fine grit, true grit, or grits?

A rather inane question of no significance other than to satisfy my curiosity.
In many instances seed packets,catalogs and such recommend covering
the seed with "fine grit or coarse sand". I can understand the coarse sand
part,but what,by definition,is the 'grit' that is so often mentioned ? I don't recall
seeing a product in the marketplace called "grit",not to be confused with the
Southern 'grits'. Anyone have an answer ?

Grit is make up of very small pebbles about the size of kitty litter particles or smaller. Jessamine.

50lb bags of grit can be gotten at most larger feed stores as it is used for poultry farming.

Chickens have to have some kind of grit to help with their digestion, a very fine gravel as I recall.
Sidney

Yup....haven't thought of it in years (since leaving the farm 30+ years ago)

Their gizzard is a muscle that 'wrenchs' the ingested food to digest it, but it needs something inside to grind against. (Sr level Feeds & Feeding)

Did you know they also only have one exit orifice?

Just full of worthless information........ : - }

Thanks folks,that answers that question.Let me see now,if I used a quarter pound of 'grit' per 10X12 tray, that 50# sack of grit from the chicken store would treat about 200 trays! Since I only have 4 trays perhaps I'd better stick to 'coarse sand'.(unless of course I were to get a flock of chickens)

Just came from my local Cenex co-op where they had chicken grit and pigeon grit ( a bit larger) at $ 3.90 for a 10 lb. sack.Other than being pink,it looks just like Grape Nuts cereal. Now my helebore seeds have a nice protective covering. Thanks again for the help.
robert

Cool! Hope it does the job for you :-)

What a surprise!!! Checked the flat just now and found the Zinnia elegans benary's giant seed that I put in on April 1st have sprouted.Boy,will that chicken grit do the same for the rest of the seeds? wishful thinking.

You can also get small boxes of grit in the pet section of many stores (Wal-Mart, Target etc.). It is for pet birds.

Being very new at this, I am hesitant to suggest anything, but I put wet perlite on top and smoothed it out. It is light, easy for the seeds to get through helps keep things moist. So far, OK, but I have done nothing but easy seeds.