Small-Scale Growers Like His Hand-Held Seed Harvester
When John Morgan made his first hand- held seed harvester in 1991 for his prairie grass seed business, he had no idea the design would catch on with a variety of other growers decades later. By the time the article about his invention appeared in FARM SHOW 20 years ago (Vol. 22, Issue 5), he had started making them for other entrepreneurs interested in gathering grass and wildflower seed on small plots or in remote areas.
“Now there’s a lot of interest from people growing wheat, soybeans and heritage or organic grains. It’s something I never really expected; it’s gratifying to see,” Morgan says.
The harvester has some minor changes but is the same basic stripper design. It’s powered by a Tanaka heavy-duty commercial line trimmer engineered to operate parallel to the ground. It spins an 18-in. reel with a brush with fingers at a high speed to grab seeds and throw them into a hopper bag.
The harvester comes with three interchangeable reel sizes - light, medium and heavy-duty - to accommodate different types of seed.
“For example, black-eyed Susan and Echinacea have heavy round seed heads. The heavy-duty reel cuts them off and throws everything into the hopper to be screened later,” Morgan says.
The medium reel works well for heritage grains and other seeds.
“We are a native prairie restoration company, and this gives us a tool to be efficient at collecting seed on a small scale,” he adds.
He notes that the hand-held seed harvester can collect black-eyed Susan seeds from a 20 by 4-ft. nursery plot in 10 min. compared to the 8 hrs. it takes when harvesting by hand. The harvester is small enough to store in a vehicle and carry to remote areas.
The harvesters are made with steel and heavy-duty nylon for the screen and hopper bag. They sell for $2,250 U.S. ($2,495 Canadian) plus shipping and come with a 1-year warranty.
Morgan also sells other products through his Prairie Habitats business website, where a video shows the harvester in action.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Prairie Habitats Inc., P.O. Box 10, Argyle, Man. Canada R0C 0B0 (ph 204 467-9371; www.prairiehabitats.com; john01@xplornet.com).
Click here to download page story appeared in.
Click here to read entire issue
Small-Scale Growers Like His Hand-Held Seed Harvester CROPS Miscellaneous When John Morgan made his first hand- held seed harvester in 1991 for his prairie grass seed business he had no idea the design would catch on with a variety of other growers decades later By the time the article about his invention appeared in FARM SHOW 20 years ago Vol 22 Issue 5 he had started making them for other entrepreneurs interested in gathering grass and wildflower seed on small plots or in remote areas “Now there’s a lot of interest from people growing wheat soybeans and heritage or organic grains It’s something I never really expected; it’s gratifying to see ” Morgan says The harvester has some minor changes but is the same basic stripper design It’s powered by a Tanaka heavy-duty commercial line trimmer engineered to operate parallel to the ground It spins an 18-in reel with a brush with fingers at a high speed to grab seeds and throw them into a hopper bag The harvester comes with three interchangeable reel sizes - light medium and heavy-duty - to accommodate different types of seed “For example black-eyed Susan and Echinacea have heavy round seed heads The heavy-duty reel cuts them off and throws everything into the hopper to be screened later ” Morgan says The medium reel works well for heritage grains and other seeds “We are a native prairie restoration company and this gives us a tool to be efficient at collecting seed on a small scale ” he adds He notes that the hand-held seed harvester can collect black-eyed Susan seeds from a 20 by 4-ft nursery plot in 10 min compared to the 8 hrs it takes when harvesting by hand The harvester is small enough to store in a vehicle and carry to remote areas The harvesters are made with steel and heavy-duty nylon for the screen and hopper bag They sell for $2 250 U S $2 495 Canadian plus shipping and come with a 1-year warranty Morgan also sells other products through his Prairie Habitats business website where a video shows the harvester in action Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Prairie Habitats Inc P O Box 10 Argyle Man Canada R0C 0B0 ph 204 467-9371; www prairiehabitats com; john01@xplornet com
To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click
here to register with your account number.
