hydroseed VS. sod?
- Thread starter mattymac
- Start date
A
Abominable
Well-known member
Well if you have a typical 5000 square foot yard your wallet will be $700 fatter with seed, but you wont have near the weeds or bare spots to deal with later on with sod.
my dad had his lawn hydroseed and it worked very well. It looks like sod was laid. Took maybe 5 months.
Other than the whole weed factor, Hydroseed will give you a much greener and naturally constructed web of firm roots. It only takes about a week or so before the hydro seed begins to sprout up and turn your lawn into an immaculate, soft, lush bed of greenery and the resprout rate the following ear after the snow clears is incredible. And your going to save a ton of cash as well.
completely gutted my backyard, getting ready for a totally new landscape, irrigation is all done and waiting for the trenches to finish settling, removed quite a bit of topsoil and weeds havent been to much of a problem. Even with the sod being more money and my time/labor to lay it, it sounds like hydroseeding is the better option for me then!!!
Lawns that are derived from seed are much hardier and less prone to contract a disease.
Often times the reason seed fails to germinate is because it has dried out. Homeowners start watering and then skip a day or two and that's all it takes for the seed to die. It doesn't sound like you're going to have an issue with that since you've installed an irrigation system.
One other thing to consider is the pH of your soil. Seed will not germinate if the soil is too acidic. A simple soil test will tell you if conditions are appropriate for what you're trying to accomplish.
Often times the reason seed fails to germinate is because it has dried out. Homeowners start watering and then skip a day or two and that's all it takes for the seed to die. It doesn't sound like you're going to have an issue with that since you've installed an irrigation system.
One other thing to consider is the pH of your soil. Seed will not germinate if the soil is too acidic. A simple soil test will tell you if conditions are appropriate for what you're trying to accomplish.
When they cut the sod a majority of the roots are left in the ground and will not re-establish as deep as a seeded lawn. Seed is the best option for a healthier and established lawn. The root system is deeper and the healthier the lawn the smaller amount of weeds. Don't forget to feed your lawn too. A fall application is very important for nutrients over the winter. Good luck and use seed - you will be much happier.
heres the prob i have. new lawn last year and it was perfect zero weeds fertilized every week irrigation system, cut every other day. well about christmas we had 2' of snow and got 2" of rain. needless to say in april i still had 2"of ice on my whole yard. betwen that and the kids 120 most of my grass is dead. its starting to come back but i don't know if i have my buddy hydroseed all the dead spot will it take or will it grow in. i put 60# of seed on and 1/2 of it took. it really sucks
you can buy that stabil lawn fertilizer at wal mart. i had a mud hole for a lawn. i seeded it with kentucky bluegrass seed (also from walmart) fertilized it with that lawn stabil fertilizer, and air rated it all with a metal rake. watered it everyother day for 30 mins a section and BAM, instant lawn.. took about a week and a half for the seed to take.. after that i would use the miracle grow lawn treatment to strengthen the root system and it has come back on its own (watered and mowed of course) for the last 8 years and its beautiful!
The disadvantage with sod is the bottom layer of the roots are left at the sod farm when the sod is cut and you have to lay all of it. If you hydro seed you need to have a very good source of water for it. It dose not like to be dry and it is very critical you keep the proper moister level in the hydro seed in the early weeks. If you can't keep it moist then you will not get perfect results and will have to do more seeding. a garden sprinkler attached to a hose wont cut it unless you are doing a very small area. If you have an in ground irrigation system then you will be just fine. There is also a lot more Prep work with hydro seeding. You need to make sure you get all of the junk out of the soil. Rake and rake until all of the small rocks, garbage, ect are gone. Its more work up front but you will thank yourself in the long run.
boy lot of miss information on sod verses. seed........have been doing both for over 25 years, and just hydro seeded another area today..........for me, the only way to go is sod...., if my customers want a quality grass I will always put in a sod lawn, there are to many thing that can go wrong with seed, been there done that,,,,,,,,,no the roots are not left in the sod field, with healthy good quality sod the new roots start to appear within 3 days and with in 7 to 8 days the sod should be firmly rooted, you just get a faster quicker nicer lawn......was also a golf course superintendent 18 years,,,there we would seed, but we had very close controlled conditions, and some of the best irrigation systems around.........if money o k go sod.....Soil temps haven't been warm enough to allow your seed to germinate.
People ask me all the time when is the right time to seed and I tell them that if you see lilacs blooming you can be seeding. I saw the 1st lilacs of the season blooming this week so you tried repairing your lawn a little too early. Try it again, I'm sure you'll have a little more success.
to get the best grass seed to germinate, you should have ground temp at night to be above 40 o, seed will germinate with less ground temp but will take quite a bit longer to get established...........
S
snowmobiler
Well-known member
i agree.sod it
Greenskeeper knows what he is talking about
I've been hydroseeding for 10 years and sod is the way to go. A LOT less work and a thicker lawn in the long run. yes, the cost is higher, but well worth itSimilar threads
