What is The Difference Between Conventional and Organic Coating?

In essence, the only difference between conventional and organic base coatings, regardless of seed type, is simply the adhesive used. Our base coatings consist of limestone flour and adhesive. For conventional coating, we use our standard adhesive. For customers desiring an organically approved product, we use our organic adhesive plus limestone and inoculant. Products coated organically are approved to be tagged and sold with the specific OMRI Listed® logo.

Limestone - Naturally Organic, But Also Very Valuable.

Limestone flour is used for all our coatings. The limestone is mined and not treated in any way. Three properties make it an ideal coating material: density, absorbency, and neutral pH.

  • Density – A limestone coat increases the density of the seed. This helps to increase seed-to-soil contact for better seedling establishment. Depending on the method of planting, coated seed is extremely helpful in minimizing wind drift, or wash out from rain or irrigation.
  • Absorbency - Limestone flour is a natural absorbent that will wick water into the coating, thus holding water next to the seed which helps eliminate terminal or false germs.
  • Neutral pH - Limestone is pH neutral, creating a safe microenvironment for root establishment. It is also universally recognized as an organic material.

Adhesives – Not Always Organic.

When coating seed, the coating as well as any other enhancements, such as inoculants, micro and macronutrients, colorants, and even limestone, need something to bond them to the seed. These are called adhesives. We use two types. For most of our coated seed, we use a conventional adhesion. For conventional coating, we use our standard adhesive. For customers desiring an organically approved product, we use an organic adhesive plus limestone. Organically coated products incur additional charges and need to be requested in advance. While our tackifier products are trade secrets, we can provide the product tech sheets to organic approval agencies upon request.