By: Clara Barton

For an upcoming winter planting project, the stewards managing the area envisioned a prairie dominated by shorter grasses rather than the expansive stands of big bluestem and feather grass often found in our restorations. To help achieve that goal, we set out to collect a large quantity of little bluestem seed while minimizing the amount of taller grass seed that ended up in the harvest.

Before collecting seed, the crew headed into the prairie and gave the area a “haircut.” Seed heads from taller grasses were clipped and removed. This made an area where little bluestem seed could be harvested using a seed stripper without worry of the taller grasses getting in the mix.

Once the area was prepared, the crew drove a pull-behind seed stripper back and forth across the site.

The rotating brush head on the seed stripper efficiently removed ripe seed from the stems while leaving much of the standing vegetation intact.

This machine was very effective in harvesting the seed!

We were extremely pleased with the results of this collection method. By removing the seed heads of taller grasses first, we were able to target little bluestem more effectively and collect seed tailored to the goals of the upcoming planting project.

This approach won’t be applicable for every restoration effort, but it proved to be an effective way to shift seed collection toward a desired species when conditions allow.

We look forward to seeing how this seed performs when it is planted this winter.

Happy seed collecting!