Hydroseeding in the low rent district

[Alan]

Managed to sneak a grade and seed job in between rain and thunderstorms. Nice place on the lakeshore in Grand Isle, VT. Both house and garage are post & beam frames with stressed skin panels for the walls. House was done a year or two ago, the garage was this years project. The lake view is looking eastward across part of Lake Champlain with the Vermont "mainland" in the background.

[jbutch83]

You know, I am about tired of all of you guys posting all these pictures, with nothing nice to look at. Wish I had something like me like that.:D That does look like a nice place for Mark with the SS.

[Alan]

Not a huge seeding job but it made for a nice afternoons work.

The Lake Champlain basin generates some really nasty thunderstorms. I was hearing a constant rumbling over the noise of the 8hp pump on the seeder. Wind was out of the southwest and there was a very ugly black cloud mass building to the north of us. The picture doesn't do justice to it. This cell worked back towards us, against the wind, which is normally a bad sign. Luckily it passed to the west of the job, with only a few sprinkles and a LOT of light and noise. It was right after one particularly bright, and loud, display that I realized I was touching up some bare spots right at the base of the flagpole. DUH!!

[atgreene]

Nice!

What do you figure for a rough guide for seeding per square foot for your area. I seldom hydro seed, as the water district frowns on it, as they want hay or straw covering all bare soil when the job is done each day.

I assume the red doors on the front of the house are stictly decorative? Seeing that more and more here. You and I, on the other hand, being from New England, wouldn't waste our time, energy, or money on something that has no use.

[Alan]

Best I can get is 5.5 cents a foot for hydroseeding. I refuse to do hay mulch. No matter what that seems to be a two man job to do with a chopper or a PITA one man job to shake it out and then watch it blow away. Price of hay mulch has gone through the roof over here. I'm not sure there is any cost saving in doing hay mulch now. If I can ever get to talk to the manufacturers rep on that gypsum based mulch I want to get enough of that to do a trial patch and see if it really does work.

Those doors are actually functional. That side of the house catches the setting sun and the interior really heats up. The doors are on barn door tracks and make excellent shutters.

[atgreene]

It looked functional, but I didn't believe anyone would go to the trouble, neat.

[Chuck Smith]

Man I hate straw! If you don't shred it, then it is a mess to clean up, and looks bad while waiting for seedlings. If you do shred it, then it ends up in the neighbors yard. House across the street from me had half the lawn done. I would guess a 1/3 of an acre. The first time they seeded it and blew straw, it all ended up on my lawn. The second time they did it about a month later (and still no grass) only about half of it ended up on my lawn. Bad choice IMO, as the yard borders a wide open 20 acre field, and man the winds just rip across it. Perfect candidate for hydroseed....

~Chuck

[MDsnowPRO]

Alan, what kinda hydro seeder you running? Looking to invest in one in the near future. Good money in my area with a TON of new home construction.

[Randy Clarke]

hay guy's it would be great if we could get some tips on the smaller hydro-seed equipment and getting started for us beginners...maybe save some trial and error on purchasing

[John DiMartino]

Nice pictures Alan! I dont like the mess of straw,but esp in the spring it works best for me,chop it with a bail chopper,and IMO,nothing else keeps the seed moist as well.The "mulch" chopped up newspaper in the hydroseed we did was a joke,the seed would dry out between waterings,so it didnt germinate.

[apgarconstruction]

nice house and lake. beautiful scenery.

i am going to stop including raking, seeding with my additions because i can't justify a hydro seeder, and i have a hard time getting the people to water the lawn, when i'm done with the job and it doesn't always look good. the last job we finished when it was cold, so we put the seed down and had to straw it, no hay, and i figured it would come up good when it was warmer out. it only came up good in a few spots and the rest needs some major help. this is the worst one out of all the jobs though. i think because it was on a slight hill, that the seed washed away in spots or the birds ate it too.
i might get a price for local guys to hydroseed or just have the homeowner deal with it. just do final grading

[John Banks]

nice house and lake. beautiful scenery.

i am going to stop including raking, seeding with my additions because i can't justify a hydro seeder, and i have a hard time getting the people to water the lawn, when i'm done with the job and it doesn't always look good. the last job we finished when it was cold, so we put the seed down and had to straw it, no hay, and i figured it would come up good when it was warmer out. it only came up good in a few spots and the rest needs some major help. this is the worst one out of all the jobs though. i think because it was on a slight hill, that the seed washed away in spots or the birds ate it too.
i might get a price for local guys to hydroseed or just have the homeowner deal with it. just do final grading


We specifically exclude finish grade, seed, etc. Dan. We include rough grading and that's it. Of course we will do the seed if they ask, but then in the change order we outline their responsibility for watering, or we an do it at an additional charge.

You're right, it's one of those items at the end of a project that can make everything else look like dung.

[T-Zab]

We specifically exclude finish grade, seed, etc. Dan. We include rough grading and that's it. Of course we will do the seed if they ask, but then in the change order we outline their responsibility for watering, or we an do it at an additional charge.

You're right, it's one of those items at the end of a project that can make everything else look like dung.

How do you guys get around landscaping for final occupancy ? Most towns here require a landscaping bond/ or wont release final occupancy with out finished landscape.
Many towns we work in require sod in front minimum too.

