4. HOW TO COLLECT SEEDS

After selecting and marking good mother trees, several seed collection methods can be used.

4.1 Collecting from natural seed fall

This is the simplest way to collect seed. It does not require skilled labour. Collection from natural seed fall is suitable for trees with large fruits, pods, and seeds e.g. Tectona, Gmelina and some Dipterocarps.

The following tools will be helpful:

Rake
Sieve
Seed container
Large canvas, cloth or plastic sheet

Follow these steps:

1. Clear the ground beneath the tree of leaves, branches, and weeds before seeds begin to fall. This will make seed collection easier.

   Or,

   spread plastic sheets, cloth or canvas under the mother trees so that the seeds will fall onto them.

2. Use a rake to gather the seeds and collect them daily.

   Or,

   fold sheets to collect seeds daily. Chances of insect attack and fungal infection which could occur if seeds are left on the ground too long will be minimized.

3. Extract seeds from the litter by sieving (Figures 4, 5, 6 and 7).

Collecting seeds from the ground has some disadvantages:

• Some seeds may have fallen from the tree immaturely.
• There is greater potential for insect attack and fungal infection.
• Seeds left on the ground for a long time often lose viability or start germinating.

Figure 4 Seed collection from natural seed fall.

Figure 5 Gathering seeds with a rake.

Figure 6 Spreading a canvas sheet under the tree.

Figure 7 Fold the sheet of canvas to gather the seeds.

4.2 Shaking the tree

If natural seed fall is spread over a long period of time, manual shaking of the tree is a useful method to get seeds to fall to the ground at the same time. This makes their collection easier. In some cases, however, fruits or pods are strongly attached to the branches and will not drop off easily, even when the tree is shaken. If this is the case, other methods will need to be used, and these will be discussed next.

1. Clean the ground, or lay down a plastic or canvas sheet.
2. Shake the trunks of trees or low branches by hand. (Higher branches may be shaken using a stick, long pole, hook on rope) (Figure 8).
3. Separate seed from the dry pods (see page 11)..

Sometimes, seed bearing branches will be low enough to allow the collector to bend branches over collection sheets and release the seeds onto the sheet (Figure 9). (Use thick leather gloves when branches are thorny).

Figure 8   When pods or fruits are fully mature and near ready to fall (pods will be opening naturally) beat branches with a stick to shake down seeds or dislodge fruits.	Figure 9   A small tree with branches which droop low enough for collector to easily reach them.

4.3 Pruning off seed bearing branches

When the seed is out of reach for hand picking various pole implements may be used for pruning branches.

1. Select branches with a heavy load of good looking pods.
2. Carefully locate the ground sheets so that pods and seeds will fall onto them from pruned branches.
3. If necessary, prune out “windows” so that seed bearing branches are able to fall to the ground and not get entangled in the tree as they fall.
4. Cut the branches.
5. Collect the pods.
6. Remove the seeds.

To use this method you will need:

1. A special pole pruner with shears attached, or,
2. A long pole with a saw or hooked knife attached.

Light, rigid bamboo, aluminium or plastic poles 4–6 metres in length can also be used. A hooked branch can substitute if the other tools are unavailable (Figures 10 and 11).

Figure 10 Use of a hooked branch to collect seed.	Figure 11 Use of a pole with saw.

For fruit trees:

• Tie a basket near the pruning shears to catch the fruit as it drops. Seeds can then be collected without shattering and ruining the fruit.

4.4 Throwing a rope with weighted end to break off a seed bearing branch

As the last possibility this destructive method may be used to reach high seed bearing branches from the ground, without having to climb the tree. Branches up to 12 metres from the ground can be reached. Skill is required to throw the rope over the selected branch and in the correct position for ease of breakage.

You will need:

A strong 5 millimetre diameter rope about 25 metres in length;
A 400 gram stone, or small bag of sand or soil.

1. Attach the weight at one end of the rope.
2. Throw the weight over the seed bearing branch.
3. Break off the branch by holding the two ends of the rope, and pulling (Figures 12 and 13).

Figure 12 Seed harvest by using a weighted rope.	Figure 13 Pull ends of weighted rope to break branches.

4.5 Climbing trees to collect seed

To use this method, you must have skill in climbing trees and using some specialized equipment. This is the method normally used to collect from standing dry zone trees as they are of open form and relatively small. Several methods can be used when collecting seed from standing trees. The roof of a car may serve as a platform.

Or, climb into the crown of the tree and use a saw, large knife or similar implement to cut down seed bearing branches (Figures 14 and 15).

Figure 14 A car with strong roof provides a quick and easy means to reach crown and fruits of a small tree.	Figure 15 Climbing into the crown of the tree.

Well-designed portable ladders provide a quick and safe means of reaching the live crowns of trees. Ladders may be made of light wood, metal or bamboo 6–15 metres in length. For small trees a light wooden or aluminium ladder 6–8 metres long is appropriate (Figure 16).

Figure 16 Using a ladder for climbing up the tree.

4.6 Collecting seed from felled trees

If a tree is to be felled, try to wait until its seed is ripe. Never fell trees just for seed collection (Figure 17).