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Work out how much seed you need for a wildflower meadow, temporary cover, or your own seed packet rate, by area.
Project Details
1. Where are you seeding?
2. Seed type & rate
A general-purpose full-sun meadow mix. Site preparation the year before, smothering or removing existing weeds and grass, matters more to a good stand than the exact seeding rate.
Seed rate depends entirely on what you are planting, and there is no single cross-species table honest enough to cover wildflower mixes, cover crops, pasture blends and lawn grass all at once. This calculator ships two well-sourced presets for real, common searches, plus a custom entry for everything else: enter the rate printed on your own seed packet and it handles the area math and the lb per 1,000 sq ft to lb per acre conversion for you.
Reviewed by Usama, Civil EngineerHow we source our numbers
How it works
- Measure the area getting seeded, as a shape or a known square footage.
- Pick a seed type, or choose custom and enter the rate from your seed packet or supplier spec sheet.
- Read off the pounds needed, converted to your preferred unit, plus an editable cost estimate.
Seeding rate by type
| Seed type | Rate (lb per 1,000 sq ft) | Use | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wildflower / pollinator meadow mix | 0.4–0.6 | A general-purpose full-sun meadow mix. Site preparation the year before, smothering or removing existing weeds and grass, matters more to a good stand than the exact seeding rate. | University of New Hampshire Extension, "Planting for Pollinators: Establishing a Wildflower Meadow from Seed" |
| Temporary cover / erosion control (annual ryegrass) | 4–5 | Fast-germinating annual ryegrass sown to hold bare soil over a season, not to establish a permanent lawn or meadow. It will not persist long-term. | Penn State Extension, "Turfgrass Seed and Seed Mixtures" |
| Custom / other seed (enter your own rate) | 0 | Cover crops, pasture and hay blends, and general garden seed vary too much by exact species and region for one table to responsibly cover. Enter the rate printed on your own seed packet or supplier spec sheet. | Your seed packet or supplier |
Why this tool does not try to cover every seed type
A lawn-grass seeding rate table works because turfgrass extension programs publish per-species figures. There is no equivalent single table for wildflower meadows, cover crops, pasture and general garden seed: the right rate depends on the exact species or blend, your region and site condition, and a supplier's own packet rate is the most reliable number for those categories. Rather than inventing a rate for a category with no real source, this calculator ships two genuinely sourced presets and a custom option for everything else. For lawn turf specifically, see the Grass Seed Calculator, which does have species-level extension data.
Wildflower and pollinator meadow seeding
University of New Hampshire Extension recommends roughly 0.4 to 0.6 lb per 1,000 sq ft for a full-sun, medium-to-dry-soil wildflower mix. Site preparation the year before planting, removing or smothering existing weeds and grass, matters more to a good stand than hitting the exact seeding rate, since a meadow seeded into unprepared turf will lose the competition to whatever was already growing there.
Temporary cover and erosion control
Annual or Italian ryegrass sown at 4 to 5 lb per 1,000 sq ft, per Penn State Extension, germinates quickly and holds bare soil over a single season. This is explicitly temporary cover, not a permanent lawn or meadow: it will not persist long-term the way a proper turfgrass lawn or an established wildflower planting will.
Using your own seed packet rate
Cover crops, pasture and hay blends, and general garden seed vary too much by exact species, cultivar and region for one universal table. The custom option in the calculator above exists for exactly this case: enter the rate printed on your packet or supplier's spec sheet, in pounds per 1,000 square feet, and this tool handles the area multiplication and unit conversion.
Frequently asked questions
How much seed do I need for my project?
Multiply your area by the seeding rate for what you are planting, in matching units. This calculator does that math for you: pick a seed type or enter your own packet rate, enter your area, and read off the pounds needed plus an editable cost estimate.
How much wildflower seed do I need per square foot?
Roughly 0.4 to 0.6 lb per 1,000 sq ft for a full-sun, medium-to-dry-soil mix, per University of New Hampshire Extension. Site preparation the year before planting matters more to a good stand than hitting the exact rate.
What is the difference between this and the Grass Seed Calculator?
The Grass Seed Calculator covers lawn turf specifically, with species-level rates for cool-season and warm-season grasses from university turf extension tables. This Seed Calculator covers everything else that does not have a single reliable cross-species table, like wildflower meadows and temporary erosion-control cover, plus a custom entry for cover crops, pasture blends and general garden seed.
How do I calculate seed for an irregular area?
Break it into simple shapes and add them separately rather than forcing one measurement over an odd outline, or enter the total square footage directly if you already know it.
How much seed do I need for erosion control?
Annual or Italian ryegrass at 4 to 5 lb per 1,000 sq ft, per Penn State Extension, is a common fast-germinating temporary cover to hold bare soil over a season. It is not meant to establish a permanent lawn or meadow.
Why doesn't this calculator have a rate for my seed type?
Cover crops, pasture and hay blends, and general garden seed vary too much by exact species, cultivar and region for one responsible table to cover. Choose the custom option and enter the rate printed on your own seed packet or supplier spec sheet; this calculator still handles the area math and unit conversion for you.
How do I convert seeding rate from lb per 1,000 sq ft to lb per acre?
Multiply by 43.56, since one acre is 43,560 square feet. This calculator converts automatically once you enter your area and pick a rate, so you do not need to do the conversion by hand.
Does this calculator work in metric units?
Yes. Area fields accept metric or imperial units and convert automatically.