Beth had an area of her yard that had not been landscaped and thought we could try this this seed to either support the claims or debunk the myths.
The Canada Green grass seed blend advertises the following claims:
Grass starts growing in just 5 days!
Tolerates extreme temperatures from -40ºF to 120ºF
Resilient to heavy foot traffic
Crowds out weeds including crabgrass
Resists Bugs
Stays Green All Winter Long
Next we roto-tilled and loosened the soil to a depth of approximately 6 inches. This uncompacts the soil and allows air and water to penetrate deeply enough to allow for a strong root zone of your new grass plants.
Applied the seed at the recommended rate
(We even put it down at an extra heavy rate due to knowing it was a poor quality seed with low germination rates)
We then applied a layer of Penn Mulch (a recycled paper pellet type mulch) to retain moisture and left Beth with lawn after care instructions noting to especially take the time to water twice a day to ensure the seeds germinate properly. Straw could also be utilized during this step but we wanted to rule out any weed seed that can carry over from the straw for our test purposes.
The growth results of our test plot for this "As Seen On TV" product can be viewed in the video above. After both 7 and 14 days the new seed plot was checked. To date very poor growth results were realized. Which we found a little surprising even for a low quality seed.
Fact: Canada Green is a poor quality grass seed mix that contains annual rye, Kentucky bluegrass, and red fescue. Annual ryegrass is a quick germinating, cool-season, annual grass. Use of annual ryegrass in seed mixtures is discouraged because its aggressive growth prevents the establishment of the more desirable perennial turfgrasses. Home gardeners can buy good quality turfgrass seed mixes at their local garden center for about half the cost of Canada Green.
Our Recommendation: Always take time to prepare your lawn properly as we have illustrated above and ensure to purchase the best quality seed possible, and a seed that is specified for the the unique area you are trying to sow it in.
If you are interested in having your lawn repaired on professionally installed using high quality grass seed such as our contact us today for free estimate today.