GRADING THE SEED.

    During the re-tubing process the seed must be de-clumped and graded to obtain a uniform size of seed while simultaneously eliminating any parasites. Sometimes there is a great amount of very small seed mixed up with the parasites, which have passed through the de-clumping machine's grating. The best way to separate them is to put this mixture through a grading table, which has previously been adjusted to the required size. As the seed is loose, it is easy to separate it from the parasites by simply pushing it across the grating on the grading table.

    Once we have this smaller seed, which has already been graded by the de-clumping machine, we can re-tube it onto new ropes taking care not to mix it with the other, larger seed and then place these new ropes in a different area as the smaller seed will need longer to develop.