Do I need to sow organic grass seeds on the lawn for organic eggs?

[fisher39]

I'm planning on having open-range chickens and need to know about organic grass. I tried searching Google for this info but couldn't find any info. One person in the local coop store said that the grass most grass seeds are from was most likely grown with chemicals, but by the time they were harvested and dried out and planted in the new ground the chemicals should generally be gone. Is that true? Do they spray grass seed with chemicals?

Do people buy organic grass seed, and if so, where do you buy it? Any info on this is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Egghead_Jr]

It really depends why you want organic eggs. If to resell then you need to look into your state requirements for organic labeling. If for your own health/ideology then simply don't use chemical fertilizers or weed be gone/ round-up products for chemical free grass. To go as far as purchasing http://www.dirtworks.net/Organic-Pasture-Grass-Seed.html $240/50 lbs seed to ensure chemical/bioengineering free grass for pasturing livestock is overkill in my opinion. If the grass has drained through a season chemical free then it's free of chemical.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

As Egghead said, it depends...

If you intend to sell your eggs as "Organic" or "USDA Certified Organic" then there are specific regulations that you must follow.

For pasture (or lawn), the land must have been managed organically for the previous three years. That means no synthetic fertilizers, no synthetic pesticides, no synthetic herbicides, and no manure from conventional livestock. If you were to reseed it, the seed would need to certified organic, or you would need to document sufficient justifications for not using organic seed stock.

If they are only for your consumption, organic can be whatever you want it to be...

 

[fisher39]

Thank you very much for the replies--I appreciate it.

I'm doing this just for myself. I'm trying to do everything with as little chemicals as possible as nature has intended us to do. I do want organic eggs, but I also will be using the chicken manure for composting for my (organic) garden.

I had no idea that organic grass seed was that expensive though. I thought I saw organic grass seed a while back in Lowes, but I'll need to check on that again.

organic can be whatever you want it to be...

Of course it can be whatever I want it to be, and that's the reason I asked if grass seed companies put chemicals to protect their seeds so I can make the conclusion myself

Thanks for the info.​

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
It's not necessarily only about any chemicals sprayed on the seeds (yes, some are treated with fumigants, pesticides, and synthetic fertilizers). Conventional seed also comes from fields that are treated with synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides and such. If you are of the mindset that supporting organic agriculture is the right thing to do, because it is more environmentally sound, supports smaller scale farming vs big ag, etc, then buying the organic seed may be important to you for other reasons.