CLOSED: How to collect seeds

I have Poke berries ready to pick. I don't know how to separate the seeds from the juicy berry except dry the berry. The berry doesn't dry enough to put them into little plastic bags with out molding.

Thanks ahead of time,
Sandy

Maybe try setting them on a paper plate covered loosely with a piece of paper towel and set on the top of your fridge. The warmth from the fridge coils should help dry out the berries and the paper plate and towel will absorb some of the moisture so hopefully molding is hindered.

I still have a big fat TV (not the flat type) and I set seeds to dry on top of it and the warmth of the tv helps dry them out.

Can't you just squeeze the berry and then rinse the seeds and dry them? I would wear disposable gloves unless you want to have purple fingers.

You can also put them into paper envelopes so they don't mold (make some out of newspaper). I just got some berry type seeds in a plastic baggie and a couple had mold on them. You can tell that they don't do well in plastic.

I tried squashing the berries today. The seeds are small so it will be tricky. rinsed them some then poured them into a cardboard lid and set them outside. Of course when I did this my glove had a hole and my middle finger is purple....of course!

I may go this route if I can get a wire strainer and lay them out in the sun. I love my pokeweed.

I will leave this up a few more days and see if anyone has done this before.

Have a Great evening :)

DG Plant Files says to remove the fleshy coating before storing, and mentions fermenting the pulp. That seems to be one standard way to clean seeds with fleshy pulp - like tomato seeds.

(Squeeze the pulp out or mash the berries, dilute with a little added water, let it ferment for several days and then wash away all the guck by flushing through a wire strainer). Adding yeast or sugar might encourage the fermentation to start sooner and go faster, but should not be necessary since wild yeast and bacteria are "everywhere".

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/576/
American Pokeweed, Inkberry, Pidgeonberry, Pokeberry
Phytolacca americana

Seed Collecting:
Remove fleshy coating on seeds before storing
Unblemished fruit must be significantly overripe before harvesting seed; clean and dry seeds
Ferment seeds before storing


Are the seeds big enough to be held back by window screening?
Putting some 24 mesh window screening in an embroidery hoops makes a great seive, finer than some kitchen strainers, which are mostly around 18 mesh. I've been told there are also 30-mesh strainers (very fine) but I haven 't found them.


Everyone who posted to the DG Plant Files article seems to agree that birds love to eat Pokeweed berries and spread the seeds everywhere, and that once the taproot is established, it goes very deep, yet opinions vary widely about how "invasive" it is. Some people seem to be saying "well, yes, it is invasive but I like it".

lehua_mc from Portland, OR (Zone 8b) said:
>> "I live in Portland, OR where it is on an Early Detection and Rapid Response (EDRR) list of invasive species of special concern to the Multnomah and Sandy River Basin area. The fact that birds can eat the berries is one of the more damaging aspects of the plants, since they can then spread the plant anywhere, "

creekwalker from Benton County, MO (Zone 5a) wrote:
>> Poke can become quite invasive. It suddenly appeared in my yard in town and I was never able to get rid of it.

Blubird333 from Shawnee Mission, KS wrote:
>> It spreads so well because I believe the birds deposit the seeds across the garden. If you weed it while it's very small and young, it's no problem to contain...once

jamlabor from Pittsburgh, PA wrote:
>> Anyhow, this pokeweed is making my life miserable...it's growing everywhere and as many have noted, it's impossible to eradicate.

hotlanta from Lilburn, GA (Zone 8a) wrote:
>>It is very invasive, but it could be called interesting.


ravntorthe from Elkins, WV wrote:
>> I like the plant but I spent all last season trying to get two seperate plants in two very different areas of my yard to GO AWAY. I thought I had finally triumphed after I dug down about 2 1/2 feet and dug out the major portion of tap roots. Instead, I just got a whole mess of babies. Just as a side note: Smothering them doesn't work either.


Breezymeadow from Culpeper, VA (Zone 7a) wrote:
>> I have to admit that even though it is a difficult-to-eradicate noxious weed, I too allow it to flourish on my property

berryls from Dayton, OH wrote:
>> BEWARE. It is hugely invasive. It has invaded several of my flowerbeds and cannot be removed without digging out the huge fleshy root.

If I could find a way to eradicate Ruellia tweediana I am sure there is a way to get rid of this. Brush killer, 3 times the strength of round up like for poison ivy. I know it is not organic but it works. Cape Honeysuckle is so very invasive but so beautiful.


[qoute]Are the seeds big enough to be held back by window screening? [/quote] Yes I think so. I am going to see what I can do. First I want to try to dye my DGD's shirt :)

Thanks I will try what you suggested.

>> Ruellia tweediana

I was looking for sxome "wild petunia" ground cover, and traded for this:
Wild Petunia
Ruellia nudiflora
Then someone said that "Wild Petunia Ruellia" was invasive (but not WHERE it was invasive).

Plant Files had a few "invasive" comments, but the only ones I saw were from FL, TX and LA.

I'll still try R. nudiflora and R. tweediana if I find those seeds, but last year none of the petunia seeds I tried to start indoors sprouted - wild or otherwise.

I mostly tried to start petunia seeds I got in trade, without checking for dates, but I also tried a new seed-starting mix I was having success with, for other plants. And that was my first year with a heating mat.

Corey

I still have some. If you would like I could send you some cuttings. They are really easy to root in water or dirt. I have no idea how to find seeds on them.

LMK if you would like some. We could trade or I would sed some for postage.
Blessings,
Sandy

Thanks very much Sandy, but I am WAY behind this year and this season. I need to ctreate 2-3 new beds, and THEN I would ask for cuttings.

