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Buy quality *** seed in Europe

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17K views 82 replies 17 participants last post by  TurfSam  
H
#1 ·
HI guys,

First of all, I'm located in Switzerland, Europe. I'm interested in buying some quality grass seed, especially the elite *** cultivars, such as Bewitched, Mazama, Midnight, etc.. It somehoew seems that the European grass seed market is light years behind of what you guys have in America. I'm also under the impression that there is some protectionism going on, preventing American grass seed imports? Can anybody confirm this?

Here a list of what seems to be available in Europe:
https://www.dlf.com/products/turf/smooth-stalked-meadow-grass/

However, it seems that these are only directly available to seed vendors (which then create their blends), and not for private use, so we cannot directly buy those seeds from there. I have only found 1 or 2 sites that sell pure ***, and then not more than 1 or 2 cultivars. What a shame;).

So to sum up:
- American cultivars do not seem to be available in Europe
- There are only few European cultivars for ***
- Buying pure *** seed as a private person in Europe seems almost impossible

My questions:
- Can i buy elite American *** cultivar seed in Europe (e.g. Bewitched)
- If not, would it somehow be possible to import it from the US?
- If not, would it be possible to buy pure European *** cultivar seed for private use (i mean more choice than 1 or 2 cultivars)

Thanks for your help :)
 
R
#2 ·
@hammerhead

I'm in the UK and have had similar experiences so will share what I learnt so far. Lets get all the Europeans to comment, hopefully we can shake up the suppliers!

DLF - I've in the past spoken to the UK sales people and they will sell you individual seeds if they have availability, if you are willing to buy 5KG and depends on who you speak to. However, none of their KBG seems at the level of those elite varieties you listed in terms of colour. I'm sure they are of good quality. They do have very good Ryegrass, more on that lower down.

Germinal - They sold me two types last year, SR4600 (Rye, called Galleon in the UK) and Rubix (KBG, called Tetris in EU). The SR4600 is dark and spreads a little so is a decent alternative to KBG or a mix partner. Rubix is also fairly dark with fine leaves. I've planted the SR4600 last year and it came in well but I ran out for my reno this year. I've planted Rubix in pots this year to test out. Germinal seed said they are waiting on harvest for both these seeds and expect to have some in late September, too late for most people to try and seed but I may just buy some to stock up.

Importing - I tried many US seed suppliers, most ignored my emails but one replied and I obtained a cost to import. Hancock Seed provided a cost to import Champion GQ, on top of the seed I would need to pay for a Phytosanitary Certificate for $105, wire transfer $40 and shipping $78. So in total $258 for 10 pounds of seed, which is frankly ridiculous, not the fault of Hancock of course. Hancock are very helpful.

Instead I am trying a DLF mixture from another UK supplier which has 40% Esquire, 40% Double (Tetraploid), 20% Bellini. This mixture when I tried in pots germinated very fast and I'm expecting the Double variety to do very well in the winter given its double root system.

I will probably mix the Rubix and DLF mixture in a few weeks for my renovation.

KBG and Rye pots.
KBG Rubix (Tetris) took two weeks roughly to germinate. The Rye mix two weeks and I've trimmed it twice! I did presoak both seeds.




SR4600 mixed with other stuff (I'm killing this lawn this year also)


If you or anyone else from Euro finds a way to get the US varieties at a decent price I'm more than happy to help and share costs.
 
H
#3 ·
@RCUK
Thanks for all the input, very informative.
So indeed it seems that Europe is trying to prevent the import of US grass seed by requiring an expensive Phytosanitary Certificate. This sound ridiculous (c'mon it is just grass seed).

Regarding PRG: Interesting, however i'd really like to go with pure ***. Maybe a monostand, maybe a mixture of elite *** cultivars. I also do not plan to renovate this year, probably next year, so i have plenty of time left to somehow get the best possible *** cultivars. From what I can see in my existing lawn it's really *** that does best in my climate (alpine valley, lots of sunny days, hot in summer/cold in winter and in general rather dry, around 25 inches of precipitation per year).

I'm glad im not the only struggling to get good quality *** seed. It's incredible what kind of BS they sell here in Switzerland. They also seem to LOVE to put a whole lot of fine fescue in the seed mixes, which does not do well at all in my climate .

Does anyone know European *** cultivars that are comparable to Bewitched, Mazama or Midgnight?
I found this one and it seems similar to Midnight:
https://www.dlf.com/products/turf/smooth-stalked-meadow-grass/rhythm-25114101

Maybe we should launch a European seed store, something like Seed Super Store. I'm sure we would make millions;)
 
R
#4 ·
@hammerhead Just spoke to DLF again. They have sombrero currently and I'd need to buy 20kg of it. He said there isn't much demand in the UK for KBG and rhythm isn't bought into the country. I asked about Europe but he didn't say which varieties are available. Miracle is the other type they carry but don't have any currently.

Maybe try your local DLF account manager to see what it possible?

Good idea about the online store :)
 
#7 ·
@hammerhead I think there is a lot of agricultural protections to avoid pest/weeds moving into countries that also apply to grass seeds. You know all those forms they make you fill out at customs (have you been to a farm? etc).

I think Perennial Ryegrass does best for parts of EU that dont get a lot of sunny days. I think KBG will struggle in Zurich or northern France. A lot of the futbol pitch use PRG. But in the higher elevations of Switzerland (eg. Jura canton) I could see KBG doing really good. I think RCUK found a KBG that has a different name in EU than USA. So you might not find something labeled as Bewitched.
 
