Tips for Hydroseeding in Helena Mt
Tips for a great lawn in Helena, Mt
If you do not have someone lined up to prepare your place for hydroseeding, check out our landscaping website at landscapinghelena.com
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Soil
Good soil is important for long term success. There are a lot of times during the year when we will literally have grass growing on our hydroseed machine. Grass will germinate just about anywhere there is enough water but for long term success we highly encourage our customers to have a decent soil that is not compacted prior to hydroseeding in the Helena, Montana area. Sod has the same requirements as hydroseeding.
2. Seed
The right selection of seed is highly important for hydroseeding to be successful. We design our hydroseed mix specifically for the Helena, Montana area. We have tested more types of seed than we can count and have landed on a few seed blends that we know work very well.
Kentucky bluegrass creates a very nice lawn but is slightly slow to germinate and likes a little shade while germinating. Perennial Ryegrass is incredibly fast germinating and provides a great start for the bluegrass. Perennial ryegrass will frequently die out over the winter and you will be left with an amazing Kentucky Bluegrass lawn although even if the ryegrass sticks around, it has a lot of positive features that add to the quality of a lawn.
Montana Hydroseeding’s other seed mix is a draught-tolerant mix that we can use on request. This mix will create a nice lawn but is in no way comparable to a Kentucky blue grass lawn. However, this mix works incredibly well in areas where there is sub par irrigation as well as high-traffic areas like kids play area.
3. Weeds
This is probably one of the most misunderstood areas of growing a lawn whether it is sod or hydroseed. All dirt has weed seed. It doesn’t matter if its existing dirt that is on your property or if you have soil hauled in. If soil didn’t have weed seed in it, then the soil would be sterile and wouldn’t support growth.
When you have a property hydroseeded or have sod put down, you are introducing a large amount of water and added nutrients and this creates the perfect growing conditions for everything, including weeds. This is going to happen on every single property that has sod or hydroseed. It is not a big deal, it is easy to handle once the lawn is established and we will point you in the right direction to get rid of the weeds. Some properties will have very little weeds and others will have more weeds. All grass seed is required by the State of Montana to be tested for weed seed to make sure that we are not introducing weeds into the state.
4. Water
We hate to be blunt but watering is the by FAR the most misunderstood and most neglected part of hydroseeding. We have people call all the time and tell us since its spring they would like to have hydroseed so they do not have to water……..As mentioned above, at any given time we will have grass growing on our hydroseed machine or other hard areas. Hydroseed will literally grow on concrete if it has enough water. If your lawn is not growing it is from lack of water or not enough heat in the soil. All grass seed is required to be tested for germination rates. If grass fails to germinate it is from lack of water or lack of heat. These are the ONLY reasons. Montana Hydroseeding has been doing this for a long time and have seen every growing condition out there. We will set you up with very basic instructions and as long as these instructions are followed then you will have an amazing lawn! Our company has a product that is environmentally safe that we add into all of our lawns that reduces that water requirements by up to 50% for up to 3 years. But…..this will not replace following our watering instructions.
5. Nutrients
We add a starter fertilizer to our hydroseed mix. This is good for a couple weeks and will give your new lawn the start it needs to come in healthy. However with the initial watering requirements we have found that most of these added nutrients are gone within a couple weeks. Our instructions that we leave with you will outline when to fertilize again.
Sod vs. Hydroseed in Helena Montana
Sod
- Much more watering to get established
- Sod is cut when immature so it is weak when installed
- Mushrooms and fugus are more prevalent with sod because of the water requirements
- Sod shrinks when installed so there are usually visible seams
- Sod gives you instant curb appeal
Hydroseed
- Much less water requirements then sod
- Hydroseeded lawns are grown from seed without their roots being cut
- Fungus is much less likely
- Hydroseeded lawns can be touched up and usually blend in close to perfect
- Hydroseed take 14-21 days to start to look like a lawn