separating seeds from the black wings

[ViolaAnn]

Greetings,

I've harvested seed from maybe 25 varieties of hostas although I suspect that inside all that black stuff, some of them have very few real seeds. Others have produced huge amounts. Does anyone have a quick and easy way of separating out the actual seeds?

Ann

[pauhaus]

Hi ViolaAnn,

I don't know if my way is quick and easy but it is a method that works for me. I put some of the wings in a small hand-held sieve and with your finger just keep moving the wings around and around until you pulverize the wings, what you should have left in the little sieve are the little seeds. Hope that make sense. Good luck!

[ViolaAnn]

That's exactly what I've done so far. Maybe I'll keep on doing it. I was hoping maybe someone had a better way. I DO think it might be easier if the seeds are really dry. Not all of my pods had opened on their own. I'll keep them in their little paper envelopes on a tray on top of the fridge for awhile longer.

Ann

[dmi188]

I don't bother to separate...plant them wings and all.

[Chris_W]

Hi,

I also don't actually separate the black wings from the seeds, but I do put the seeds on a paper plate and will move the ones with a really big bump to the side and only save those. You can pretty much feel which ones have a nice big embryo, and personally I think only those are really worth keeping.