H
#10 ·
Yes Matterhorn Area @g-man. Seems you know Europe quite well. Usually when i visit the US and I say where I am from they think it's Sweden;)
Great that you think *** will do fine. I'll definitely try to establish a *** only lawn next year. Just have to find that elite *** seed....

I'm wondering if there are European forum members with a pure *** lawn
 
K
#11 ·
hammerhead said:
Yes Matterhorn Area @g-man. Seems you know Europe quite well. Usually when i visit the US and I say where I am from they think it's Sweden;)
Great that you think *** will do fine. I'll definitely try to establish a *** only lawn next year. Just have to find that elite *** seed....

I'm wondering if there are European forum members with a pure *** lawn
Click to expand...
I think the obvious answer is plan a trip to the US, stop by a well respected seed supplier, buy a carry-on worth of seed, then fly back home. Good luck!
 
#14 ·
@Jdaniel611 I keep forgetting about Sterf. Maybe calling them might help with finding a EU source of seed.

@KoopHawk the flying to the USA has that problem with declaring the bag of seeds.

@hammerhead yes I have driven thru EU for work. I used to go to Switzerland one week of every month for at least a year.
 
R
#16 ·
@hammerhead Hi mate, I remembered someone saying that in the Italian market there is more demand for KBG so spent some time (hours) trying to find companies that sell it. I've found one so far which has a mix of Rye and KBG, see here https://www.bestprato.com/sementi-prato-bottos-royalsport-10kg.html

They have Award KBG listed in that mix which leads me to believe they might have a way to help us. Do you know Italian :)

This is another with SR2100 Jackpot, not heard of it before. https://www.bestprato.com/sementi-prato-bottos-maciste-1kg.html

And this company which has NuBlue and Bedazzled which are both excellent http://www.padanasementi.com/en/prodotti/sementi-da-tappeto-erboso/essenze-da-tappeto-erboso/microterme/poa-pratense/

Page 20 http://www.padanasementi.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TOP-CLASS.pdf
 
R
#17 ·
Ok so I spoke to Fabio at Pradana and he seems willing to ship to the UK but wanted to know if I need a license to import because of Brexit lol. They apparently are the sole importers of NuBlue, Bedazzled and Marauder into Italy. He said there is a one week holiday from tomorrow but to email him what I want and he will speak to someone about how to help. PM me if you want the email address. @hammerhead
 
H
#18 ·
Thanks @RCUK, great!

I found a Spanish company that carries NuGlade, which seems to be a great cultivar from what I've read. Also comes with a certain shade tolerance. In total they carry 5 fifferent *** cultivars. Have a look here
http://www.semillasfitoworld.com/en/products/turf-grasses/cool-season/index.htm#sub-4752
And the PDF here (Page 26):
http://www.semillasfitoworld.com/admin/index.php?pagina=descargar&doc=661-1499264485.pdf

Contacted them. Waiting for an answer.
 
H
#21 ·
Great. I'm a bit more confident now on finding some good *** seed.

It seems that most of the pure *** seed is available in Southern Europe.
Actually I'm wondering why it is then available everywhere in the US? Southern Europe seems to be much sunnier than let's say Iowa. I've seen that Ryan Knorr (the guy from YouTube) who lives in Iowa just put down some pure ***. Does it have something to do with latitude? Des Moines, Iowa is about 41 degress north, which would be on the same latitude as northern Sardinia, Italy. Basically that means the sun shines at the same angle in both places. The sun in Central Europe will therefore have less power because it's much more north. For us Europeans 41 is already quite south, however for you American folks that's quite north. Europe is probably heavily influenced by the Gulfstream, which makes our climate much milder (at least in winter) compared to a place in the US with the same latitude... Was just a thought on why *** could be much more adapted/popular in the US than in Europe.
 
H
#24 ·
Got an answer from Samen Steffen AG, which is also supplied by Barenbrug for their seed blends. As all Swiss seed companies they only officially distribute blends of ***/PRG/FF. They do not get their *** seed from Barenbrug (probably only PRG), however they would be able to sell bags of 25kg (55 lbs) of pure ***, but they only carry the varieties Miracle, Yvette, Rubicon. They do not seem to be elite cultivars, however i will have a look at their properties. So, if further attempts fail to get good *** seed, as a last resort, i could still order from them.
 
R
#25 ·
For reference purposes, I've listed some testing articles from the EU testing centres

UK http://www.bspb.co.uk/sg_userfiles/J11667_BSPB_Turfgrass_2019_MD.PDF
Smooth Stalked Meadow Grass = KBG
Tetris is the darkest one listed, this is actually called Rubix from Columbia River Seed and am trying this in pots.
Page 8

France http://turfgrass-list.org/
Smooth Stalked Meadow Grass = KBG
Not many KBG varieties in this list

List any other country specific sites if you can...
 
H
#26 ·
Thanks @RCUK . According to your sources Miracle and Yvette seem OK, but not that elite.
I had a look at the cultivar Rubicon (or should i call it rubbishcon?;)). Is probably a US cultivar since the only one I found that tested it was Rutgers (New Jersey):
https://turf.rutgers.edu/research/reports/2017/49.pdf
Doesn't seem elite at all. The only thing that's good about it is the fast spring greenup.
According to the guy from Samen Steffen AG, Europeans prefer light green colored lawns (WTH?) and that would be one reason why there is less demand on ***. If there is *** in mixes, they usually use the light green ones so it blends better with the PRG. Guess i feel more American than European ;)
 
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