Should coneflower seeds be seperated from chaff for trades? As long as you let the other trader know they will be receiving chaff and seeds, most people would be okay with it. Communicate what it is and what they're getting. And be sure that you have seed in there. I received an extra envelope in a trade that was all chaff. No big deal since it was a bonus.

since i've gotten into garden web, i've wondered that to. we've been out collecting seeds, well in our case, the kids and i don't know what they are, so we collect the whole head. and when i send them i send the whole head. but that is because i don't want anyone to lose out on what i don't know about. i do know its not posionous. LOL but out in the open they do really well, and when we try to "propagate" them we fail sometimes, so it just made me wonder. i believe i read somewhere about needing a carrying thing on some seeds why not another property on others? just me overthinking things LOL ~Medo

Image by: wintersown Vernonia Gigantea Seed Heads I've tried very hard to seperate the chaff from my seeds but it's impossible as the seeds are practically the size of dust. What do I do? Stop frustrating yourself! A good example of dust-sized seeds are butterfly bush seeds (buddleia family). I trade my butterfly bush seeds with the chaff included. If you're a seed trader then mention in your initial offerings that the seeds are mixed with the chaff and that the grower should surface sow the entire packet contents and pat it all into the soil. That's exactly how I start mine from seed....easy to do and it works just fine. If you mention up front in your trades what you're trading then no one can be "prissy" about the trade later on. You're not a mechanical machine...that's what commerical growers have to use to seperate out dust size seeds. Saving seeds is supposed to be a calming and peaceful hobby, allowing yourself to get frustrated isn't good for your mental health....don't stress yourself out over it. It's so much easier to mention that the seeds are too small to be seperated then deal with the stress thinking that someone will dissaprove of your trade. THEY can't seperate out dust-sized seeds either. Really teensy-weensy seeds are a major hassle to seperate from chaff, and honestly, they don't need to be. Mother Nature succesfully sows her seeds with chaff, and we can too. Smile and give yourself a great big hug for your efforts! Trudi

Thank you so much, aftermidnight and sea-kangaroo! So they're brown! And different shades of brown! I was definitely misidentifying them. I have empty seed packets, and the tags I used when I planted the different beans last year, but no note as to the color. Silly me just thought I'd remember (ha ha). Don't really want to buy more seed packets just to see what color seed is inside, not when I have a plentiful collection of saved bean seeds.