Thanks, I will give those a try. When I used the kitchen sieve I got almost as much chaff as seeds. Karl On Nov 4, 2013 8:06 PM, "M. Gastil-Buhl" <gastil.buhl@gmail.com> wrote: > Karl asked "how to separate the tiny seeds from all the chaff" > > Suggestions I have tried out with some success include a sieve and a > gentle air flow. I use a kitchen sieve intended for sifting flour. > Some seeds fall through while the larger pieces of chaff are caught. I > have a few other mesh sizes from a plastic mesh bag, some tulle > fabric, and a pasta colander which work with various seeds. The tulle > fabric I hold tight between two plastic strawberry baskets. Then to > remove the lightest bits of chaff, sometimes it works to swirl the > seeds in a bowl while gently blowing over the surface. Another > technique is to pour the seeds and chaff back and fort between two > paper envelopes. The seed tends to roll out first so each time I tap > out the left behind chaff in one envelope then pour back into it until > the proportion of chaff is very low. Then, finally, there are the > tweezers for those last few bits. Then to pour the seeds into a tiny > envelope I place a funnel in the envelope, holding the funnel upright > with a jar, and pour the seeds into the funnel. It it tedious and does > not always work so well. > > I hope someone has perfected a much easier method because the way I do > it is tedious and messy. > > In summer 2012 I made a couple short videos of the process. > part 1: Sieve > http://flickr.com/photos/gastils_garden/… > > part 2: Tulle fabric > http://flickr.com/photos/gastils_garden/… > > I expect I miss-pronounce the genera. I only read them; I do not hear > them said aloud. I once asked an expert on native flora how to > pronounce Sisyrinchium and he said "confidently". > > - Gastil > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ >