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.

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

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.

(MICHELLE H.) wrote:

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.

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.