I have been playing around with seed saving some of the vegies and flowers we grow, and the time has come to pick up some seed cleaning screens. These screens usually come in sets with different sized “holes”, so that you can separate the seed from the other plant material.
In the smaller sizes, seems there are basically two choices, Ones with permanently attached wooden frames, and ones that are bare screens but fit into a wooden frame and you pick the size screen you need at the time.
I am curious if anyone here has used any of these screens, and had any thoughts or comments about which they liked best.
TIA
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I save a lot of seed.
I have several home made boxes with various size mesh screens on the bottom.
The best ones I have found (cheep, at a yard sale) for small seeds are these , there are 6 sizes of mesh and they stack together …likely from a lab somewhere.
The top one will catch the trash…bottom one will catch even the smallest seed. Usually the seed ends up somewhere in between . These would be very expensive new, but if you could source the right mesh sizes you could build a similar set up.
I like the way they nest together. Put seed on top and shake.
Each size piece , seed - non seed , ends up on a different screen.
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Thanks @Hillbillyhort. I had no idea that such well made screens existed, But a quick search online shows that they are still an available item, at a pretty high price (~$100 per screen for the 10-12" diam ones).
I had been looking at the “home market ones” with wooden frames or no frames at all (build your own). Way less expensive (especially if you build your own frames), but they are’t going to nest together like these commercial ones do.
Sounds like you use them as a stack quite a bit, which would mean the stacking feature is needed. Hmmm. I nned to do some more looking around and thinking on this.
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@Steve333 Look into bonsai soil sieves. There are relatively affordable ones out there that have fewer in-between sizes, but they are sized right for most seed saving purposes. The screens @Hillbillyhort has are certified to pass a certain diameter of particle for valid scientific results, hence the expense. It’s pretty cool, but overkill for home use. I definitely have sieve envy, though…
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A home made set could be made with something like 5gal. Buckets cutting the bottoms out, and epoxy, caulking ,etc … , the right size meshing on the cut open bottoms
Buckets stack ( nest ) together well.
Making sure there or no nooks or crannies to catch seed, so that they would not have seed from the last batch stuck somewhere .
Also I have several single boxes with screen mesh on them. I use one at a time over something like a Rubbermaid storage tub. Changing to a different box / mesh size as things get sorted out.
Also use some , boxes ,say 1/4 in . Mesh "With water hose ""to clean pawpaw/ persimmon seed , works good .
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