It’s that time of year when we begin receiving cover crop samples at the lab. Please remember to include the month and year of harvest on your samples.
Why do we ask for the harvest date?
Some crops require a pre-chill period before the growth phase to break natural dormancy in recently harvested seeds. Common examples include oats, rye, other cereals, and grasses. Pre-chilling involves placing the planted seeds in a cold chamber (5°C or 10°C) for five to seven days or more before moving them to the appropriate warm temperature for testing.
Accurately providing the harvest date helps us avoid unnecessary pre-chilling and retesting, which can delay the issuance of the analysis report. Therefore, it is crucial that Seed Lab staff know if samples are “recently harvested.” The best way to communicate this is by supplying the month and year of harvest.
If you have one of our sample bags, it doubles as a submission form and includes a quick guide to the tests you might need for cover crop testing. Please fill out the sample submission form as completely as possible to ensure the fastest processing time.
If you do not have cover crop sample bags, we will send 10 bags to you at no charge. Contact us via email at seedlab@iastate.edu, and we will send them to you promptly.
Example of Submission Form on Sample Bag:
