Pure Live Seed (PLS) tells you a lot about the seed you are buying. Every seed lot has some inert material and some seed that is not viable. It is impossible to remove all unfilled seed and all inert matter from any one lot.
So each seed lot is required to have a purity test that tells you what percent of seed is actually seed and what percent is inert matter, weed seed, othe
r crop seed and noxious weed seed. Each lot also has a germination or chemical test to determine what percent of the seed is actually viable (LIVE) seed.
Taken together the purity% times the live seed (germination)% gives you the percent Pure Live Seed.
The seed on the left (Lot 1) is the same milkweed species from the same batch as the one on the right (Lot 2). The one on the left has been through a different cleaning process than the one on the right. It has 85% seed while the one on the right has 95% seed. So assuming they both have 90% viable seed, the one on the left has 68% pure live seed (PLS=0.68*0.90) while the one on the right has 85% (0.85*0.90 PLS). Pure seed % * Live seed % = PLS.
We sell all our seed as PLS meaning you only pay for pure live seed and you know exactly how much seed you are getting. Inert matter is not figured into the cost.
When you buy with bulk pricing, you are buying seed plus weed seed plus inert matter and you don’t know how much of each you are getting until after the bag arrives.
When you buy seed in bulk, you have to contact the seller to find out how much pure seed you are getting. Further, if you buy a mix for instance and the dealer says use 10 lbs of this mix per acre, you will have no idea if you are putting down 5 lbs of seed or 8 lbs of seed and they wont know either since each seed lot will have a different PLS percent. Each time they make a new batch of this seed mix, with the new years seed lots, the PLS changes.
Many, in fact, most local online retailers sell their seed with Bulk Pricing.
Why? First of all, it will look as if you are getting your pound of seed for a much lower price. When in fact, you may be paying more for the same amount of pure seed than if you actually bought your seed based on Pure Live seed price.
When you buy a pound of seed from us, you will be getting more than 1 pound of material, because all seed has inert matter included, but you will know you are getting one pound of pure seed. You don’t have to guess how much seed you will actually receive. If you buy 1 lb of bulk seed from Lot 1 on the left, you will get 0.68 lbs or 10.88 ounces of acutal seed, but if the price is listed as bulk pricing, you wont know that until the bag arrives. The same bulk lb of lot 2 gives you 0.85 lbs of seed or 13.6 ounces of seed. Which lot is the dealer selling to you? You have no way of knowing unless you ask for the label before you buy. If you buy 1 lb PLS of the Lot 1 or Lot 2, you will get 1 pound of seed plus the same inert material, but you will know you are getting 1lb of seed from any lot you buy.