Do you know what your buying when you shop for native grass seed or any wildlife seed for that matter? From my experience, I am comfortable saying that very few do. This is my mission with this blog. Let's educate you all and challenge everyone to buy based on purity and pure live seed versus price per pound.
What is purity? Purity is the percent of the seed in the bag that is of the stated lot. How do you figure out purity? It is 100% -other crop- weed seed - inert matter. An example of this would be if a bag of switchgrass contained 0.15% weed seed, 0.20% other crop and 1.65% inert matter the purity would be 98.0% Seems simple, right? Ok how about if your buying a bag of white dutch clover that contains 0.15% weed seed 0.35% other crop and it has 35% coatings on it. The purity on that bag would be 60.0%. Take a moment to digest that.
I believe everyone understands germination count. 80% is less than 85% and 85% is less than 90%. The thing many overlook is how germination count and purity affect the price you pay for your native grass or wildlife blend. Here is an example. You have a choice to buy a bag of cave in rock switch grass from ABC Seed company that has a purity of 92% with a germination count of 85% or a bag of cave in rock switch grass from XYZ Seed Company that has a purity of 97% and with germination of 90%. If ABC is selling that seed for $11 per pound and XYZ is selling theirs at $12 per pound, which is the better deal?
ABC $11/.92 /.85 = $14.06 PLS
XYZ $12/.97/.90= $13.75 PLS
Here is another example
ABC sells white dutch clover that has 35% coating with a purity of 60% and germination count of 90%
XYZ sells white dutch clover uncoated with a purity of 97% and germination count of 90%
If ABC sells for $3.00 per lb and XYZ sells for $3.50 per lb, that is a big difference, right? Not so fast. Let's do the math.
ABC $3.00/.60/.90=$5.55
XYZ $3.50/.97/.90=$4.01
What that means is if you bought a 50 lb bag of ABC for $150 and a bag of XYZ for $175, it didn't really save you $25 but it really cost you $36.13
Take a moment and ponder that. Reread and get out your calculators and learn about this. CHEAP SEED might be too good to be true. INEXPENSIVE SEED might not be as advertised.
I challenge you all to buy whats in the bag. Before you buy a bag, ask for a tag.
