Percentage of Seed Needed for Banking V. Seed Increase

[Desiree Yanes]

Hi all,

I was wondering if you had some guidance/best practices on % of seed that should be conserved in the bank vs. % of seed that should be grown for seed increase of a small wild collection. In short, we have a small wild collection of seed of a New York state-listed species (unclear whether its a biennial or perennial just yet). I’m thinking we should have some seed on reserve in the bank (and not use 100% of it for seed increase) but I’m not sure what number or % to use. Any thoughts?

Desi

[Katherine Heineman]

Hi Desi!

How many seeds do you have for this collection?

The below link about curating small seed samples from the CPC Best Practices mentions that you should keep at least 50 seeds from the wild population as a long term reference.

For the remaining seeds, it is probably advisable to plan to use the majority for seed increase if fewer than 300 seeds but maybe “start slow” depending on how much is known about the germination and propagation requirements.

For example, you may want to try germinating 10-20 seeds to ensure that the proper pretreatment is known and then sow a bigger number once successful.

Curating Small Seed Samples

I’m not sure if anyone else with seed bulking programs – @michael-kunz; @heather-schneider; @jennifer-possley; thinks about this in terms of proportions?

Katie

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