#strainers — Public Fediverse posts

Six Ways to Screen and #Winnow #Seeds

Simple Tools for #Threshing Seeds

by BC Farms & Food, October 2, 2025

"Gardeners who save seed, or grow and harvest grains, know that separating seeds from their pods or husks can be a time-consuming job. While large industrial growers use machines to thresh and winnow seed crops, home seed savers can look to a number of simpler tools to accomplish the task. Once cleaned, seeds stored in moisture-proof containers can last for several years.

Here are six devices for separating seeds from debris and chaff:

#LowTech Ways for Separating Seeds

• #Pillowcase or #ClothSack – Perhaps the most common method of #HandThreshing, place seed pods in the sack and thrash (“thresh”) it against a hard surface to break the seeds from their coverings.

• Boards – Place harvested seed pods between two boards and apply gentle pressure to crack open the pods. Take care not to press so hard you split the seeds.

• #Screens or #Strainers – Screens with meshes of varying sizes provide a quick way to separate debris from seeds. Even using a single screen is a vast improvement over hand picking. Screens work especially well for seeds (such as lettuce) that do not have pods. A set of graduated screens will cut out about 80 percent of the hand work. You can build screens yourself or buy them pre-built.

• Wind Power – Outside on a breezy day, drop seed from one container into another and let the wind blow away the unwanted chaff.

• #ElectricFan – While wind can be fickle and blow your chaff in unexpected directions, a fan set on low will produce a steady stream of air for winnowing.

• Gravity – This works well for round seeds. Use gravity to help roll seeds down a newspaper into a container. The heavier seeds roll down, while the chaff remains behind." (Heh. We used that method when cleaning seeds out of cheap homegrown weed).

Learn more:
https://bcfarmsandfood.com/six-ways-to-screen-and-winnow-seeds/

#SolarPunkSunday #SeedSaving #GrowYourOwn #HierloomSeeds #SeedCollection #ScreeningSeeds #WinnowingSeeds #SeedCleaning