What Does Sod Quality Seed Mean?

A gold seed tag indicates seed has passed rigorous purity testing procedures and is officially designated Sod Quality. Sod quality standards vary from state to state, but it is accurate to say that all seed carrying the distinctive gold tag is tested to a much higher standard than the minimum requirement for seed labeling.

For example, in Washington, Oregon and Idaho, where much of the turfgrass seed is produced, sod quality bluegrass requires examination of every seed in a 25 gram sample and sod quality tall fescue requires a 50 gram examination. In contrast, a standard seed purity test requires examination of a minimum of just 2,500 seeds, which is approximately 1 gram of bluegrass seed.

In statistical terms, the confidence level that a sample accurately reflects the composition of the entire seed lot increases as the sample size increases. In layman’s terms, if there are a few weed seeds in the lot, a seed analyst is more likely to find one in a large sample than in a small sample.

Additionally, Sod Quality standards prohibit certain problematic weed and other crop contaminants that are otherwise allowable in seed labeled using a standard test.

The purpose of Sod Quality standards is to provide assurance to sod growers that the seed they plant will not contaminate their fields with difficult weeds and unwanted other crop species. The primary cool-season turfgrass species used by sod growers are Kentucky bluegrass and tall fescue, so they are the most commonly available Sod Quality seeds.

Gold tag seed is not readily available to homeowners through retail outlets. It is not generally used in the landscape industry either, due to the fact it costs more than commercial grade seed and it exceeds normal quality requirements.

At SeedSuperStore.com we purchase Sod Quality bluegrass and tall fescue seed whenever available. Look for the replica gold tag beside the variety name on the price list when Sod Quality seed is in stock.