Though we offer several environmental services like silt fence installation, inlet protection, and sediment basin installation, hydroseeding is what defines our company here at Burns Environmental.
It’s no surprise then that the total number of our blogs is heavily weighted toward hydroseeding and our website url is “alabamahydroseeding.com”!
We want to take the time to inform our clients about what exactly makes up hydroseeding–what ingredients are used to make the “slurry.”
What Is a Hydroseeding Slurry?
Hydroseeding “slurry” refers to the liquid substance that is actually applied to the exposed area of earth when a hydroseeding company hydroseeds a project.
This substance is a mixture of everything needed, except sunlight, to grow grass in an area. It contains grass seed, mulch, fertilizer, soil amendments, and water.
A Breakdown of Slurry Ingredients
Grass Seed
It does not take a career farmer or a soil scientist to know that in order to grow grass, or anything, seed is needed. Growing grass directly from seed rather than with patches of sod has numerous benefits:
- Seed is less expensive than pre-grown grass–sod.
- Because seed takes up less surface area and weighs less than sod, it is less expensive to transport to the area needing to be covered.
- It is easier and less labor intensive to spread seed across a large area of land than it is to spread sod.
Mulch
In order to grow grass, mulch is not an absolute necessity. However, it assumes that conditions will not be perfect and helps protect seeds and seedlings from the harsh realities of nature that would otherwise almost assuredly keep them from growing. Some of the ways that mulch protects seeds and improves the growing environment include:
- Mulch provides a shield from strong winds that threaten to blow seeds away from the areas to which they were applied.
- Throughout the southeast, and especially Alabama, rains abound. Both rain droplets themselves and water channels created from them can pick up seeds and carry them away from the area needing coverage. Mulch helps to both slow the velocity of the raindrops and channels as well as hold seeds in place.
Fertilizer & Soil Amendments
Fertilizer & soil amendments ensure that grass seeds and seedlings have more than enough essential nutrients. Many times areas that need to be covered with grass do not have optimal levels of nutrients; fertilizers make up for any insufficiencies in the chemical make up of the soil.
Water
Without any water, no seed will ever grow. In the southeast there is usually a substantial amount of water contained in the soil and in the air as water vapor. Additionally, as mentioned earlier, rains abound.
A hydroseeding slurry contains water that helps to start the seed on the growth process regardless of what the environmental conditions are. This eliminates the need for immediate rainfall or irrigation.
Hydroseeding’s Slurry Makes It Effective in Growing Grass
This composition of seed, mulch, fertilizer and soil amendments, and water is what makes hydroseeding such an effective means of growing grass on an area of exposed land.
Because of the slurry, hydroseeding is not only effective in getting grass to grow, but it is also cost-effective when compared to other methods of growing grass. If you are looking to curb erosion on your land, near your home, around a development, or anywhere else, hydroseeding may be the best option for you.
Burns Environmental–Alabama Hydroseeding
The professionals at Burns Environmental know how to get your plot of exposed land from an eroding area, to land covered with a hydroseeding slurry, to land covered with luscious grass.