Hydroseeding, the needs, the knows, and the costs

Hydroseeding is a phenomenal cost-effective way to establish new lawns, provide solutions to tricky erosion control on steep hillsides and even overseed existing lawns.

Hydroseeding After Application

What is it?

Hydroseeding is the main technique used by commercial lawn installers to establish grass seed from small residential areas to large swatches of acreage. it is applicated by spraying a slurry of seed, fibrous wood and or paper mulch, fertilizers, additives, and water out of special hydroseeding equipment. it distributes a heavy mat across the area and keeps the seed in place and moist while it germinates into your new lawn.

The Slurry Mix in the Tank

The mix is measured by weight and different additives are added based upon the customer's needs and the soil sample taken at the jobsite. During the colder months we add Rye grass along with our warm season mix for quick lawn establishment and to promote growth in the warmer months.

Seed Choice

Typically, our main offerings consist of Pensacola Bahia, Argentine Bahia, Bermuda, and at special request Centipede. All of these grow very well in the forgotten coast of Florida. Sandy areas we typically steer our customers away from Bermuda and towards a bahia grass.

Bahia Grass

Bermuda Grass (Well established turf)

What To Expect

After initial application typical germination takes within 3 days to 2 weeks dependent on watering, weather, rainfall, temperature ect. You should expect that as long as nothing is dragging through the seeded area the seed mating will stay in place even during rain events and even without watering with natural rainfall the seed will eventually take root.

It will take a full season of normal watering and care to establish a healthy full yard, but results are almost immediate within the first month.

Why Just Broadcasting Seed by Hand Doesn't Work Well

1. Grass seed, especially uncoated is a favorite treat for small animals like birds and squirrels that will eat all your hard-earned money quickly before germination, Hydroseeding embeds the seed in a mulch making it undesirable to creatures as a snack

2. The first time you water it or it rains the soil is going to move around, the seed is going to wash way into low spots or get covered with to much soil, it's going to grow extremely patchy and thick in your low areas and it just generally isn't going to work well, even if you broadcast hay over top to help keep it in place.

3. Reduced seed germination, it regular hand broadcast application lots of seed die and reduce the effectiveness of your application, Hydroseeding has a 95%+ germination rate due to the encapsulation, moisture retention and evenly mixed added fertilizers

4. Broadcast spreading does not evenly disperse seed as well as hydroseeding, it will be thicker some areas thinner in others where Hydroseeding is very efficient at even coverage.

5. Can't grow on hillsides effectively, any kid of slopes the grass seed will wash down the hillsides with regular hand broadcast seeding, whereas Hydroseeding forms a thick mat that keeps soil and seed in place.

The Cost

Hydroseeding is an affordable way to establish a new lawn, anyone who's installed Sod or wrestled with hand seeding and the frustration it incurs knows how costly, time consuming and back breaking it can be. Hydroseeding tends to be half to 1/3 the cost of sod installation, especially with the distance sod must travel to get to the forgotten coast with rising fuel prices. Prices range from between 15 cents to 40 cents a square foot for hydroseeding application based off of seed choice, location, size and application difficulty.

Large open acerage? The cheaper the square footage application costs entail, small tight compact yards, or smaller jobs incur higher square footage rates to meet minimums. additionally in these turbulent fuel price changes the cost of materials and fuel will likely increase the sqft cost.

For quotes and estimates please visit www.CCLandDev.com or call 850-405-6262