Thursday, August 16, 2018

What Are The Advantages Of Hydroseeding Over Sod And Broadcast?

By Harold Wood


No matter how great a house you have, no one will notice if the lawn is devoid of grass, full of weeds, or unkempt. Meticulous edging and mowing will improve the look, but they aren't the solution to substandard color and texture. You may have to start from scratch by broadcast seeding, sodding, or hydroseeding, also called hydromulching. Choosing hydromulch has advantages you should be aware of.

You might be interested to know that hydromulching is used to regrow wilderness vegetation after a fire and will regrow riparian vegetation. Hydromulch is actually a slurry of seed and mulch that is transported by tanks or trailers and sprayed over ground that has been prepared for it. Hydromulching is used for erosion control by construction crews. It is extremely effective for homes with sloping lawns and hillsides.

Dry seeds are traditionally spread and then covered with an overlay of straw, ostensibly to keep the seeds in place and to discourage birds. Unfortunately the weather doesn't always cooperate, and a good wind will send the straw, and the seeds, sailing. Hydromulching on the other hand has a tackifier that acts as a sort of glue holding the slurry in place.

Dry seeding can evaporate prematurely. Grass can't grow without moisture. Moisture is part of the hydromulch. It has a coating that protects the seeds against evaporation. Straw isn't nearly as effective at doing the same thing. In addition, straw can drain nitrogen from the soil and allow weeds to grow along with the grass. Hydromulch has wood fiber that adds to the humus composition and strengthens the under layer of your lawn.

There are obvious advantages to choosing hydromulch over sodding. For one thing sod can be as much as four times as expensive as hydromulch. Sod will give your lawn a great look, but hydromulching will compete with it in looks, and leave you with money in your pocket at the same time. Sod that isn't compatible with a soil type will not take. The soil rejects it. Hydromulch can be especially mixed to accommodate most soil types, which reduces the chances of rejection.

The sod you lay down doesn't have roots. This is one of the reasons for the rejection problem. If the sod actually takes, it can still be unhealthy. Hydromulch grows seed the old fashioned way. The moisture germinates the seed as the blades grow skyward. The result is a healthier and hardier lawn than the one with sod.

You will spend much less money on hydromulch than on sod. You'll spend more for the hydromulch than you would for the broadcast seed though. When you factor the components of energy, time, aggravation, straw mulch, and fertilizer, hydromulch becomes much more competitive.

Creating a beautiful lawn can be expensive and time consuming. For this reason you want to choose the most cost effective product that will produce the results you expect. If you comparison shop, you'll see that hydromulching is the way to go.




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