Evaluation location: Washington, United States
20SH- a balanced sample -20 ripe seed heads are cut from each plant and are all put into one or more bags to be cleaned together. The method of harvest is determined in early spring after over-wintered plants have been counted. Considering the amount of time and labor needed to complete a specific method on a given accession, the harvest method is based on: the number of plants, if the type of grass usually produces a large number of seeds per head, if there is usually a lot of shattering, if the species is indeterminate and will need multiple harvests. The harvest methods are: 5SH (5 Seed Heads), 25SH (or more), and FULL. The 5SH and 25SH (or more) are balanced samples. For the SH samples, a specific number of ripe heads are cut from each plant and are all put into one or more bags to be cleaned together. For the FULL harvest, all heads or seeds are gathered for a bulk sample. Heads may be cut, or heads may be rubbed (seed is collected in a pan) to make a FULL harvest. It is not uncommon to rub an accession on two or more different dates and then combine all seeds into a bulk (FULL) sample. Often, both 5SH and FULL harvests are completed on a single accession and the 5 SH sample is cleaned separately from the FULL harvest. The 5SH harvest is used for future regenerations and if there is enough seed, a portion is sent to NCGRP for the Back-up sample.