Seed Stats

In a recent set of surveys, Lawn & Landscape asked contractors for their preferences regarding turfseed usage and turf renovation methods. Following are the results of those surveys.

In brief, of the companies polled who offer lawn renovation, lawn establishment, slitseeding or overseeding services, 49.3 percent prefer seeding to sodding or hydroseeding when establishing a new lawn. Additionally, 66.7 prefer to seed when renovating lawns as well. When choosing seed for lawn projects, 56 percent of contractors polled named drought tolerance as one of the top three characteristics they value in turfseed, and 44 percent chose disease resistance. The vast majority of contractors – 68 percent – purchase their seed through a local dealer or distributor and 42.7 percent of respondents spend less than $1,000 on turfseed per year.

Please note that 111 contractors responded to Question 1, but those who answered “None” were (36 respondents, 32.4 percent) were unable to answer the remaining questions. Therefore, results for questions 2 through 8 are based 75 responses.

1. Which of the following services does your company offer? (Please check all that apply.)

2. When establishing a new lawn, what method do you most commonly use?

3. When renovating a lawn, what method do you most commonly use?

*Includes core aeration plus overseeding, overseeding alone, slitseeding, kill-reseed-dress-roll combinations, and customer's choice.

4. What THREE characteristics do you find most valuable in your turfseed choices?

*Includes availability.

5. Where do you most commonly buy turfseed?

6. When do you typically buy turfseed?

7. How much do you spend on turfseed per year?

8. Which of the following best describes your projected 2003 gross sales?

Source: Insight Express