Plant Material - Project Planning and Management for Ecological Restoration - page 113

Collecting Your Own Seed
Seed collection sites should be identified in advance of the collection time. This will allow for
obtaining appropriate permissions and permits, if required. When working with threatened or
endangered species, have ready all appropriate documentation and permits required by the gov-
ernmental agencies.
Most important when collecting your own seed is determining when to conduct the harvest.
Collecting mature seed is critical to a successful sowing operation; collecting too soon will result
in poor germination rates on-site. Visits to the sites prior to collection will help you understand
how the plants on the sites are reacting to the environmental conditions. Other sites may not be
exhibiting the same development patterns. Locating seeds can be difficult. Suitable sites with the
species you need may not be accessible for collection. Public lands, parks, wilderness areas, and
other land management organizations have specific procedures on how the resources are to be
managed. Private owners should always be contacted prior to collecting on their property. Advan-
tages and disadvantages of collecting your own seed follow:
Advantages
• The seed is ecologically adapted to the local environment of the site.
• Low-cost collection procedures can be used.
• The seed can be collected as needed, meaning no long-term storage requirements.
• No expertise is required to grow plants (in contrast to the seed increase method discussed
later).
• A much higher diversity of species is available from the site than is possible from
purchased seed.
Disadvantages
• Collecting introduces weedy species.
• Finding donor locations can be difficult.
• The seed will not be appropriate for planting if it is collected from stressed, diseased, or
insect-infested plants.
• Species must be accurately identified; variants or subspecies can be an issue.
• Additional time is needed to obtain appropriate permits, clearances, or permission.
• Depletion of the natural stock on the donor site is possible, depending on the efficiency of
the collection methods.
Seed collection does not need to be species by species. It is common to apply gross collection
techniques in which several species are harvested at the same time, such as mowing prairies and
grasslands. The seed and vegetative matter harvested together is often referred to as hay. This hay
also provides mulch and microenvironments for promoting seed germination. In the case of proj-
ects conducted over a long time span, this method may be preferred because there is no need to
clean seed or calculate purity. It does, however, mean that you will not know the quantity of each