Seed Quality checks whether seed is actually fit to plant, before it goes in the ground.
It matters most for saved seed and for seed bought outside a certified channel, which is the majority of what is sown on smallholdings. A germination failure is not discovered for ten days, by which point the season, the land preparation, the labour and the window have all been spent.
It works from a sample test and returns what that sample says about the lot: whether the germination is good enough to sow at a normal rate, whether the rate should be raised to compensate, or whether the seed should not be used.
It is clear about the limit that matters: it checks a sample, and seed from a different bag can differ. Sampling properly — from several bags rather than the top of one — is the difference between a test that means something and one that reassures.
It pairs with the seed rate calculation in Farm Calculator, because a germination figure is only useful once it has been turned into how much extra seed to actually order.
How to use Seed Quality Intelligence
What it is. A pre-sowing decision on a seed lot: photograph the seed, add whatever germination, purity, moisture and vigour figures you have, and get a planting readiness assessment that separates what was visually estimated from what was actually measured.
When to open it. Before sowing, and before paying for the lot if you still can. Seed is the cheapest input to get wrong and the most expensive mistake to discover eight weeks later.
Have ready.
A photograph of the seed — a scan or an upload.
The crop or species.
Any laboratory or manual test results you have: germination %, physical purity %, seed moisture %, vigour index.
Optionally the lot or batch number, the supplier, the variety and where you intend to sow.
Step by step.
Photograph the seed. Spread it out, in daylight, so individual seeds are distinguishable.
Enter the crop or species.
Record the lot or batch number and the supplier. If the lot turns out to be bad, this is what makes the claim possible.
Enter any test results you have. A germination figure from the seed packet counts and should be entered as such.
Press 'Assess seed lot' and read the planting readiness.
Note carefully which parts of the report are marked visual estimate and which are marked lab or manual data.
What it will not do. A photograph cannot measure germination, purity or moisture, and this does not claim it can. It assesses what you supply and what can honestly be seen, keeps the two apart, and tells you which is which. It is not a seed testing laboratory and does not replace a certificate.
Every setting in Seed Quality Intelligence, explained
Crop / species
What the seed is. How to choose: As specifically as you can. If it is wrong: The visual assessment has nothing to compare against.
Seed lot / batch
The lot identity from the bag or the invoice. How to choose: Copy it exactly, including any letters. Optional in the app and not optional in practice. If it is wrong: A seed failure without a lot number is a seed failure you cannot pursue with anybody.
Supplier / source
Who it came from. How to choose: Record it even for your own saved seed — then record which field and which season. If it is wrong: The same as above: no traceability, no recourse, and no way to know next year whether this supplier is reliable.
Germination (%)
The proportion of seeds that will actually produce a seedling. The most important number about any seed lot. How to choose: From a certificate, a packet, or your own test. A home test is easy: 100 seeds on damp cloth, kept warm, counted after the species' normal period. If it is wrong: Seed rate is calculated from germination. Sowing a lot at 70% germination at the rate meant for 90% gives you a thin crop and a field you cannot re-sow.
Physical purity (%)
How much of the lot is the seed you are buying, rather than other seed, chaff or dirt. How to choose: From the certificate where there is one. If it is wrong: You pay for the whole bag by weight and sow only the pure fraction, so low purity is both a seed-rate error and an overpayment.
Seed moisture (%)
Water content, which governs how long the lot stays viable in store. How to choose: From a meter. Seed loses germination faster the wetter and warmer it is stored. If it is wrong: A lot that germinated at 95% when it was tested can be well below that after a season in a damp store, and the certificate will still say 95%.
Vigour index / result
How strongly the seed emerges, not merely whether it does. How to choose: Enter it if you have it. Vigour is what separates two lots that both germinate at 90% and behave completely differently in cold or crusted soil. If it is wrong: Nothing, but a germination figure alone will not explain a lot that came up weakly.
Intended sowing location
Where this will be sown. How to choose: Optional, and useful — readiness is partly a question of conditions. If it is wrong: The assessment is more general than it needed to be.
A worked example
A wheat lot with a certificate giving 85% germination and 98% physical purity, and a photograph of the seed.
What goes in:
Crop: wheat
Germination 85%
Physical purity 98%
Seed photo attached
What comes out:
A visual assessment of the photograph, labelled visual estimate.
The certificate figures, labelled lab / manual data.
A planting readiness assessment drawing on both, with the two kept apart.
The seed rate follows from that 85%, not from the bag's weight. If your normal rate assumes 90% germination, this lot needs roughly 6% more seed to reach the same plant stand — and that arithmetic is the whole reason to know the figure before sowing rather than after emergence.
How to read what it gives you
The report never blends the photograph with the certificate. Visual evidence is marked visual estimate; test results are marked lab or manual. A photograph cannot measure germination, and the report does not pretend otherwise.
Germination is the figure everything else hangs on. Physical purity, moisture and vigour qualify it; none of them substitutes for it.
Planting readiness is a judgement over what you supplied. Supply less and it is a broader judgement, stated as such.
What usually goes wrong
Trusting a germination figure from a certificate issued a year ago on seed stored badly since. Test it yourself if the lot has been sitting.
Sowing at the usual rate regardless of germination percentage. The rate should follow the figure.
Not recording the lot and supplier, then discovering the problem at emergence when there is nothing to point at.
Photographing seed in a heap. Spread it out — one layer, daylight, so the individual seeds can be seen.
Questions people ask about Seed Quality Intelligence
How do I test seed germination at home?
Count out 100 seeds, lay them on damp cloth or paper, keep them warm and damp but not waterlogged, and count how many have produced a normal seedling after the period normal for that species — three to four days for many cereals, longer for others. The number that came up is your germination percentage. Do it twice on separate hundreds if the answer will decide a purchase.
What germination percentage is acceptable?
It depends on the crop and on what your certification standard requires, and the practical answer is that any figure is workable if you know it — you simply adjust the seed rate. What ruins a crop is not low germination but unknown germination, sown at the rate that would have suited a better lot.
How do I adjust seed rate for germination?
Divide your normal rate by the germination fraction. At 85% germination instead of an assumed 90%, that is roughly 6% more seed for the same plant stand. Purity works the same way and multiplies with it — a lot at 85% germination and 95% purity delivers about 81% of its weight as established plants.
Can a photograph tell me if my seed is good?
It can show damage, admixture, discoloration and obvious problems, and that is worth having. It cannot tell you germination, purity or moisture, which are the three figures that decide the sowing. The report keeps the photograph's evidence and the test figures visibly separate for exactly that reason.
Why does it ask for the seed lot number?
Because it is the only thing that connects a field that came up badly to the bag it came from. Without it there is no claim, no replacement and no way of knowing next season whether this supplier was the problem.