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Agronomy - the study of agronomic plants and agronomic practices

Coating Material - Sometimes applied to seed to carry inoculants. Drastically reduces seed count. Usually a calcium, lime, product

Fertilizer - Any combination of organic or commercially produce soil amendments that carry essential plant nutrients. Fertilizers are required by law to state the percentage of Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium contained in the blend. 13-13-13 fertilizer is 13% Nitrogen, 13% Phosphorus, 13% Potassium.

Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) - Any organism that has been altered through use of DNA manipulation. For example, GMO seed exists today that produces cotton plants that require less insecticide spraying because the plant itself is toxic to common pests of cotton.

Germination - Expressed as a percentage, germination is the number of seed in a sample that will sprout. Germination percentage is required by law on all seed tags. Germination is determined by taking a sample of seed and actually growing it out and then counting the seed that sprouted.

Grasses - Grasses are non nitrogen fixing plants and include lawn grasses like fescue, corn, small grains, brome grass, ryegrass, ect.

Inert - Inert, in terms of seed quality, is a measure of non seed in a given sample. Non seed can be anything like rocks, stems, chaff, ect. The amount of inert is required information on a seed tag.

Inoculants - In the seed industry inoculants refer to bacterial treatments of legumes. Inoculants consist of naturally occurring bacteria that convert Nitrogen in a form that can be used by legumes. Because these bacteria exists naturally we believe the addition of inoculants is not required to establish a good stand of our legumes.

Legumes - Legumes are plants that host nitrogen fixing bacteria like clover, beans and peas.

Lime - Calicum Carbonate. A mined material applied to soil to raise the pH of acidic soils.

pH - Describes the relative acidity or alkalinity of soil. Expressed on a scale of 1-14, 7 is neutral. Soil pH readings below 7 are considered acidic and may need lime, above 7, which is very rare, are considered alkaline.

Purity - Describes the total seed in a seed sample. A required component of seed tags.

Seed Count - Describes the number of seed per unit, usually in the U.S. per ounce or per pound. PlotSpike has some blends that have seed counts greater than 600,000 per pound.

Seed Tag - A statement required on all containers of seed that guarantees the purity, germination, weed content, inert content, other crop content, the variety, the test date and the species of the seed in the container.

Soil Test - A helpful analysis of soil composition. Generally contains specific fertilizer recommendations. Requires a very small amount of soil and is very inexpensive.

Test Date - The date on a seed tag stating when the seed was tested. Generally these test dates must be less than 1 year old.

Varieties - Selections within a species that are recognized as having unique characteristics. For example, Dwarf Essex is a variety of rape that is used in salads. Rangi is a variety of rape that produces much bigger leaves and is used as a forage.

Weed - Any plant not growing where it is intended to be. From a seed quality standpoint, weed content describes the percentage of recognized weeds that are in a sample.