Non growing wild bird seed

[Dee Watson]

My husband has just been to buy a sack of bird seed and was offered a 'non growing version'

This was interesting as being a keen gardener I sometimes despair of the growth inbetween the paving slabs beneath.

Has anyone tried this? and is it detrementle to the quality of seeds which my garden birds enjoy?

Thanks
Dee

[AdamTilt]

I've never heard of that myself. I'd love to know if it works though as my garden is covered in new shoots from dropped seed.

[Cowgirl]

I've picked up from somewhere about this, with regards to niger seed & it's heat treated or homogenised (spelling?) or something like that, because it's non-native, but the bit that grows (sorry, can't remember the technical terms, old age you know, endosperm?) is killed so it becomes a no-grow. Don't know what it does to food value of seed tho. Someone more expert needs to step in now

[Lance Morgan]

Funny...
I bought a bag of this too last week. I presume the seed has been heated to stop it germinating. Don't know if it works yet

[Jason Green]

Evening Dee, and welcome to WAB!

I've never heard of this either. I would be a little retiscent to use it myself in case the natural vitamin balance the birds would need from the seeds was impaired by the process. Still, it sounds good in theory - but I don't know how much of a problem niger/other seeds are as 'escapees' of sorts anyway...

I'd check with the RSPB before use, personally. (If anyone contact them, let us know their response! )

Take care,

Jason

[Monkey Orchid]

Originally Posted by Cowgirl

I've picked up from somewhere about this, with regards to niger seed & it's heat treated - the bit that grows (sorry, can't remember the technical terms, old age you know, endosperm?) is killed so it becomes a no-grow. Don't know what it does to food value of seed tho.

I'm no expert but I'm guessing that one effect of heat treatment would be to oxdise the natural oils present in seed, as happens when cooking oils are heated. This can cause the formation of free radicals which are generally considered detrimental to health. Oxidation of fatty acids reduces the nutritional value of fats and oils and can also cause foods to taste 'off' or rancid.

This said, oxidation of oils or fats also happens (albeit more slowly) in exposure to sunlight, so it's not a totally unnatural process.

I'm guessing it will depend on how high a temperature the seed is treated at. Maybe someone out there has done some research on the comparative nutritional values of treated and non-treated seed. As Jason says, it might be worth contacting the RSPB to see what their views are on this.

In our garden we put out nyger seed and sunflower hearts, neither of which sprout when they fall onto the lawn. (Not that we'd be particularly stressed if they did... Our lawn has as much moss, ox-eye daisies and wood avens as grass.) My Mum uses a more mixed bird seed and she does end up having to weed out hundreds of little sprouty plants (mainly sprouted wheat) from her patio and flowerbeds.

[Cowgirl]

Thanks Monkey Orchid, that's really interesting. I the article I read on the 'net, course I can't find it now , it said that most niger seed came from sources abroad, which is why it was rendered no-grow as it is not native & escapees would contravene some regulation. As I said I read it somewhere & just remembered the gist of things.