Expired Grass Seed Any Good?

[MICHELLE H.]

The other day when I was at my local hardware store, they were already starting to put out the grass seed, fertilizer, garden hoses, flower and vegetable seeds, and other spring items. So anyway, when glancing through the aisle, I happened to see a couple of bags of grass seed with the stores RED ( discount item ) price ticket on it. The regular price tickets are White, and the discount tickets are Red.

I was shocked at the price of $5 dollars, because this grass seed was selling at their store last year for like $16.99 for a 3 pound bag. I asked the guy working there if $5 dollars was the correct price, and he said it was, because they were discontinuing that brand, and were only going to sell "Scotts" seed and fertilizer from now on.

Anyway, the grass seed is called "GreenView Fairway Formula Grass Seed", and the bag states that "it's been used on golf courses for over 50 years".

They only had 3 bags left, and they were all 3 pound bags. Each bag was a DIFFERENT blend as well. The had 1 bag of "Kentucky Bluegrass", 1 bag of "Sunny Blend", and 1 bag of "Fall Seed Mixture".

Now here is the interesting part, when I looked on the back of the bag, to see if there was any kind of expiration date, there was one on the back label of all 3 bags:

The "Kentucky Bluegrass" said "sell by March 2010".

The "Fall Seed Mixture" said "sell by January 2009".

And the "Sunny Blend" said "sell by December 2009".

So does grass seed really go bad after its expiration date? Besides the "Kentucky Bluegrass", which expires MArch 2010, would it be a waste of money buying the other 2?

Like I said, this grass seed was selling at the store for something like $16.99 last year, and now its only $5 bucks, because they are only going to carry "Scotts" seed and fertilizer now.

Also, does anyone know anything about this brand, "GreenView Fairway Formula", or has anyone tried it and used it before? If so, is it any good?

I have never tried the "GreenView" brand before, and always used either "Scotts" or "Pennington" grass seed and/or fertilizer.

[EVP MAN]

I'd buy it at that price. You may not get the germination percentage as when the seed was fresh but I doubt you'll notice any difference.

Rich

[MICHELLE H.]

Hi Rich,

Thanks for your response. Yeah there is probably nothing wrong with it, the hardware store probably just made some kind of "sweetheart deal" with a "Scotts" representative to only carry "Scotts" brand stuff, and so they have to discontinue and get rid of all the other brands. "Scotts" probably hooked them up to get the "Scotts" products at a good buying price, so that they can turn around and sell it for a great PROFIT price.

I have heard that "Scotts" is running scared, because they now have serious competition from the company called "Pennington" grass seed and fertilizer, which Home Depot and Lowes is now starting to carry more and more of.

[brooklyn1]

I doubt Scotts is worried at all. Mostly they sell product at the commercial level, to large landscapers, golf courses, ball parks, industrial parks, malls, etc., and since many homeowners are brand loyal they will shop elsewhere for Scotts products. As to lawn seed a lot depends on where it will be planted and for what purpose. For around my house where I want a better lawn I buy Scotts seed. But when I need to seed bare spots a distance away from deer rutting or when I have excavations, and other damaged areas I buy 100 lb sacks of no name seed from Agway, because it's much less costly, like about half, and it still germinates at the same rate that my eyes can detect after sitting in a trash can in my unheated shed for like five years. For a mixed grass lawn I would buy those discounted seed blends too.