Flowering Habit, Time of Seed Collection, Seed Extraction and Cleaning of Trees
Flowering Habit of Trees:
It is essential to know that the flowering habit, flowering time of different trees to know the, exact time and method of seed collection for ex. Bomboo flowers profusely after 30-40 years and the seeds fallen on the ground during seeding years should be collected in the species like Pinus strobus. The trees flowers profusely but only for short duration some trees are dioeciously, some trees are monoecious. The production of seed depends upon a good seed years that is the years in which the good seeds are produce. Nagi (1983) reported the seed habit for Abies pindrow six years, Citrus deodara three years, Pinus roxburgy three years etc. The seed production also depends upon size of crown that is big size of crown is preferred over other sizes, open canopy of the tree are regarded as store houses of cones and seeds. Some trees like Eucalyptus and Silveroak can keep seeds on trees in capsules for long time, the seeds from Casurina are to be collected when the capsules are ripe, and before opening the capsules by bagging them otherwise, the seeds may not be collected because they are very minute.
Time of Seed Collection:
The seeds of Casurina, Babul, Shivan, Arjun, Neem, Salai are collected in the month of April to June. The seeds of Sisso, Shisam, Teakwood,.Vilayti babul and Eucalyptus are collected from November to February. The seeds of Ain, Australian babul, Kashid, Amaltas are collected in the month of March April.
The Seed Extraction and Cleaning:
The seed extraction is done from cones, capsules, pods carefully; pulpy fruits of Neem, Mango, Shivan, Kandamba are extracted by
a) Sundering and removing pulp mechanically by hand
b) Soaking to allow the fleshy part to separate from the seed
The seed from the dry, legumes and pods is done by drying the legume pods and seeds in the sun light to stimulate opening and then separating seeds from Chaff and other impurities. Sun drying time may vary from species to species for ex. Pinus patula for one day, Eucalyptus for 4-5days