You have to consider that kbg may be 1.5-2mil seeds per pound. Where as tttf has ~250k per pound. That bag may be 50/50 in terms of actual # of seeds

 

I think it is very misleading. It is called Blue mix and not Kentucky Bluegrass mix, but to most folks, they won't notice that small detail and assume it is KBG. Further what percent of the 2% survives 4 weeks after germination? Very little if any.

 

So I purchased a small bag of Scott's Heat Tolerant Blue Mix. The bag contains 2.88% of Thermal Blue Kentucky Blue Grass, 45% Tall Fescue and 52% inert matter. I understand that it is coated seed but based on the font size on the front label you would think that the majority of the grass seed would be the heat tolerant KBG. Seems a bit misleading. Is this a common practice or am I just being picky?

You have to consider that kbg may be 1.5-2mil seeds per pound. Where as tttf has ~250k per pound. That bag may be 50/50 in terms of actual # of seeds

It's 5% HBG. Reminder to everyone, for Scotts coated seed, the coating takes up half the weight (and cost; if seeding by weight, you have to double everything).

Anyway, that is a 45/5 mix. If a 90/10 mix can produce a 50/50 lawn, then a 45/5 is the same.

But yes, the product has a weird name. Misleading, even. Been that way forever. Then again, anyone who is looking for Bluegrass will likely read the analysis, too.

Also: every bag of this mix says 0.01 weed and 0.25 other crop...for years. They're covering themselves; that way, it can contain up to those amounts but not more. You still have to double those numbers, too, though. So it could have up to 0.52% weed/other crop per lb of actual seed.

Kizzle TTTF...never heard of that one. Going to have to look it up.

Btw, I believe 80% germination for TTTF means it was likely seed harvested the year it was packed (i.e 2020). I heard germ goes up to 90 the second year as it dries out. Or else they're just covering themselves legally again here.

Edit: looks like Kizzle may be brand new for this year: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://ntep.org/data/preliminary/2020/Preliminary%25202020%2520Data.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjWzLu4odXzAhWpoXIEHTqaCeIQFnoECB0QAQ&usg=AOvVaw28M2su-vD7KfMtKoCYNM3g
See pgs. 4-6

 

Thanks All, very insightful comments. I'm learning something new everyday on this forum.

 

Interesting stuff guys. Since it had the coating, I used this mix in a section of my lawn and on my parkways (areas where I knew watering would be not so great). I posted the seed tag in my journal (also complaining about the same HBG %....thanks for the context). I thought it was somewhat interesting that my tag had only the 4th Millennium, Rhambler, and Kizzle TTTF cultivars.

 

I took a chance on a bag of this for a partially shady area behind my home in Maine in 2020. That area is gorgeous and think now, tolerates the cold, shade and heat well and is a deep blue/green. I know the name is misleading but the colour match on this area to my kbg in the sunny areas is perfect. Perhaps that’s why they call it blue. There is certainly a large amount of rhizominous (is that a word?) growth too. Fast forward to 2023 and I bought another large bag for some other areas and to overseed. Sadly the folks at Scott’s -as they do with successful things- have replaced the thermal
Blue (hybrid kbg) portion with Starr kbg, something that pops up in other mediocre blends I’ve tried. The results are clear. The newer version of the heat tolerant blue is much lighter green (admiting this is still less than a year old) and there is little evidence of any rhizomes. I’ll be buying a bag of Jonathon Green Solar Green to hopefully get something similar. Buyer be ware. The early versions of this blend were great for me all the way up here in the North East. But the newer varieties are disappointing.

 

Thanks for the heads up! I used the original mix in my low input area a few years ago, and it has done very well.

Is Starr also a hybrid? Edit: apparently not. It has been discussed before, and is a new variety in the last few years, but is not dark green.

Maybe there was an issue with the Thermal Blue hybrid crop last year and they had to substitute? I will admit, this variety has done very well for me over time since it was planted.

Batenbrug HGT (another regular KBG blend) gets good reviews as far as heat, too, but is also apparently lighter in color than some.