Seed Collecting and Processing
Advantages
Wider variety of plant material
Collect from populations near site
Match donor and restoration sites
Increase genetic diversity
Know the provenance of your material
Get the right species
Direct-seed or Grow?
Direct-seed or Grow?
Some species direct-seed easily
Difficult seeders may be nursery grown
seed predation
dormancy
poor seedling performance
Increase in a seed farm
Collection Steps
Identify plant community
Prepare plant list (canopy, shrubs, herbs)
Construct a seed calendar
Locate populations
Permits
Collect and protect, attach labels
Collection Steps
Identify plant community
The National Vegetation Classification System
Harker et al. 1999, Landscape Restoration Handbook, 2nd Ed.
Regional sources (e.g., Franklin and Dyrness)
USDA Plants Database (VegSpec)
http://plants.usda.gov/
Processing
Fleshy Fruit
process when overripe
soak or ferment
separate seed from pulp
dry
Processing
Fleshy Fruit
process when overripe
soak or ferment
separate seed from pulp
dry
Dry dehiscent fruit
air dry
separate and clean, dry
Storage
Seasonal
air dry
paper bags, cool dry, protected from insects, rodents, birds, moisture
Long-term
dry to 4-6%, at less than 100o F
some seeds may be frozen; use sealed container
Dormancy
After-ripening
Stratification
temperate climate seeds
Washing
seeds of aridlands
Scarification
legumes, animal dispersal
Special treatment for resistant seeds
Dormancy
After-ripening
Stratification
temperate climate seeds
Washing
seeds of aridlands
Scarification
legumes, animal dispersal
Special treatment for resistant seeds
Dormancy
After-ripening
Stratification
temperate climate seeds
Washing
seeds of aridlands
Scarification
legumes, animal dispersal
Special treatment for resistant seeds
Dormancy
After-ripening
Stratification
temperate climate seeds
Washing
seeds of aridlands
Scarification
legumes, animal dispersal
Special treatment for resistant seeds
Dormancy
After-ripening
Stratification
temperate climate seeds
Washing
seeds of aridlands
Scarification
legumes, animal dispersal
Special treatment for resistant seeds
Summary
Seed collection is justified by project size
Species-diverse ecosystems are appropriate
Provenance is demonstrable and genetic diversity is improved.
Supporting infrastructure is needed
processing equipment and space, storage
facility for breaking dormancy, planting
Plants for restoration and how they
are selected
1. Determine what species occur or could potentially occur at a site
Literature sources
Baseline studies
Reference sites
Nearby vegetation
Regional plant lists
2. Assess the availability of plants selected
Online catalogs
Nursery stock lists
Donor populations
Salvage sites
County salvage nurseries
3. Evaluate potential successional pathways
Succession has a weedy initial phase
You want to avoid that
Use shade, mulch, herbicides, cover crops
Later successional stages have greater biomass and more organic matter
Plant fast-growing trees or shrubs
Add woody debris
Avoid disturbing integrity of established systems
4. Categorize speed and ease of growth of each species selected.
Fast, easily grown species may quickly initiate desirable site modification (shade, temperature, humidity)
Slow growers may be sensitive to competition from fast plants
Plant in clearings
Lop off tops of fast plants
Slow growers may be indifferent to fast plants
Which may create desirable shade and suppress weeds.
Slow growers may depend on fast species
Nurse plants
Western red cedar likes shade
Plant quality
Woody plants
Inspect for insects, vigor, injury
Root systems should fill container
Girdling root systems should be cut vertically and teased out; reject kinked roots
Bare root plants should have healthy roots and no injuries from harvest.
Height should be proportional to roots (six foot tall plant in gallon pot is too tall)
Woody plants in containers or ball-and-burlap should be grouped, kept watered, be in the shade if possible, and protected from herbivores.
Bare root plants, when taken out of shipping material, should be heeled into moist sawdust.
On planting day, they should be kept moist from the sawdust to ground (buckets of water, moist towels)
Care of live stakes or pull-ups
Keep roots of pull-ups moist
Plant immediately
Live stakes can be cut and left lying around, but start to lose vigor.
Best method: cut, put in bucket of water, take to site, plant
May be stored in bucket of water, in dark, cold place (cold room is fine, or outside in winter if protected from freezing).
Salvage plants
Containerize plants after salvage
Group them and water them
Shade or partial shade will help them recover from transplant shock
Should be allowed to fill out root system, especially if restoration site will be stressfull
Time required to produce plants from seed
Herbaceous plants may be able to tolerate planting first growing season.
Many woody plants require several seasons to reach a competitive size for transplanting
Devils club requires two years of stratification
Plant performance
How will plants grow in the field
Nursery people say that small plants want to grow faster than big ones. So if you want a big product you may actually have to chose a smaller plant for installation.
Bare root plants may grow vertically faster; container plants may spread out faster.
Woody plants are not expected to grow until the second year
Practice of planting all plants at once generally results in loss of herbaceous species.
Shade-tolerant species are often sun-intolerant.
Initial burst of weed species may also doom planted herbs.
Temporary storage, growing out
Capillary beds and wet beds
Wetland plants can be stored in self-watering systems like these.
They will be OK for a year if water supply keeps working, so check often in summer.
Temporary drip irrigation systems
Require
Ύ plastic tubing
timer
connectors, goof plugs
spaghetti tubing
drip emitters
Containers may be lined up on landscape fabric to prevent weed growth.
Bird netting and supports are good in our region (crows)
Systems may be rolled up and stored at start of rainy season