What kind of Seed can be Coated?

 

Essentially any kind of seed can be coated. However Canadian Seed Coaters specialize in species like: Canola, Alfalfa, Timothy, Chaffy grasses such as Brome Grass, Orchard Grass, Wheat Grasses and Reed Canary Grass. Turf Types and many different types of Native Grasses.

​

Please contact us if you have any other coating requirements not listed here.

How do I benefit from using Coated Seed?

 

Canadian Seed Coaters has many benefits and advantages to offer canola and forage growers alike. These include the most effective method of preinoculation available, significant benefits to the seedling from the starter fertilizer package contained in the coat and the fact that it is an economical and effective method of seed treatment. Your Seed Coating added values include:

 

1) Pre-Inoculation. The addition of nodule bacteria (rhizobium) to legume seed, weeks or even months in advance of sowing. It ensures that the bacteria are in close proximity to the roots of the germinating seedling and thus, in a position to cause fast, effective nodulation.

  

2) Nutrient Benefits. Creates a nutritious environment around the establishing seedling and increases vigor during its critical early development. The main nutrient included in our seed coatings is phosphorus.

 

3) Seed Treatments. These are often used on turf and forages. Research data available from trials using various seed treatments indicate that they can have a detrimental effect on the viability of some strains of rhizobium. Research with coated seed products containing seed treatments has shown excellent compatibility between them and rhizobium when the rhizobium are encased by the layering effect of the coating materials.

 

4) Protection from Stress Conditions. The coating materials, as well as the physical barrier created by the coat itself, protect the rhizobium and seed from low pH conditions. Calcium Carbonate is very effective in buffering soil pH in the micro-environment around the seed. The pH range of coated seed (6.5 to 7.0) is optimum for nutrient uptake. While desiccation can quickly reduce rhizobium populations, the coat offers the bacteria protection from the effects of drying winds and sun.

 

5) Protection from Animals, Birds and Fertilizers. Most rodents and birds do not recognize coated seed as food. The increased size of the seed is one-reason birds do not take it. In addition the coating materials, especially the dyes and phosphate used in turfgrasses, are not palatable to either rodents or birds.

 

6) Ballistic Properties. Coated grass seed is approximately twice the weight of bare seed. Aerial sown grasses penetrate ground cover more effectively than bare seed and thus make better contact with the seedbed. Some seeds, e.g. meadow foxtail and bromegrass, are difficult to sow due to their very light weight. Coating can increase the weight of these species, by as much as four times and this, combined with the increased size of the seed, facilitates sowing.