How do people get their seeds so clean?

11 years ago

I figured I'd ask this one well in advance of seed saving season.. for me anyway it's the start of growing season and no where near seed collection time..

I get in trade seeds, and often I'm seriously amazed at how clean the seeds are. Pepper and tomato seeds without a bit goo traces, or small flower and herb head seeds with almost zero or totally zero chaff.

About the only seeds I get totally clean is bean and pea seeds, and even at that I often have a little bit of flakes from the pods in the packets.

I did have some great luck with my toothache plant, dill, and parsley seed last season with a lot of winnowing.. but still had "home picked" debris in the packets.

So, how do folks clean their seeds? How to get them really clean?

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Comments (3)

theforgottenone1013 (SE MI zone 5b/6a)
11 years ago
A few sieves of different mesh sizes work great to remove most, if not all, of the chaff.

Rodney
plays_in_dirt_dirt
11 years ago
If it's a wet or fibrous seed (tomato, winter squash, cantaloupe, etc.), I remove as much gel, pulp, or fiber as I can, then put the seeds in a sieve. I hold the sieve under running water and rub the seeds against the mesh of the sieve. This removes a lot of the fibers and loosens most of the rest. Then I put the seeds in a bowl of water, where it's easy to pick off the floating or large remaining fibers. Put the seeds on a plate and once dry, it's easy to pick off any remaining fiber or pulp, if at all.

Some seeds (verbena bonariensis, ageratum, native aster, etc.) are so tiny, it's almost impossible (for me) to remove all the chaff. I put them in several sized sieves and shake, shake, shake over a plate. Take the plate outside and gently blow on the seeds a time or two. This removes some, but not all chaff. More than a time or two of gently blowing sends seeds away with the chaff, so I don't overdo it. On seeds like this, I write on the packet: :"Contains chaff. Sow with chaff."

Some seeds (columbine, poppy) simply need to have their "seed cups" turned upside down over a bowl and the seeds fall out, chaff free. Others (four o'clocks. sunflowers) just need to be picked off the plant.

Welcome to the hobby of seed saving! It's quite rewarding.
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purslanegarden
11 years ago

I watched this video on YT and it gave some good information about how to harvest and clean seeds. Of course it doesn't cover every plant or type of seed but it has some great ideas.

How to harvest seeds

How to clean seeds

As for washing seeds, I do as plays_in_dirt does. However, washing them should come soon after harvesting, since I imagine that at some future time after you have left the seeds to dry, if there is still veggie or fruity goop on them that you meant to clean, and you wet it, that might trigger the seed to start some kind of germination. The other part of that is the goop might begin to have fungus, so again, you'd want to clean it soon after harvesting.