Welcome
Welcome to our first edition of our Snippets Newsletter! We intend on faxing Snippets each month along with our price sheet. The format is expected to be a combination of crop reports, market updates, information on our varieties and services, as well as additional information we hope will be useful to you. And, as all our regular customers know, you can expect an occasional slice of humor to make you smile …or at least scratch your head! Please, let us know your comments.
Crop Talk
A number of Orchardgrass fields in the Willamette Valley have been affected by severe frost and the presence of a new disease complex. Estimates are that from 20% to 30% of fields are affected by one or both. Scientists are perplexed as to the exact cause of the problem, and it may be a combination of stress related factors including frost, bill bug insect injury and extended dry weather last fall. The disease tends to occur in patches and some fields are more seriously affected than others.
Market Watch
Active markets recently include crimson clover, orchardgrass, ryegrass and bluegrass. It appears that Crimson acres are significantly reduced from last year and with only a few loads trading the market has gone up significantly. We don't expect much trading on orchardgrass until growers know what their crop does. Perennial ryegrass carryover is significantly reduced from one year ago. Annual and perennial ryegrass crops overall appear to be average at this time. Prompt Kentucky bluegrass has strengthened because of a tight supply. June, as always, seems to be shaping up to be an interesting month!
Characteristics
If dark green is important in your perennial ryegrass blends, then you should consider Nexus. For the second year in a row, Nexus is ranking at the top in genetic color ratings in the National Turf trials. Only two varieties had higher scores, neither, statistically darker. This means, you can’t buy a darker ryegrass! Additionally, Nexus continues to show impressive turf quality, traffic tolerance, density, and resistance to brown patch, snow mold, rust, and red thread. The NTEP full report is available at www.ntep.org.
Meet Ed. Ed is our newest diploid annual ryegrass. Ed was bred by Gordon Prine, of the University of Florida for improved yield, rust resistance, and cold tolerance. Test data throughout the South (available upon request) confirms Ed is a consistent performer. This season, introduce your customers to a high yielding hardy young plant – introduce them to Ed!
Did you know?
Smith Seed Services has the ability to ship over 1 million lbs. of seed per day! Utilizing over 100 dedicated and trained employees, we can clean, blend, bag, tag, palletize and ship mountains of seed! So, whether you are ordering multiple carloads or a partial truckload, we are equipped and dedicated to getting your order shipped as fast as possible!
Speaking of Quality…Recently, we installed magnets in our packaging lines to ensure that no foreign metallic material finds its way into the finished product. Plans are in the works to include similar measures in all our blending lines.
You can take a ‘virtual tour’ of Smith Seed. Ask for your free copy of our We Can Do It! Video, a 30-minute tour of our facility. The video includes interviews and on-site footage. Available on video cassette and CD-Rom.