Harvesting native grass seed?

[Catscratch]

I've had my eye on several different types of grasses for a couple of yrs and have decided why not try to harvest seed from them and put it where I want it. The question is; how do you know exactly when it's ready for harvest? I imagine if you get it to early it won't be viable. Go after it to late and there won't be anything there. Anyone do their own harvesting and planting?

 

[Catscratch]

Some internet searching didn't provide me with what I wanted for a seed collection contraption (there are a few out there that attach to a weed eater and some other goofy stuff, but nothing I wanted to bother with). So I built my own out of a milk jug and thought I would share it with you guys. Local seed isn't ready yet but it does a fine job of ripping the green seed off of the plants. I imagine it will do what I want it to.

Through my research I have also decided that I will probably have more success with transplanting rather than seeding, but I'm going to try both anyway.

 

[scott44]

I have never harvested my own seed before like you are talking about but I have walked through the thicker parts of my switch and run it through my hands and threw it into the more sparse parts of the field to try and thicken them up. Looks like it could work, good luck with it!

 

[Catscratch]

I don't see the harm in trying it. The milk jug should collect quite a bit with minimal work, and throwing it in new spots will be easy. If it works, great! If not then I'm not really out anything. I'm collecting switch, big bluestem and another I haven't identified yet but I've been watching it for a couple of yrs and I like it's tall and clumpy growth.

 

[Freeborn]

Hopefully CrazyEd will chime-in as he has done this before. I can't remember it might have been on the dark side but there was a thread on this at one time. It is very doable but timing is important.

 

[CrazyEd]

No silver bullet for picking nwsg. Manual process, wait for the seed to come easily off the stem. As for forbs, the key is when the stem turns brown. So for a coneflower, just watch for about one inch of brown stem directly below the seed head. Dry the stuff out using old window screens. All about airflow. Milkweeds you can open a pod and all seeds should be brown, if they are green it's not ready.

 

[dipper]

I'm going to be renting a combine from the lady I bought my big blue, Indian seed from, once my stands start maturing. I've got over 40 acres I want to put in, and I don't feel like spending all that $. Plus Ill have pines in the stands, which is really gonna be nice. It's gonna be fun. I saved thousands and thousands of $ already. There is major value in noncertified seed.

 

[Catscratch]

Thanks for the advice guys. A combine would be great but we only have small spots of certain grasses growing, certainly no acreage that could be harvested. I just want to spread what I can with during the few hrs I have on the weekends.

CrazyEd, thanks for the added info about forbs. I've actually been collecting coneflower heads the last couple of weeks but the stems are brown to the ground already. Lots of seed already dispersed but that's ok, even though I'm a little late I've learned something new and will still get some planted. Drying on a screen is also something I needed to know.

I'm also going to try propagating with a shovel the next couple of months. I would think some of the grasses should transplant to a new location with a little care.

 

[CrazyEd]

Yeah, ideally you want old window screens and also you want a variety of different size screens. Estate sales are a good place to find them or if you are doing home improvement projects just save them or build your own. My dad made me a custom set of screening / sifters for cleaning the seed, probably have 10 of them all different sizes. So i've got one of hardware cloth with huge holes, but others to maybe 1/4" holes, 1/8" holes, 1/16" holes, etc. Different species have different sized seed so a variety of screen helps if you want to actually clean it. I usually pick a bunch of stuff and put it in large Rubbermaid bins, smash it all up and then just run it through the screens outside when their is a slight breeze. It cleans up nice. Then you can have some nice pure seed for planting as well as all the extra material you should still throw out as their is probably some seed still mixed in.

 

[Catscratch]

Great info there!

 

[dipper]

Hey Ed-what's up with bee balms? That has to be the smallest seed there is and the seed doesn't like showing itself. It seems to be one of those seeds that is flowering still on the sides, but crisp on top. I have a lot of purple bee balm growing in the ditches by my house, and red bee balm gets pretty aggressive around my house already, so it doesn't have any problem reproducing.
Good luck catscratch, seed hunting gets real addicting. Just wait, you'll be combing seed catalogs and your head will constantly be on a stick, trying to put a name to a face. Next thing u know, your front yard will be a praire.

 

[Catscratch]

Lol, already have the catalogs in my truck for quick references. I run a lot and have found myself running pastures frequently just to check things out. Unfortunately my runs are getting a lot slower as I stop to check these natives out and grab some seed way to often.

 

[dipper]

Ha, me too, but I had to buy a bike because I needed to extend my home range.
Roads along rail road tracks are gold mines. They spray a herbicide like oust, and the natives thrive

 

[Catscratch]

I'm relatively new to sprays (besides gly), can you get oust at retail stores like Orchelens or Tractor Supply? Extension agents? Internet? I think spraying in strips along food plots would be cool. Something like 50ft of cereal grains/clover, 50ft of nwsg, 50ft of brassicas, 50ft of forbs, 50ft of mixed natives, etc...

 

[dipper]

I think I got mine at keystone supply.
I have a 70' strip of 4 years switch along a alfalfa field. I saw my first deer bedding in it this year when I was checking it out with a quad. I have 15 acres of A younger mix of big blue/Indian.
Honestly, I'd have the nwsg surrounded a plot, and make the perimeter wavy and edgy. This is a pano of my 15 acre field, food plot in the middle

There's a big hill that's behind me. I'm gonna have a water hole in the bottle of the food plot. I've also added pine/spruce, on the saddles and ledge, the deer already bed on.

 

[CrazyEd]

Hey Ed-what's up with bee balms? That has to be the smallest seed there is and the seed doesn't like showing itself. It seems to be one of those seeds that is flowering still on the sides, but crisp on top. I have a lot of purple bee balm growing in the ditches by my house, and red bee balm gets pretty aggressive around my house already, so it doesn't have any problem reproducing.
Good luck catscratch, seed hunting gets real addicting. Just wait, you'll be combing seed catalogs and your head will constantly be on a stick, trying to put a name to a face. Next thing u know, your front yard will be a praire.

Yeah, tiny seed. The key is making sure the seedhead is brown (not green). If it still shows green its not ready. Cut it off, put it in rubbermaid, smash the hell out of it, see if you get anything. Red Bee Balm usually is happier when it gets moisture. Purple (Wild Bergmot) seems to do fine in drier conditions and in the wild in general.