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hydro seeding
Does anyone have any experience with hydro seeding? Does it really provide quicker germination than conventional seeding? Is the equipment available for rent or do you have to hire someone?
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hydro seeding
Chris, I guess what you are talking about is what is known in our area as "hydromulching" and I learned about it from a friend who builds golf courses. When we bought our last new house in town (in Dallas), I had the yard hydromulched with common bermuda for about half the cost of sod (and of course, I hired it done; don't know whether you can rent equipment to do it yourself). The instructions said to water it 2 or 3 times a day to keep it damp and to mow and fertilize after 28 days. Since it was in July, my wife was not working, and our daughters were out of school for the summer, they hand watered instead of using sprinklers and kept it damp. In 21 days (instead of 28) it was so high that I just had to mow. It worked so well that 4 different neighbors came to see how I did it, then called the same company to come do theirs.
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hydro seeding
Bird is on target here. I'm in Arkansas and we refer to it as hydromulching also. Have seen it used many times and it's extremely effective. Much superior to normal seeding.
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hydro seeding
If anyone is interested, I have a EasyLawn 600 gal. hydroseeder for sale. It is two and a half years old, but with very low hours, and is mounted on a factory built trailer. My Email is harburn@dnet.net if you want to contact me.
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hydro seeding
A friend of mine had the worst luck with hydroseeding. He had just built a new house and had the lawn hydroseeded. It was during the year of the worst drought that I can recall. The only rain that hit all summer was centered over his house and was intense just after the hydroseeding. The hydroseed company came back and fixed the problem at no additional cost. During the drought it required a lot of watering but the end result was great. This all happened about 10 years ago and I am sure things have improved since then.
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hydro seeding
Can anyone explain exactly what hydroseeding is?
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hydro seeding
Larry, the company that hydromulched my lawn gave me a written guarantee that included coming back to do it over if a heavy rain washed it off. Sure enough, we had one heavy rain, just a day or two after the hydromulching, that washed a lot of my dirt out onto the paved alley. I scooped it all up with a shovel, put it back and spread it, then called the company. They said what they usually did was wait until the grass came up, then come back and re-do any bare spots, but that if I wanted them to, they'd come right then. I agreed to wait, and sure enough the grass came up in the dirt I had put back, too, so I never needed them to come back.
droz, maybe Richard came explain it better, but as I understand it, they have the grass seed, fertilizer, water, paper mulch, and green dye mixed, so they just spray it on the ground and the paper keeps it in place, and the seed, having been soaked in water at the right temperature has already started to germinate. Is that close, Richard?
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hydro seeding
You are essentially correct with a few minor points. There are two kinds of hydroseeding machines - paddle agitation and jet agitation. The paddle units can break up solid bales easier and will tolerate high percentages of wood fiber with little trouble. They tend to be more expensive as they are steel construction and can have expensive maintenance requirements as they age. Jet agitation units require a larger percentage of paper vs. wood fiber and you need to be more careful about breaking up the bales. Larger units typically have bale grinders (900 gal. and larger) so they load bales rapidly. A new mulch, called Jet Spray, is a pourable mulch and loads as fast as you can dump the bags in. Also, EasyLawn jet agitated units will mix a geobinder, Airtrol Gypsum, with no problems. I don't know if other jet units tolerate the gypsum but EasyLawn has a proprietary pump design that seems to be superior.
The hydro mulch serves several purposes. Large trucks that spray big areas tend to use it as a coloring agent so they can do an even application. They will then blow straw or hay over the seeded areas. This mainly serves to cool the soil so fescues, which are cool weather grasses, will germinate in hot weather and also provides some frost protection in the early spring. Often the straw/hay will blow or wash away if it is not sprayed with a light slurry of hydro mulch (no seed) and a tacking agent to bind it together. If the hydromulch is not followed with straw/hay, it is applied at the recommended rate per acre. Fibers and tackifiers are also added, at times, to better stick the mulch/seed mixture to the soil. EasyLawn sells soluble lime and fertilizer which is immediately available to the new grass. The water used in the mix is not sufficient for germination. Any hydroseeded areas must receive rainfall/watering adequate for germination. Also, new grass must also get enough water to keep it from dying. This is up to the customer. Often, annual rye or brown millet is used (at a specific rate per tank) as a nurse crop. Several mowings will make the nurse crop disappear after it has served its purpose. This is a basic overview of hydroseeding and each geographic area has its specific requirements as to the best grasses to seed with.
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Thanks, Richard. I knew it was a little more complex than my oversimplified explanation, but that was about all I knew about it.
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