Sandstrom Land Management personally collects and grows a lot of the native seed we use on wetland and upland native plantings. The seed we purchase for our projects is purchased from well established and reliable companies such as Prairie Moon Nursery. Most of the plants and plugs we plant come from Hild & Associates as they consistently produce some of the best quality native plant material available.
Since Bruce helped develop the seed mixes that the Board of Water and Soil Resources recommends and specifies in its projects, SLM uses those mixtures where appropriate. However, for unique sites and situations, we develop custom mixes to best match the site conditions. When formulating mixes we focus on actual PLS seed counts. Seed counts from suppliers can vary quite a bit depending on the degree of cleaning the supplier uses. For example, Canada Bluejoint Grass seed cleaned down to the bare caryopsis will contain seven to eight times as much seed as an equivalent weight of “fluffy” seed. Therefore, one of our mixes containing 5% Bluejoint by weight will contain the same amount of viable seed as another vendor's mix that specifies a content of 35% Bluejoint.
We strive to match seed mixes to your specific goals and budget. The price of each seed vendor's native seed mixes, especially wetland mixes, can vary substatially. This variance is usually attributed to the relative scarcity of the seed and the diversity of the species in the mix. SLM will work carefully with you to make sure you are getting what you pay for.