I also have more seeds of the "R. nudiflora" that I need to try to sprout again. I'm stubburn, I am!

But thanks: next year or 2013, I may well come back asking for cuttings.

Corey

When ever you get ready Dmail me and if I still have some it will be yours.

Thanks for the advice on collecting seeds.
Sandy

Thanks, and you're welcome. Good luck saving them without mold. Both snow pea pods and radish pods got moldy here before I thoguht the seeds were mature.

Corey

Corey, try leaving the Petunia seed on top of the soil and gently pressing it in to make contact without covering it. Some seed need light to germinate and others need darkness (covered with soil) try different ways to see if one works better than the other.

Maybe I sprinkled a little vemriculite over them, thinking that it would let light through.

Maybe the surface of my seedling mix was so coarse that, when I dropped tiny seeds on top, they still fell into crevices that were too deep and blocked the light.

Thanks!

Corey

Corey, instead of sprinkling anything over the seeds, cover the container with a plastic see through material like saran wrap. This will hold in the moisture and prevent them from drying out. When they start to germinate remove the covering so they do not suffocate.Good luck.

I do cover two trays with a tall, clear plastic humidity dome, and the others with 18" wide Saran wrap propped up on plastic plant markers made from mini-blind slats. (I only bought 2 domes, but have room for 4-5 trays under lights.)

I guess I need to just trust that seeds don't NEED to be buried. You would think I would be convinced by seeing seeds sprout on top of coffee filters!

I think that, next year, I will make sure that the surface for very fine seeds is very fine pine bark, or milled peat plus vermiculite. And pat it down flat before sprinkling seeds. The prior two years, I had so many petunias sprout that I had to chop down 4-8 sprouts per cell, and that HURT. (Those years, I had saved seeds from the year before. Hybrid F2 and F3 still look good in the garden! The year that nothing came up, I planted from trades. But I blame the soil and my practices, not the seeds.)

Funny how hard it is to change a habit like burying seeds. I never realized how set in my ways and stubburn I can be, until I had enough gardening room to try new things!

Goodness, Sandy! Looks like your question about poke got upended!

Did you have any luck?

I wanted to collect seed this year from the native yellow passion flower vine growing in my front yard, but as Corey pointed out from PlantFiles notes about poke weed the fruit was supposed to be overripe before the seeds would be ready. Well, the plant was covered with fruit a week or two ago. When I went to collect fruit this weekend the vines had been stripped!!! Apparently they are a delectable treat for the birds. That's the same reason I like poke weed.

I collected maybe a dozen "overripe" fruits from the passion flower vine and laid them on paper towels and put them in a thin cardboard box to dry. I have not attempted to collect poke weed seed, but I have always allowed poke to remain because of its food value for wildlife. It does spread easily but if you know what it looks like as a seedling it's very easy to control by pulling up at the root. True, once they become established their pithy stems are hard to get out!

Let me know how your seed collection turned out please. I'll bet those poke seeds are very tiny. I'm guessing the seeds from the passion flower fruit will be very small as well.

A.

I have the fruits smashed and in purple water :) but I have been staying with a friend who has cancer. I hope to get to that job this week. Yes the seeds are small. I will let you know as soon as I get to this.

I owe you a dmail as soon as I get a chance. I don't have the seedlings I told you about yet but hope to soon. Will keep you up to date as soon as I know something.

Blessings,
Sandy

Sounds like you are doing important work.

I have forgotten about the seedlings (?!) so we are both in luck! :D

Not going anywhere fast on this end. Take good care.

A.

I was just reminded of these seed collecting principles:


After collecting seed-bearing stalks, they dry faster if you strip the pods off the stalk, so you don;t have to dry stems and leaves as well as pods and seeds.

If you have soggy seedheads or pods, "press" them between sheets of paper towel or coffee filters to remove water.

If they are really soggy, fold a big bathtowel so there are 2 layers on the tale. Lay a coffee filter on top of that. Add wet seed heads. lay another coffee filter on top of that. Fold 2 more layers of bath towel over that. Now lay a heavy book on top of the stack to press it all together. The towel will wick water away from the seed heads and coffee filters. (Don;t skip the coffee filters or you may be picking seeds out of the bathtowel for weeks!)


------------------------------
When stripping pods or seed heads off stems, try to leave as much chaff behind as possible. Cleaning the seeds will be easier if you don't have to remove a lot of crumbled chaff and petals.

Experiment by holding your fingertips apart by different distances. Try stripping the stem from top-to-bottom, and bottom-to-top. Try using your fingernails, or pinching, or rubbing. Find the gentlest move that opens most of the mature seed pods and releases the seeds while leaving behind stem, leaves and some of the pod.


-----------------------
If you have plenty of mature seeds - more than you need for saving & trading - don't worry about getting every last seed out of every pod. Ideally: well-pollinated, well-dried on the stem, lots of seeds per head and lots of heads.

Drop lots of stems into a paper bag, way more than you need. Let them dry well, which makes the pods more fragile and tend to open.

Put them into a paper bag, fold the top over, and shake hard. or rub the stems against each other so the pods are rubbed open gently.

If you find enough seeds at the bottom of the bag, you;re all done! And you have gotten the most-mature, most-ready seeds by collecting only those easily released from the pods.

If you didn't get enough seeds by just shaking, rub the stems and pods gently with your palms and shake again. The idea is to release the seeds without breakin g the pods down into chaff and dust. If you don;t create any chaff, you won't have to remove it from the seeds.









When stripped