How to Get Black-eyed Susan Seeds Out of the Dried Head?

I've saved lots of heads of black-eyed susans and have been collecting the tiny seeds by ruffling the head with a finger or against my palm. There are lots of seeds I'm not getting; I can always go back to a head and find more. There is also a good bit of dried petal trash among the seeds.

This is so painstaking, and the result is far from pure. I'm sure there is a better way and that it is basic to experienced seed collectors. Any advice?

Hi Paris,
Last year when I collected the seed heads, after letting them dry....I think I use to cut them in half and peel away the seeds, which then came off easily since I had some pressure under them from the cut cone.
Trish

Paris are you sure your letting them mature fully. Sometimes if you have trouble dislodging the seeds it's because they aren't quite mature. The ripe seeds should fall from the cone easily.

With rudbeckia I've found that it helps if I pull off the dark brown crusty part (this would be the brown center of the black eye) before the seeds are ready. A lot of it will fall out on it's own but I'll help it along just to keep down the unwanted chaff when I harvest them. The cone looks empty after but the seeds are snug down inside the cone. After harvesting them and letting them dry the seeds come easily from just shaking them or tapping the cones in a container.

Thanks Trish and Sue,

The heads were fully dry when I harvested them. The seeds do come out easily when I shake the head, but when I ruffle the head, I get 10 times more. If I do it too hard, then I get tons of chaff, which I don't want.

I should probably be satisfied with what shakes out easily, but I hate wasting all the seeds that don't come out with a little shake. Even after a thorough ruffling, I put the emptied heads in a jar and shake them, and yet more seeds come out.

I guess I'll stick to what I've been doing.

Does anyone have suggestions about cleaning up the seed-chaff mix? I can get rid of the dust and most minute debris by pouring it back and forth from one glass bowl to another (the static electricity hold on to the smallest debris), but that doesn't get rid of the chaff.

I admit that the chaff is not a hazard or problem when planting. I'd just like to know how the seed companies and serious obsessives do it.

can anyone post pictures of what they are talking about? not sure now which is the cone and which are the seeds :/
are the seeds the actual black eye or are they under the black eye?
thanks
newbie

Nadi, there a couple of pictures of the seed heads & seeds in the PDB http://plantsdatabase.com/go/25/index.html

Paris, thanks for asking a question I've been too embarrassed to ask, don't like asking questions in fear of the expert crowd. But since we're on the subject, what about daisys? Want to hear how dumb i am? I ran my cut and dried flower heads thru my chipper/shredder. Looking back thats a lot of plants someone else could of had. Also, when is the best time to separate perrrenials, just want to dig up a clump or 2 of susans/daisies and give away, is the summer heat too much stress? Thanks in advance everyone, sorry Paris if i got your thead off on a tangent.

thats awesome! thanks poppysue! looks like a bit of trouble to seperate the chaff from the seeds tho :))

It never ceases to amaze me - if I look long and hard enough, I can find an answer to every question! I never thought to look in pdb for a picture if the seed head and seed!

Thanks!