So the milkweed living in the pot with my Satsuma orange tree has once again produced seed pods and seeds. What's the best way to separate that fuzzy white part from the actual seed?
Mexican Milkweed SeedsBest Way to Clean?
Painful tedious labor?
LOL! That's what I'm trying to avoid.
I trim the dried pods from the shrub and place them into a large clear plastic bag. I can strip the seeds out of the pods inside of the bag without them flying abundantly. I also use plastic disposable gloves to keep the oils from my hands away from the seeds and I believe it deters static electricity...Once each pod is stripped and removed to the trash, what is left is the seed to either share or re-plant....good luck!
I usually remove them from the silk when I harvest them, you can do it if you don't let the pod open all the way before you take them, and then strip the seed from the silk.
Otherwise putting them in the paper bag and shaking them seems like a good idea.
You can also plant them with the silk attached if you have to, I don't think that would hurt.
The silks are used to transport them, but like a gourd, the linings of the silk make them less palatable to wildlife I would imagine..
Thanks all. I'm thinking the paper bag is going to be my best shot at this point.
Somewhere on DG someone posted last year a clever way to do that. I'll see if I can find it.
Using Frostweed's pic and method, if you harvest before they open fully, hold tightly by the tip of the pod and bend it slightly. This will make it pop open if ready and then rake your thumb nail along the seeds and they will drop leaving the silk in tack. Not all will come loose this way but most will.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/132511/
If the seeds are already burst and silk loose, put them in a paper bag; crimp the top, holding tightly and shake vigorously for several minutes. cut a slit in the bottom edge and pour out the loosened seeds. Tape that hole up and let the seeds sit for a few days, then repeat. After getting no more seeds, take it into the garden and disperse the silk. Some seeds may remain to toss out, but the birds will also use the silk for their nests.
Wow Sheila you found it!!! Thank you for bringing it up. You are a sweetheart.
Well, these pods were already open since I don't pay much attention to the plants in the sunroom during the winter. Oops!! I do water them about once a week or more, though. I will try the paper bag. Excellent tip, Sheila; thank you!
Too funny, I just _finally_ found the time to clean a gallon bag full of bursted milkweed pods I collected for a fellow DGer who has been oh so generous to me with a trade. Well I had fluff flying everywhere, my living room looked like it was snowing. I stripped all the woody pods out first and dumped the remaining seed and fluff back into the bag. Then I shook it just like you recommended, and all the seeds, well most of them, sunk into the bottom. Same results, just more fluff up the nose than I care for. Will definitely do it the Josephine way next time!
Yes, it is so much easier if you get them before they open. Just clip off the seed pod as it begins to turn lighter or yellow. I would never try the bag method in the house, that fluff is worse than pet hair!
Yeah it looked like we had a gnarly pillow fight! But it was cold out and I am trying to downsize this stash of seeds.. Once I think I'm about done I somehow manage to acquire more..
Try not to breathe, right?
If you have time, head over to the Hummingbird and Butterfly forum and see my sextuplets! They are eating machines and doing a great job.
Yes especially try not to sneeze, which is hard to do when you're breathing it all in and they start to tickle!! I didn't turn my head in time and caught the corner of the pile! *poof*
I just put them in a baggy and after a while...it falls off.