Other crop matter in a seed mix


  #1  
Old 09-20-17, 05:24 AM
N
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 621
Received 2 Upvotes on 2 Posts
Other crop matter in a seed mix

Is any amount of other crop matter ever ok in a seed mix? I ordered some Greenview seed mixes and while they all have 0% weed content, they do have .13% other crop matter.

Thanks!
 
  #2  
Old 09-20-17, 07:00 AM
S
Group Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: WI/MN
Posts: 19,125
Received 1,263 Upvotes on 1,204 Posts
Never bothered to look but you're always going to get weeds growing when you plant grass so that small a percentage in the seed would be of minimal concern to me.
 
  #3  
Old 09-20-17, 07:05 AM
XSleeper's Avatar
Group Moderator
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 27,061
Received 1,910 Upvotes on 1,716 Posts
Similar to how some food products say "processed in a plant that also produces peanut products".
 
  #4  
Old 09-20-17, 09:41 AM
P
Group Moderator
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: NC, USA
Posts: 27,651
Received 2,152 Upvotes on 1,927 Posts
Consider how grass seed is manufactured. They grow a field of grass and harvest the seed just like you would wheat. As much as they try nothing is perfect and that field will contain some percentage of something else. A perfect seed would be great but it would also be cost prohibitive. So, you get 99.5% perfect at a reasonable cost.

What I find funny is how they can say zero weed seeds but it does contain "other" seed. My definition of a weed is that it is an unwanted plant. So, anything other than what you're trying to grow is a weed even if it's a grass or something beneficial. It's sort of like when you see beans planted after corn. Almost always there are a few stalks of corn growing in the bean field... the corn at that time is a weed where the season before it was the desired crop.
 
  #5  
Old 09-20-17, 10:47 AM
N
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 621
Received 2 Upvotes on 2 Posts
Thanks all. I have seen some seed mixes (yes, they are a little pricier) that have 0% crop seed and 0% weed seed. I just don't always have the time to order from these companies, and again they are pricier (though I don't need a ton as it's just for annual overseeding).
 
  #6  
Old 09-20-17, 08:01 PM
XSleeper's Avatar
Group Moderator
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 27,061
Received 1,910 Upvotes on 1,716 Posts
FWIW, since it says 0% weed seeds, "crop matter" must be something other than seeds... leaves, chaff, etc.
 
  #7  
Old 09-20-17, 11:45 PM
T
Member
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: US
Posts: 31
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
A typical seed analysis will have a germination %, total germination% (which is due to hard seed that takes longer to germinate), the pure seed %, weed seed % (usually this will also list the weed seeds found so that if there are any weed seeds present that aren't common in your area, you can avoid the lot), and other crop matter % (which will be chaff, bits of stems, broken seed). Cleaning out 100% of the other crop matter is nearly impossible and will certainly increase the cost of the seed. As long as the other matter is a low percent, it really isn't a concern. The weed seed is always a concern, make sure that is a low % and the weeds identified are common in your area as you don't want to introduce something new--and also make sure the germination is good for the crop you are planting.
 
 

Thread Tools
Search this Thread
 
Ask a Question
Question Title:
Description:
Your question will be posted in: