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12 Steps to Collecting, Cleaning & Sorting Seed

1. Any old seed will not do. The seed is sourced from the zone in which the seedlings will be replanted (with 42 different Trees For Life zones across the state this task is geographically challenging)
2. A good source is essential. The seed needs to be collected from a good plant source (which is not always easy to find or access). A team of seed collecting volunteers, under the expert guidance of Trees For Life’s Bruce Smith or Dennis Hayles, heads out of town to a good location. The aim is to find plants that are abundant with fruit. The team then sets to work spreading out tarps and strategically lopping off branches which offer a good yield. And if it gets too hot or too wet, the expedition may need to be postponed for another day.
3. Separation and the removal of excess twigs and sticks. There’s no point transporting more bulk than necessary, so any extra woody lengths are discarded.
4. The seed is then spread out in our hothouse for drying (and it’s not called a HOThouse for nothing!). Staff and volunteers separate and spread out the different species for drying ensuring batches are labelled with the species and collection zone details.
5. Drying. This can take up to 14 days, depending on the weather.
6. Shaking. The dried seed pods are then sealed in large plastic tubs and given a good shake. This allows the seed to fall out of the pods to the bottom of the tub.
7. More separation. Excess sticks and leaves are manually removed and discarded. The remainder is then placed into the top layer of specially designed sieves.
8. Like panning for gold our volunteers get a rhythm going. The sieves are stacked in three layers, from wide weave, to fine, then super fine. This helps eliminate as much debris as possible and ensures that only the seed falls to the bottom layer. Some seed is as fine as gold dust, such as Eucalyptus camaldulensis (river red gum).
9. Cleaning Trees For Life’s Seedbank Manager, Bruce Smith, used his engineering skills and ingenuity to build an aerated seed cleaner. The cost of purchasing equipment is often prohibitive or difficult to source, so it is often a matter of ‘thinking outside the square’. With improvisation and the efforts of our volunteers, we get the job done.
10. Storage Initially seed is weighed into bulk bags. For some of the larger batches collected for Direct Seeding, we may need to make up a number of 1kg bags. All seed is treated to prevent insect damage.
11. Weighing Seed for the Tree Scheme is then weighed into individual packets suitable for growing either one box (50 seedlings) or one half-box (25 seedlings) of seedlings. This delicate task is carried out by a team of dedicated volunteers. As an example, 0.8 grams of seed is measured out for each box of Eucalyptus camaldulensis (river red gum) ordered, and half that for half a box of seedlings.
12. Orders Seed is matched to the orders that come in from landholders or revegetation project coordinators. There is no room for error. The seed needs to be from the correct zone for the correct order.

Thank you to everyone involved, you are worth your weight in GOLD. Each and every one of you plays an important part in keeping our revegetation efforts going.

Seed collecting is carried out by individuals and groups of volunteers throughout the year. We are always seeking interest from new volunteers and run free seed collecting workshops for our members. All you need is a good attitude and a good sense of humour is always welcome too!

5 May Tce
Brooklyn Park
South Australia 5032

Phone: +61 8 8406 0500
Fax: +61 8 8406 0599
Email: info@treesforlife.org.au