On the seeding note, I was allways told to rake the seed into the top soil for proper germination then straw, no ?
When I have done a few lawn patchs screened topsoil, seeded, raked then straw matts allways worked the best.
I have used the patch master stuff and unless you topsoil, rake it in, it doesnt work nearly as well as throwing it on top and watering it.
Im no expert, but I allways thought raking provided the protection of wet soil/straw for germination plus protection from birds.
I understand the philosophy of hydro seeding, and huge labor savings but if you have to come back and repair the new lawn patchs is there really a savings ? I dunno
T

[Alan]

Nick,

My seeder is homegrown, based closely on the ones made by Turbo-Turf. I looked a several brands and they all had something I didn't like. When I was shopping I was looking for a machine that would be small enough to carry in a pickup to do plow damage repair and reseed areas damaged by utility or septic repairs. With all that in mind I built a 200 gallon, jet agitated machine. Did a couple small jobs, just what I had intended, and then latched onto an 80,000 ft one. So much for the small job concept.

I was originaly running off a 2", 5 hp trash pump that was mounted right on the seeder. It soon became obvious that something bigger was needed so I upgraded to a 3", 8hp pump. With ten seasons on the current tank it is probably getting close to brittle enough to start cracking. When it does I'll move up to a 300 gallon which will ift the same cradle. I nurse it off either a 425 gal. tank in the pickup or a 1,000 gal in the dumptruck. I have done upwards of 20,000 sf per day so I don't think I'm too badly under equipped at this point.

Todd, as far as raking seed into the soil, I've found that grass seed is pretty stupid stuff. If it's bedded in a nice cushy layer of mulch it thinks it's in the soil. I've lost track of how many sites I have seeded and I've never had a problem with bare spots. There are places that come in slower than others, I've never figured out why, but I've never had to go back to reseed any patches.

1st pic shows the mulch tray and two of the agitator jets, just below the centerline of the tank, pointing upward. The valve at the top, on the mulch tray, is for feedwater. 2" hose runs from the truck tank, through that valve and down to the suction side of the pump. To refill the tank I open that valve and let the pump draw both from the nurse tank and the mix tank while I add mulch/fertilizer/tackifier.

2nd shot is the discharge manifold. Valve at the top feeds a 2" jet that blows the length of the tank at about the 175 gallon level. Top valve on the right feeds the two 1 1/4" jets(soon to be upsized to 1 1/2") on the side, the one on the left goes to two 1 1/2" jets shooting down from the top of the tank. The two lower valves are for discharge to the spray hose. One on either side so the hose doesn't have to wrap around the pump at any point(the hose doesn't like hot mufflers or engine parts).

I keep 250 ft of 1 1/4" spray hose on the rig but I usually try to keep it down to 150 ft. If I need to I can run 2" hose, both fire hose and spiral wound suction/discharge out to about the 150' mark and then put a booster pump in the line and go with all the 1 1/4". I have worked over 300' from the machine before, it's a long walk back if you forget something.

[Mark Oomkes]

That does look like a nice place for Mark with the SS.

Not nearly enough of a slope or hill for me to tackle that. Not enough of a challenge keeping my SS afloat and my underwear skid mark free. :grinz :grinz

Nice pics and beautiful location, Alan.

[Alan]

I don't know Mark, it might be a place for you. That shot out over the lake was taken from a 12-15' high drop-off. Exposed rock and almost straight down with water right to the base of the slope. I think with a decent start you(and the rear admiral) could probably do a pretty good back flop. Perfect for testing the ROPS and watertight integrity of the cab and would also allow for a real clear view of the belly of the machine. You'd have to go over nice and square so it went endo instead of landing on the bucket and flopping sideways. Let me know if you want to try it and I'll give you directions to the site. They're having a party Saturday, I'm sure everyone there would love to watch, think you can make it?

[jbutch83]

I don't know Mark, it might be a place for you. That shot out over the lake was taken from a 12-15' high drop-off. Exposed rock and almost straight down with water right to the base of the slope. I think with a decent start you(and the rear admiral) could probably do a pretty good back flop. Perfect for testing the ROPS and watertight integrity of the cab and would also allow for a real clear view of the belly of the machine. You'd have to go over nice and square so it went endo instead of landing on the bucket and flopping sideways. Let me know if you want to try it and I'll give you directions to the site. They're having a party Saturday, I'm sure everyone there would love to watch, think you can make it?


If he does end up going, I want to see pictures, or better yet, how about some video.:D

[Mark Oomkes]

What time is the party? I'd love to be the entertainment. I have been for all you guys. :popcorn2

BTW, nice hydromulcher. I'd like something like that for sod repair in the spring too. Trade ya a slightly water damaged Bobcat for it. :grinz

John, I have a real nice retention pond that will be getting mowed sometime this summer, some puddles at the bottom. Want me to give you a call so you can watch? And video?

Should be fun, some of them are close to 45*. I'm sure none of my guys will want to try it. Course, they'd probably have the blades going in reverse so they'd have to mow it twice. :headwall It would be less difficult if the previous 'contractor' had actually followed the specs and mowed it as he was supposed to, but hey, the moron couldn't even do the edging so why would I expect him to do the hard stuff.

The guys from GR know who I'm talking about, real piece of work. Or another 4 letter word of your choosing. Got a great pic of 2 of his trucks in a repo lot during our heaviest storm of the season a few years back. He was in FL and had to come up with $25K cash to get them out. Absolute loser.

[MDsnowPRO]

Man Alan, you sure are a genius. Great looking machine, i would have never thought of building my own unit, but I'm sure you saved a ton of cash and got a better unit then you could have bought. :notworthy