Collecting Seeds
Legal, ethical, and efficient
Getting Ready
Observe the law: Always secure permission before gathering seeds. While roadside seed collection is generally permitted, ensure you have the necessary approvals for other locations by verifying property ownership.
Know your plants: Use scientific names for accurate plant identification to prevent any confusion during collection and to be ready to exchange seeds with other collectors. Understand the plant’s life cycle and anatomy to harvest seeds at the appropriate time. Keep in mind that some native plants we grow in gardens are hybrids or cultivars. They might not produce viable seeds, and even if they do, their offspring will often look more like the wild type.
Be ethical: Limit seed collection from a single plant colony to a maximum of 10% to safeguard the colony’s stability and support local wildlife. This is particularly important for rare plants in your area – avoid collecting seeds from rare species to protect their population.
Gather your tools: Equip yourself with gloves, a Swiss knife, pliers (for handling prickly seeds), various-sized paper bags, a bucket, a pencil, and labels.
In The Field
One bag, one species: Use well-ventilated containers like paper bags or envelopes for collecting plant material. Each bag should contain only one species unless you are purposefully creating a seed mix.
Label thoroughly: Immediately identify the plant and label seeds/fruits/pods with the plant’s name, collection date, and location to ensure easy identification.
Collect repeatedly: Not all individuals in a population carry seeds at the same time. Seeds from early in the season will be genetically different from seeds late in the season. To capture the full genetic diversity of a population, keep a paper bag handy that is marked with a general year, month, or growing season and collect repeatedly throughout this time period.
Understand seed dispersal: Certain plants have seed pods that disperse seeds as they dry. Some of these pods (like California poppies and many plants from the pea and bean family) will even break open explosively to scatter seed everywhere. Collect these seeds using various methods like letting near-ripe pods open in a paper bag or using protective coverings under potted plants to capture seeds. For larger seed pods that tend to slowly release seeds like milkweed, sometimes placing a rubber band around the pods keeps them from releasing all the seeds at once.