Seed Certification Services

Department of Plant Industry field inspectors conduct three inspections per year on each field producing a class of certified turf to detect off-types, other crops, and noxious or inseparable weeds. Turfgrass fields are sampled at random and grown out to ensure the identity of the grass is being maintained.

All classes of certified turf must carry an official certificate bearing the variety name and other relevant information. This is the farmer's assurance that the turfgrass is of the quality he expects from certified turf.

1. All equipment that comes into contact with foundation, registered or certified grass must be cleaned prior to contact and appropriate documentation must be kept of each act of cleaning or the cleaning procedure.
2. Before the time of inspection, an inspector will request that fields not be mowed two to three days prior to inspection. If the inspector arrives and the fields he specified have been mowed, the inspector may choose to reject the field for certification on the basis that the field was not in proper condition for inspection.
3. A field of registered class can not be divided for certification.
4. Land fumigated with an approved material must lay idle for a period of not less than three weeks after fumigation and be inspected prior to planting. (Land must receive adequate moisture and soil temperature must be adequate to allow any live plants not eradicated by the fumigant to emerge.)
5. Registered class fields that go through one year of inspections without getting passed will be permanently downgraded to the next class, if those fields meet the next class’s certification requirements.
6. Areas that the inspector has flagged must be eradicated plus a minimum of an additional 18” border surrounding that area.
7. If a field is rejected because of the excessive number off-types, the producer must eradicate the flagged area and leave the flags in place until the time of reinspection or the next inspection, or otherwise mark the flagged area (ex. dye in herbicide).
8. Fields that have been rejected must wait three weeks before being eligible for reinspection.
9. Only authorized representatives of the grower (as indicated on the turfgrass application) are allowed to sign turfgrass certificates. These representatives are responsible for ensuring: the grass was inspected and accepted for certification, the certificate contains all the required information, a certificate accompanies each shipment of grass, a copy of the certificate is mailed to the Department in a timely manner, and the records required in the South Carolina Seed Certification Standards are maintained.

If one certified operation wishes to sell to another certified operation, the grower must indicate the name of the buyer on his turf certificate. When the buyer resells that shipment he must use the grower's certificate number for the field location and write the growers name on the turf certificate.