Q. Do you know anything about a grass seed called CanadaGreen
I saw for sale in a magazine? It says it sprouts and covers the area in ten
days and can survive from 120F to 40 below zero. Is it any better than our
local selections available at stores here?
A. I did a little bit of background check on this grass.
You can say anything about anything you want when you are marketing but if they
don’t tell you what kind of grass is in the bag then you have no way of knowing
if it will work in Las Vegas.
So, not
knowing the grass, I did find a review by someone who bought some seed and
quoted what was in the bag. State seed laws require that you must state the percentages
of grasses on the label of a product, its germination percentage, percent weed
seed, etc. However, an advertisement doesn’t have to.
This
seed is nothing special. It contains 53.2 % creeping red fescue, 23.4 % annual
ryegrass, 14.1% perennial ryegrass and 4.4 % Kentucky bluegrass. The reason it
comes up fast is primarily the annual ryegrass. You can find the same mix of
grass seed, called Shade Mix or something about shade, at your local hardware or
grocery store.
Annual
ryegrass is considered a “nurse grass” by some because it comes up quickly and
provides some protection for the slower germinating grasses. Many people
consider it a weed. It is an inexpensive grass, used by blow and go guys in Las
Vegas for overseeding bermudagrass for winter color.
It is an
annual grass and does not handle heat very well and, when used for winter
overseeding, dies in early summer when temperatures hit 100+F. Besides that, it
is really not very pretty at all. It is light green, never gets dark green and
looks rough when you mow it.
Creeping
red fescue will not survive Las Vegas summers. It is considered a shade grass
and will die the same time as the annual ryegrass does. Does great in Western
Oregon!
The
third is perennial ryegrass and it might survive the summers in Las Vegas
depending on the variety of perennial rye. Some are heat tolerant (Palmer and
Prelude for instance) while others are not (Manhattan and Pennfine for
instance). If it is not a heat tolerant perennial rye, it will die when it gets
hot. If it is a heat tolerant rye, then you have a 14% winner!
Kentucky
bluegrass is very slow to germinate and can take about a month to sprout. A
good grass for northern climates but is questionable in the hot south like us.
Don’t
waste your money. You can find plenty of grass seed locally that won’t work
here. At least if you buy it locally, and it dies, you will support local
purveyors.
These reviews are from Amazon.com, purchasers of CanadaGreen grass seed.
The Truth About Canada Green Grass Seed, March 11, 2011
I recently purchased this item thinking it was a special type of
seed.
This is a regular shade type grass seed mixture.
It contains:
53.2 % Creeping red fescue
23.4 % Annual Rye grass
14.1 Perennial Rye grass
4.4 % Kentucky Bluegrass
These numbers were on the bag as required.
This is close to the same ingredients in most shade mixtures you can buy at any
hardware store. I recently saw a shade mixture with almost identical amounts of
these seeds for about $3.00 a pound at my local hardware store. Also the
commercials and ads says you can just spread it by hand but the bag tells you
to till the soil to a depth of 2" , rake it in and then use a roller. Not
as easy as it seems in their ads.
I wish these important mixture percentages were listed before I purchased mine
from Amazon. Hopefully it helps you in your buying decision.
We planted the seeds from the directions, watered daily had
beautiful sunshine everyday & not 1 sprout of grass to be seen even 2 weeks
later. Have contacted the company several times & have had no success in
getting an aknowledgement or a response...they said they guarantee that you
will have a full lawn in 10 days - well not from this product !
This grass did grow quickly. I saw growth within a week - soft and
pretty. However, it cannot take the Texas heat and promptly died within three
weeks despite proper watering. This product may do very well in other parts of
the country that do not consistently have temps over 90 degrees for many
months.
After 25 days since we sowed the Canada Green seed according to
their
directions we have had ZERO (0) germination indicating bad seed. We contacted
the supplier on three occassions asking that "good" replacement seed
be
sent so that we could meet the fall seeding period. We were told by the
supplier
"We do not replace seed"
This grass seed must be mostly a type of annual grass. I planted
this grass in three different places. It came up quickly, and I was pleased,
but now, the following Spring, the areas are now bare dirt. In other areas of
the yard I planted 5-way Tall fesue from Rural King. Those areas are thriving
and nice and green.
The grass seed is a big waste of money, I had to go back and replant all the
areas that I originally planted with Canada Green Grass Lawn Seed.
This stuff stinks, so don't be a sucker and buy Canada Green Grass Lawn Seed.
I ordered 5 bags and spread it all in newly tilled ground. I
watered regularly and still not one single blade of grass has grown. Perhaps it
grows in Canada but not Washington State!! Would not waste my money again.
I bought Canada Green Grass through Amazon last fall (2006). Prior
to overseeding with it in my front yard, I core aerated and dethatched and then
put the seed down heavily. I covered it with straw and it came up great with a
few bare patches left before winter came.
This spring, I am amazed! It is growing into an incredibly thick and beautiful
turf! It looks wonderful! I have done this process before with other seed
mixtures, but never with this kind of result. The only question mark is how it
will do once we have our very hot and very dry spell here in Missouri this summer.
But the thickness and density of the turf is what has amazed me the most.
Canda Green performance was less than adequate - poor germination
rate and as a result a sparsely covered lawn area. I planted seed purchased
from a local store in an adjoining area for comparison - there was little
difference if any.
I'm lazy - so I just lightly raked up the dead grass in the bare
spots, then tossed the grass seed on the mostly bare patches of ground,
covering them well, then got a 40 lb bag of potting soil and lightly tossed a
thin layer on top to hide the seed from the birds and to hold moisture. Then
set the sprinklers to run daily for 2 minutes a shot at 5 AM, noon & 4 PM
to keep the area damp.
In a week the seed sprouted and I've now cut it for the first time and it's
really filled & blended in well.
Prep is important, and I didn't really expect this simple technique to work,
but it did. Super easy & quick.
I sowed the seed within a few days after it arrived so it was fresh & kept
it out of the light. It was fall in North California, so not hot and not cold.
The area is fairly shaded by trees also.
seams to be growing well so far, Just needed plenty of water and
it took a week and a half for the first sprouts to show up, just do reserch to
make sure it will grow in your location.
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