags, plastic bags, markers
- Thwack – This is for seeds in pods that are open at the top. Clip the seed head, turn it upside down in the bucket, and thwack it on the inside of the bucket
- Clip and Scrape. This is for seeds with fluff. Clip the seed head, lay out to dry when back at home, then scrap the twigs across a hardware cloth (see pictures of equipment). Most of the fluff will fall into the container.
- Hand Strip. This is for seeds that crumble or strip. I pinch or strip them off the plants with my hands and crumble them into the bucket. If you’re collecting for a large operation, you would cut the seed heads and then hammermill.
- Milkweed. These plants deserve their own special technique. Pull the pods off the plant, before they have burst but when the seeds are brown. If they are still in the pod, it is much easier to strip the fluff from the seeds. Open the pod, grasp the fluff in one hand while scraping the seeds in a downward motion into a bucket with the other.
- Hand clean. More plants with special processing techniques. Gentians and lilies are unique because they have chambered pods. Legumes can be broken open by hand and the seed picked out. If you had a hammermill, you would run this through it, but without one, you need to open each pod and scrape the seeds into a bucket.
- Comb. Little Bluestem is the only plant that uses this technique. Using a common hair comb, drag it through the fluffy seed heads. They are collected on the comb, which can then be scraped off into the bucket.
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