Seed cleaning what is

This step facilitates the subsequent separation of the seeds from the plant materials in the seed cleaning process. Threshing may be done by hand or machine, depending on the scale and type of seed to be processed.

Seeds and plant materials should be dry before threshing. This can be checked by squeezing a handful of seed and plant material. Dry seed and plant material will not have any give while moist materials will give in your hand. If the seeds can be squeezed, or "give" in your hand, or the plant material feels moist, they are not yet dry.

For many crops, seeds can be stripped from the plant by hand before threshing in order to minimize the amount of material that must be dried and broken up. Threshing can be accomplished by stomping or "dancing" on top of the seed heads, rubbing by hand, or by using a variety of machines.

With crops that are more delicate e. For small seed lots it is often more efficient to thresh by hand than to thresh with mechanical threshers. Mechanical threshers increase efficiency of processing lots over about lbs, but usually require a large enough quantity to operate properly and can require substantial work to clean out the machine after use.

To thresh by hand, lay the seed bundles on a tarp or in a large bucket. Wiggle your feet from side to side on top of the seeds, allowing the ball of your foot to slide in place left to right, as if you were squishing a bug. Make sure to always have several inches of seeds and chaff between your foot and the bottom of the bucket or the ground while crushing.

Crushing seeds directly on a hard surface, or for too long, can damage the seeds. Each crop varies in sensitivity to pressure, so it is important to check the seeds to see if they have received sufficient pressure to break free from the plant material or if they are cracking from too much pressure. More delicate seeds can also be threshed by rubbing between your hands with a pair of gloves or rubbing the seed and plant material over a rough surface by hand.

For threshing large seed lots, farmers and seed professionals often use commercial threshing machines belt threshers or combines , or adapt mulching equipment into threshing machines. Frank Morton demonstrates belt thresher at Wild Garden Seed. Dry seeds are seeds that are matured in a dry state rather than inside of a fruit. In the harvesting process and after threshing, dry seeds are usually mixed with other plant materials such as sticks and leaves, dirt, stones, and weed seeds that are inadvertently collected with the harvested seed.

The seed is then cleaned separated from the other material by techniques based on differences in weight, size, or shape of the seed. There are also machines that separate the seed from other materials based on electromagnetic charge or on the color of the seed, but these machines are expensive and typically only used by larger seed companies. Because wildflower seed varieties vary in shape, size, and texture, there are many different methods for wildflower seed cleaning and conditioning.

This machine assists in removing seeds from flowering structures that were not separated during harvest. A hammermill machine is designed to remove hulls and open seed pods, while air-screen cleaners and air separators remove finer materials. Following the cleaning process, forb seeds must be conditioned in preparation for storage and eventual marketing. The conditioning process removes moisture from seeds to prevent rotting while in storage.

Another pertinent aspect of wildflower seed production involves monitoring the purity of the product. Seed planted when it is infected with any of these diseases can have a dramatic impact on your yield when the crop becomes symptomatic it may no longer be possible to sell. When purchasing your seeds, we highly recommend that you ask if the seed you are buying has been tested and or has undergone any disinfection treatment and or process. Having this conversation with your seed distributor can help you avoid seed borne pathogens so that you may improve your odds of achieving a good yield.

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