Seed Coating
Combining decades of experience with modern, high-volume, automation, we provide a wide-range of performance seed coatings customized to suit your needs. From simple to complex coatings, with facilities in both Oregon and Missouri, we’ve got your seed coating needs covered!
Why coat with us?
Capacity
With five high-speed large-volume lines in both Oregon and Missouri, we have the capacity to meet your needs
Expertise
Our coating team is led by industry experts who have decades of experience. Furthermore, due to the large volumes and wide range of coating jobs we do, even our younger staff gains expertise quickly.
Quality
Our systems and processes take full advantage of the mechanical capabilities of our state-of-the-art equipment to provide consistent, repetitive results.
Innovation
Just because we don’t do it today, doesn’t mean we won’t do it tomorrow. Our company culture is to provide solutions to problems and find ways to satisfy our customer’s needs. It’s just who we are.
Advantages of Coated Seed
Coating Benefits for All Seeds
Ballistics
Coated seed increases the bulk density of the finished product. This benefits many seeding applications, from hand spreading to aerial seeding, resulting in greater accuracy of the drop, and reduction of wind drift. As the seed reaches the ground, the increased density also increases the likelihood of the seed making the necessary contact with soil, where lighter seed may not have the velocity to bypass other plant material and surface debris.
Seed-to-Soil Contact
Once on the ground, the benefits of the coating material continue. Coated seed has a much greater surface area than uncoated seed which greatly increases seed to soil contact, and therefore increases that seeds opportunity for establishment.
Moisture Wicking
Another favorable property of the coating material we use is that it is naturally hygroscopic, in other words its capillary action wicks in moisture. This absorbent property softens the seed and provides a more consistent level of moisture for germination. With the neutral Ph level and water-holding capacity of our coating, coated grass seed is good insurance for establishing a healthy crop.
Coating Advantages for Legumes
All of the Above and More
The advantages of coating discussed above are also true for legume seeds. However, the strongest argument for coating legumes can be summed up with one word: nitrogen.
Nitrogen
In almost every scenario where legumes are used – whether for forage production, cover crops, wildlife, or pollinators - their maximum potential is directly related to their uptake of nitrogen. Given legumes ability to capture and utilize nitrogen freely from the atmosphere, it is essential that legumes are planted in a way which maximizes their ability to fixate nitrogen through nodulation. Nodulation requires the presence of a healthy population of rhizobium to infect the root hairs.
Lots of Live Rhizobium
Our Nitro-Coat® coating process, combined with very high quality inoculants, allows each seed to establish itself with a massive population of live rhizobium ready to colonize the developing root system.
Ready to Plant
Unlike messy and cumbersome tradition inoculation methods, our Nitro-Coat® delivers ready-to-plant pre-inoculated seed.
More Biomass
Cover Crops
The amount of nitrogen benefit from a cover crop is directly proportional to the plants ability to maximize nitrogen fixing nodules in its root system and generate abundant nitrogen-rich biomass. It is critical in these application for each legume seed to begin with a high population of live rhizobium ready to go to work. This converts to hundreds of pounds of atmospheric nitrogen fixed per acre, as compared to raw or poorly inoculated seed.
Forages
Nitrogen equals protein. The purpose of legumes in forage mixtures, whether for pasture or hay, is to produce protein-rich feed. As mentioned above, maximum potential is obtained when legumes are able to produce abundant nitrogen-capturing nodules. These require specific Rhizobium species. The Nitro-Coat® process ensures that Rhizobium of the correctly matched species are applied directly to the coated seed.
Other Enhancements
Our coating process allows us to deliver numerous seed treatments and enhancements, including bio stimulants, micronutrients, water absorbents, and fungicides.