# Crop Content in Seeds



## ThickAndGreen (Sep 8, 2017)

So I recently purchased some TTTF to overseed my lawn which can be found here - http://www.unitedseeds.com/SUPER%20TURF%20II%20LS%20-%2017.pdf

The label on they show on their site shows 0% crop but the seeds I received show .01%. I've read that "crop" are basically weeds that aren't classified as weeds technically. Is this amount enough to cause problems for my lawn? Should I contact them to see if they can replace it with seed that contains 0% crop or is it just luck of the draw and I'm SOL?


----------



## pennstater2005 (Jul 17, 2017)

If the label on the site shows 0% I would expect exactly that not .01%. I would definitely contact them so they can rectify the situation. I got seed that wasn't exactly as described but it had an extra KBG cultivar so I accepted a $10 refund and a Toro hat 

In your situation though you might have different expectations. Not sure how big your bag is but tall fescue can have an average of 230,000 seeds in one pound of seed. That could potentially be a lot of crop seed!

https://extension.tennessee.edu/publications/Documents/W160-E.pdf


----------



## ThickAndGreen (Sep 8, 2017)

The bag is 10 lbs so yeah that's a lot of seeds. 23,000 if my calculation is correct.


----------



## ThickAndGreen (Sep 8, 2017)

Just contacted them and they said the .01 % is rye grass. I'm assuming that's ok.


----------



## pennstater2005 (Jul 17, 2017)

Is there a type of rye grass that would list as crop? I don't know. I would ask. That's not PRG.


----------



## Fronta1 (Jul 11, 2017)

ThickAndGreen said:


> The bag is 10 lbs so yeah that's a lot of seeds. 23,000 if my calculation is correct.


To do the math you have to know how many seeds/lb of the target crop. We don't know, but worst case scenario it's 2mil/lb, which comes out to about 2k seeds for 10 lbs. Still not great.


----------



## Fronta1 (Jul 11, 2017)

pennstater2005 said:


> Is there a type of rye grass that would list as crop? I don't know. I would ask. That's not PRG.


Yeah it could be annual rye. Shouldn't come back next year with regular mowing.


----------



## pennstater2005 (Jul 17, 2017)

Fronta1 said:


> pennstater2005 said:
> 
> 
> > Is there a type of rye grass that would list as crop? I don't know. I would ask. That's not PRG.
> ...


I bet you're right. Makes sense. I forgot about annual rye.


----------



## ThickAndGreen (Sep 8, 2017)

pennstater2005 said:


> Fronta1 said:
> 
> 
> > pennstater2005 said:
> ...


Yeah I believe that was the type he said, couldn't remember.


----------



## LawnNerd (Sep 2, 2017)

Annual rye will come back year after year just like poa a from seed it seeded itself.


----------



## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

^ unless you apply a preM.


----------



## Ridgerunner (May 16, 2017)

I believe the percentages are by weight, not number.

For definitions (e.g noxious weeds, other crop, etc): https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=2a0005a068d31df3ae801cbb8aad1b2a&mc=true&node=pt7.3.201&rgn=div5#se7.3.201_12


----------



## pennstater2005 (Jul 17, 2017)

So annual rye is considered a crop seed?


----------



## ken-n-nancy (Jul 25, 2017)

Even worse, poa trivialis is considered a crop seed, too!

Yet, it's just about the worst possible weed for a KBG lawn!


----------



## Ridgerunner (May 16, 2017)

My understanding is anything that is grown commercially is considered a crop. KBG, Fescue, wheat, oats, clover, etc. ( I think the link I gave above lists plants considered crop as well as a list of noxious weeds) I used to have a university link that explained it all in layman's terms, but it's a dead link now.


----------



## pennstater2005 (Jul 17, 2017)

Good rule of thumb is if it's listed as crop, noxious, or weed seed it's not what you are intending to plant.


----------



## Ridgerunner (May 16, 2017)

ken-n-nancy said:


> Even worse, poa trivialis is considered a crop seed, too!
> 
> Yet, it's just about the worst possible weed for a KBG lawn!


True, although I believe some states have more restrictive rules than the Feds via their Administrative Codes that list Poa T and A as noxious weeds. Don't quote me on that hough, as I'm not going to search the state codes.


----------



## LIgrass (May 26, 2017)

ThickAndGreen said:


> The bag is 10 lbs so yeah that's a lot of seeds. 23,000 if my calculation is correct.


It would be 230 weed seeds per 10lb bag or 2.3 million seeds at .01%. (2.3 Million * .0001). You probably have a little more though because of the KBG in there.

Would that cause major problems? Probably not, unless most of those are Triv or quackgrass. I'm not sure how they would know it's all annual rye. Even then you don't want rye in there unless it's perennial type.


----------



## Ridgerunner (May 16, 2017)

I found a couple more sites in my saved.
FYI:
http://ag.umass.edu/turf/fact-sheets/understanding-turfgrass-seed-label
https://www.seedsuperstore.com/sod-quality-seed


----------



## EricsLawnscapes (Apr 12, 2020)

I realize this is an old post but since we are close to overseeding season… remember, to get through the mechanical separators, the other crop seeds would need to be similar in size. For tttf, poa t is unlikely since it is so much smaller. However, poa t in kbg seed is a bigger concern.


----------

