I took one of my employees into a big box store yesterday. I walked him through some things many overlook when purchasing food plot, cover crop or habitat mixes, final stand density. Every forage has a recommended seeding rate in straight stands. When someone like myself formulates mixes, there is science behind it. Many companies fail in this. What I have put together for people is what i call a seed stand predictor. One can put in your own values and use it as a tool.
The example below i cut out the company name, product name etc etc but this is a failure in my opinion and i'll demonstrate why. On the calculator i listed the recommended full rate of each of the 4 individual forages. I also listed the actual purity of those forages. The company recommends 14 lbs. per acre seeding rate. The calculator shows you all what percentage of a full stand each mix contributes. The final calculations shows that the full seeding rate for that mix should be 14 / .731 = 19.15 lbs.
There was numerous other big box store tag issues I demonstrated to my guy. Here is what I hope you all get out of this. No matter where you purchase your seed, here is what I want you all to do.
1) Check the seed test date
2) Check the purity of the seeds
3) Look at the forages and determine not what is the percentage on the bag but what will be the percentage growing on your property
4) Determine if your putting enough pure live seed on your property.
This is why the NRCS mixes are calculated on a pure live seed basis. This is why tags are needed to be provided to the agencies. This is why seed sold by the pound is inaccurate. I have considered listing on all cover crop seeds, nrcs mixes and food plot mixes listing them as on a pls basis but first I need to educate more of you before moving to that system.
Stop and look close at this. Know what your buying. Know what your actually getting to grow. Know
what your final stand will look like. Do better. Be smart.