The Nature of a Seed

Lesson 3. Knowing a good seed

Never plant seed you have not tested. A test takes a few minutes of work and a week of waiting, and it can save a whole season. Do it three or four weeks before the rains, so there is time to find other seed if yours fails.

Five signs of a strong seed

• Whole: no cracks, no broken pieces, no weevil holes.
• Heavy and full: good seed is plump. Thin, shrivelled or very light seed has a weak food store.
• Clean: no mould, no black or powdery spots, no bad smell.
• True to its kind: the same colour, shape and size as the variety you want, with no mixed seeds.
• Alive and strong: it sprouts quickly and evenly in the cloth test.

Test A: the water test

1. Fill a bowl or bucket with clean water.
2. Pour in the seed and stir. Wait about an hour.
3. Seeds that float are usually empty, damaged or eaten inside: throw them away or feed them to chickens.
4. Seeds that sink are heavier and fuller: keep them.
5. Spread the kept seed in the shade to dry completely before storing.

The water test removes bad seed. It does not prove that the good-looking seed is alive. For that, use the cloth test.

Test B: the cloth test (the rag-doll test)

1. Take 10 seeds at random from your seed store. For a better result, take 100 and do 10 cloths.
2. Lay them on a clean, wet cloth, a finger’s width apart.
3. Roll the cloth up loosely, tie it, and keep it damp and warm (not in the sun).
4. After 5 days open it and count the seeds that have sprouted. For rice or sorghum, wait 7 days.

Tip for teachers: let each family test its own seed during a meeting, then return a week later to count together. Families learn more from their own seed than from any demonstration.

Lesson 5. Drying seed well

Wet seed dies. Damp seed in a closed store heats up, grows mould and invites weevils. Seed that is truly dry can sleep safely for a year. Drying well is the cheapest way to protect your seed.

• Dry on a mat, tarpaulin or raised platform, never on bare soil.
• Spread it thinly and turn it twice a day; cover it at night and when rain comes.
• Watch the heat: for beans, groundnut and sesame, light shade or morning sun is safer.
• Thresh gently: shell maize for seed by hand, not with a heavy stick.

How dry is dry enough? The salt jar test

1. Fill a clean, completely dry glass jar about three-quarters full with seed.
2. Add two spoons of dry kitchen salt.
3. Close it, shake for a minute, wait 15 minutes, shake again.
4. If salt sticks to the glass, the seed is too wet: dry it more. If the salt stays loose, the seed is dry enough to store.

Lesson 6. Storing seed safely

A seed store has three enemies: damp, insects and rats. Beat all three and your seed will be alive at planting time.

1. Only dry seed goes in. Wet seed in a sealed container rots faster than in an open one.
2. Seal out the air. Weevils need air; in a well-sealed hermetic bag, drum or bottle filled to the top they stop eating and die.
3. Keep it cool and off the floor, on a raised platform, never against a hot metal roof.
4. Label everything: crop, variety, field, date and the cloth-test result.

Traditional protection still works: clean wood ash mixed with beans and cowpea, sand filling the spaces between cowpea seeds, and dried neem leaves where neem grows.