Re: [CH] Harvesting seeds
Lynn Edwards (ledwards@crl.com)
Fri, 04 Sep 1998 21:15:03 -0700
Dan Cole wrote:
> I want to save the seeds from this year's crop to replant next year, but am
> having a hard time removing all the placenta material from the seeds.
> Anyone out there got any tips?
I save a lot of seeds and consider time to be very important. What I do is cut
open the pod and scrape the seeds and placenta out together into a paper
envelope. The envelope has already been marked with harvest date, species,
variety, and plant number in indelible ink. After the seed/placenta mix is
sealed in the envelope I mash it down a bit so that the envelope starts to wick
out the moisture. Then I clip all the various seed envelopes together and hang
in front of a fan for several days.
> Also, If I don't get all the placenta
> material from the seeds, am I risking all my seeds molding during their
> storage period?
Not if there is enough air circulation. After everything is dry the seeds can
be separated out by rubbing between gloved hands. Use a combination of screen
mesh and blowing lightly to sort the seed from the chaff. I sneeze a lot
during this part.
The cleanest seed I have ever made was from an envelope that had a small hole
and web worm moth larvae got in. The larvae ate all the placenta away leaving
the seed completely unaffected. There was a lot of larvae "leavings" but
these broke up easily and were screened out. The seed was viable - I got a
great crop the next year. I wouldn't recommend this - having these damned
moths flying around everywhere is not worth the effort saved in cleaning seeds.
Lynn Edwards
http://www.crl.com/~ledwards