Who we serve

For everyone who puts their name on a bag of seed.

Since 1951, Hulsey Seed Laboratory has served the seed industry. Here are the kinds of businesses that count on a seed test before they sell.

The seed industry

Six kinds of seed, one standard.

Seed companiesBrands that clean, bag, and label seed under their own name, and need the numbers for every lot.

Seed growersFarms that grow seed crops and want to know a lot's quality before it's sold or certified.

Native and conservation seedWildflower and prairie grass seed for pollinator plantings and restoration. Wild seed is often dormant, so TZ matters.

Turf and forageLawn, sports turf, and pasture mixes, where weed seed in the bag becomes weeds in the field.

Garden packetsVegetable and flower seed sold in stores, where a germination number stands behind every packet.

Seed that travelsLots headed across borders, tested to ISTA or Canadian rules so the results are accepted there.

A closer look · Native seed

Who buys by the pure live seed.

EXAMPLE · NOT A HULSEY CUSTOMER OR ENDORSEMENT

Take Prairie Moon Nursery, a native seed company in Winona, Minnesota, founded in 1982. It sells seed and plants of more than 700 strictly native species, mostly for the Midwest and Northeast, to buyers ranging from backyard gardeners to restoration projects of hundreds of acres.

Prairie Moon shares seed testing results with its customers. That's typical in native seed, where buyers often price and plant by pure live seed, the share of a lot that is both the right seed and alive. It takes a purity test and a germination test, and because wild seed is often dormant, a TZ test can fill in what a germination test misses.

Businesses like this are exactly who a seed lab is for.

Pure live seed

Purity %×Germination %÷ 100

For example, a lot that tests 90% pure with 80% germination is 72% pure live seed. Out of every pound, about 0.72 lb is seed that will grow.

Purity, germination, and TZ: all three come from the lab.

Keep it local

Buy local. Test local.

There's a seed lab tucked into little Avondale Estates, and anyone buying seed can have it tested right here. Not just seed companies: growers, gardeners, anyone with a bag of seed and a question. Tell your friends.

time tested growth

Your seed, tested

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