Seed Flaming

The award-winning seed flaming project looks at altering native seeds to make them easier to handle and plant, leading to faster revegetation processes.

Plant biologists run into problems when vast areas, such as abandoned mine sites, need to be replanted with native species. As many native seeds have hairy and fluffy spores attached to them, this makes them difficult to handle and use through mechanised seeding devices.

The seed flaming project at UWA involves developing a flash flaming device using a drum which heats the seeds and effectively removes the fluffy appendages without damaging the seeds, making the seeds easier to pour and plant during the revegetation process.

Dr Andrew Guzzomi, the lead researcher on the project, was in 2016 named WA Innovator of the Year at the 40under40 Awards for his work on the project. His team of researchers have already improved the seed planting success rate from five to 40 per cent. This success rate has the potential to increase with improvements to the process, including the added ability to apply coatings to further enhance the smoothness of the seeds.

Through these developments, state and federal regulators can have more confidence in approving the build of mine sites, knowing once the mining process is finished, these areas can be easily and successfully replanted with native species.