Cheap Grass Seed Mixtures Are Usually Expensive

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 15, Issue 6, 6 March 1950, Page 6

Cheap Grass Seed Mixtures Are Usually Expensive

Farmers buying grass and clover seed for autumn sowing are strongly advised by the Department of Agriculture to obtain Government Certified seed. Varieties to which the certification scheme applids are perennial ryegrass, Italian ryegrass, short-rotation (HI) ryegrass, cocksfoot, timothy, Phalaris tuberosa, Montgomery red clover, cowgrass (broad red clover), white clover and subterranean clover.

Farmers interested only in pasture production should buy Certified Standard or Certified Permanent Pasture seed. It is cheaper than Certified Mother or Certified Pedigree seed and is just as suitable for establishing permanent pasture required only for grazing. If seed production is a possibility Mother seed should be sown, and Pedigree seed should be used if the area is being sown specifically for seed production. Buyers of Certified seed should insist on seeing the official purity and germination certificate covering the line and check the certificate number with the label number.

Despite the growing demand for seeds of reliable strains and high purity and germination, lines of “cheap seed mixtures” still appear on the market. Some -of the lines may be genuine mixtures made up for specific purposes, but most of them consist of cleanings salvaged from the dressing plants. They contain a wide range of seeds, some useful, some harmful, but in no predetermined proportions. Oh the basis of quality and useful species, “cheap seed mixtures” usually are dearer than a mixture of first-class seed made up for the specific purpose of grassing a particular class of land.