Are you fully aware of what your buying when your purchasing wildlife products? My goal is to educate people on WHY and BECAUSE with all of the products I sell. There are various overlooked areas i'm going to address with this weeks blog.
1) Is your clover, alfalfa and perennial seed your purchasing inoculated? If it is inoculated, is the inoculant still viable? Inolculant types vary in shelf life. Does your seller even know the shelf life on it?
2) If purchasing soybeans, is the soybeans inoculated and is the inoculant still viable?
3) Is the seed coated or uncoated? If coated, are you putting down enough seed per acre to meet recommendations.
4) What is the germination count? 80% is less than 90%. That requires a different seeding rate.
5) Do you look and see how many weed seeds are in a bag you purchase? 0.25% weed seed is 2.5 times more than 0.10%. Weed seeds are small and really add up. A small percentage makes a big difference on that plot of land the seed is spread on.
6) Is there noxious weeds in the bag of seed? One popular oat usually lists noxious weed seeds on the tag. Are you ok planting noxious weeds? If so, do you know how to manage them?
7) Is the blend an annual or perennial or both? Do you know how perennials in a mix will effect the future plans?
8) Is the seed as guaranteed on the tag? What that means is when was the seeds tested last? Where was that bag sitting before you bought it? Was it in bins or open containers where mother nature is changing it's "guarantee"
9) How do I properly fertilize this product? What that entails is how will it yield, what is the nutrition quality of that blend and what does your current soil test say? Yes, this is my gripe as i believe NO 1 knows how to answer this except for well...ME but i'm trying to educate you all on this.
10) Are you buying a product that contains forages that deer will actual eat? Annual and perennial ryegrasses are not preferred species. That doesn't mean deer will never eat them but they will eat them when there is no available preferred browse available.
