Landcare - Seed Collection

The revegetation of degraded lands around Communities and Homelands has been possible through the use of direct seeding programs. These programs require many kilograms of seed, collected from the local environment. The seasons in Central Australia vary considerably even though it's always hot in summer and cold in winter. Trees and shrubs require rain at the right time to produce good quality and quantities of seed. Once produced, the seed needs to be harvested and most tree and shrub seed needs to be manually picked. Grass seed is usually harvested by machine.

In the spring of 1991, the Land Management Unit of the Pitjantjatjara Council began a seed collecting program to provide large quantities of tree and shrub seed for use in its direct seeding programs. It was necessary to develop simple methods for the collection, drying and storage of seed.

The following pictures demonstrate the process:

Picture 1: Seed being collected into a collection bag supported by a strap around the collector's neck. The collection bags are easy to make using a serviceable fabric and are approximately 1.2 metres in circumference and 900 mm deep. A piece of thick wire is inserted into a casing sewn at the top of the bag and shaped to form a circle and keep the bag permanently open. Seed from the peripheral branches of trees and shrubs, is stripped into the collection bag using gloved hands [November 91].

Picture 2: Children and a teacher's aide from Pipalyatjara School collecting seed (acacia murrayana) while on a school excursion to Alice Springs in November 1991. Note: These collection bags were very easy to use in the field. Seed from the collection bad was transferred to a large plastic garbage bin on the back of a truck.

Picture 3: Each day the seed pods were laid out to dry and insects of various kinds were allowed to crawl away. The seed pods were spread out on a calico sheet and left for a few days. The sheet containing the seed pods was easy to shift.

Picture 4: The seed was removed from the pods by simply walking over them with rough soled shoes eg joggers, crushing the pods and releasing the seed. Some seed fell away from the pods easily while other seed was more difficult to remove. The pods were removed by hand or raked off the top using a grass rake. At the end of the process, the trash which contained residual seed was retained and scattered in the field during direct seeding operations. The remaining mix of seed and fine trash was stored for use in direct seeding programs.

Picture 5: Large plastic 200 litre drums like these are good for storing seed. They are easy to transport and manage in the field. Flour drums are also good for storing seed.

Other seed like Eucalypt and Desert Oak seed, mature inside woody nuts and cones. When they are picked, they need to be stored in a safe place because as the nuts and cones dry, they open and release fine seed. This seed will blow away unless collected as it's released.

Eucalyptus nuts can be left in the plastic garbage bins, providing there is enough air circulating around the clusters of nuts on the stems. The seed is fine and when released from the nut, falls to the bottom of the bin. Care should be taken as the seed can be easily lost unless contained.

Seed collection should always be encouraged so it can be planted in areas around Communities and Homelands which have become degraded. Often the areas lose seed from the soil profile and before regrowth can occur, more seed needs to be planted. Revegetation projects using direct seeding methods depend on people to collect seed.