Why Southwest Seed
Located in Dolores, Colorado, selling to the greater Four Corners region
We are a family owned business in the true sense of the word. We grow, condition and market seed for many applications including home needs: lawns, cover crops, xeriscape, cisterns, roadsides etc.; farm & ranch: pasture and field; and reclamation needs. Our production farms, both dryland and irrigated, have certified crops of many of the common native plants from our region. We also work with the US Forest Service, BLM and other entities to propagate unusual or hard to find species indigenous to the Southwest.
Helping people with seeding needs since 1978
Whether you are a frustrated homeowner with a muddy backyard or a landowner with 200 acres needing to be revegetated—we can help. Our services start with helping you understand your options and the characteristics of different seeds and planting requirements. We provide customized information specific to your situation and then help you put together the seed solution you want. We also have special seed mixes created for the Southwest in a wide range of applications. We grow many native species on our production farm out on Cahone Mesa, and can provide all native mixes required by regulatory agencies Penstemon Prettyand for people who value the beauty, integrity and land enhancing value of native seed.
Whether you need .25 lbs of a wildflower mix or 2,500 lbs of a custom pasture mix, Southwest Seed has a solution for you. All our seed is tested yearly and purity and germination information is provided with all seed.
Regional Experience
The Southwestern United States is a pretty unique and wonderful area. We can probably all agree that its beauty can awe. However, the very things that make the Southwest so unique also make it a challenge for agriculture and native plants. Poor soils, low humidity, lack of precipitations (in essence a high desert ecosystem) all contribute to the challenging task of growing plants. While we can’t take the challenges away from you, we do have almost 40 years of growing experience here. We have plants adapted and suited to most growing situations and advice about how to make it all work.
Our Farm
The Beachfarm is our production farm where we grow many of the seeds we sell. Our 700 acre farm is located at 6,200’ at the edge of Cahone Mesa. It is not large enough to grow everything we offer, but we have specializations that very few other production farmers can match. We specialize in warm season grasses and wildflowers. Our president’s goal is to make a commercial passenger plane do a U Turn to check out the Utah Sweetvetch field in full bloom! Because we farm in the Southwest, we have a wide range of experience (both failures and successes) to help your pursuits be as successful as possible.
Cleaning Facility
We operate three different seed cleaners to ‘clean’ all the seed we grow. Clean seed means that the chaff, stems, leaves, inert matter, weeds and other crops and bugs have been removed to the best degree that technology can offer. This is an important step and we have a host of Dr. Seussesque / Rube Goldberg machines to help us get the seed clean. When it is clean and bagged, a sample is sent to a certified testing facility to determine the purity and viability of the seed. (For more about Tests, purity, viability, etc. in the visit our additional resources page.)
Custom Mixes
Typically, customer seed needs can be covered with our carefully created standard mixes. However, certain industries and/or situations require customized mixtures either specified by a Regulatory Authority or a landowner. Sometimes, the landowner doesn’t know what mix would be best to address a particular situation and we can help define the parameters and create an appropriate mix based on your needs or standard practice for a region or a specific agency. Frequently customers have a very specific situation to address such as; a llama pasture, a leach field, pollinator attractor, deer detractor, a wedding wildflower mix which we will help them develop. We have the mixing equipment to handle little or big jobs and we can work with you for custom bagging needs to fit the situation. In short we can probably fulfill your needs for custom seed jobs.
Sales
Saying we are a Family Business isn’t just to impress you. We really are family owned and operated for two generations. We operate like our family name, and our business is important to us and to you. A satisfied customer is our best referral.
So whether you need to talk about a one pound purchase of cover crop or a 1000 pound reclamation mix, we will give you our full attention. We try to accommodate your needs, whether it is a rush job, an after hours pick-up, special delivery instructions or a special bagging request – we do what we can to make it work for you.
How to Buy
Contact us Direct
Looking to buy seed? Just have questions? Contact us by phone, email or our come into our Dolores, CO location. We can also ship directly to you. A minimum order of 1 lb applies, except for flower seeds.
