Residential Hydroseeding FAQ's

Hydroseeding keeps your seed and soil on your site until your grass germinates and begins to establish. When seed costs can approach over $50 per 1,000SF, keeping your seed on site is important. Other benefits include no petroleum based tackifier, ability to add soil amendments that can only be applied with a hydroseeder, and the ability to do it all in a single step/application.

Warm Season Turfs are optimally seeded in the spring when the ground temperature are at around 70 degrees. The date varies, but 15 March, or when you vehicles are covered with yellow pine tree pollen is a good plan/indicator.

Cool Season grasses are optimally seeded in the fall when the ground temperatures drop to around 70 degrees.

Yes. Hydroseeding uses recycled paper or processed wood as a mulch that is mixed with fertilizer, lime, and tackifier (glue). This mixture is biodegradable and adds organic matter to the soil to help plants to thrive.

Yes, but we recommend minimizing foot traffic until your turf is established; i.e. walk on it to adjust your sprinklers.

Keep wheeled or tracked equipment off your hydroseeded project, both will increase the likeliness of killing seeds and/or destroying your sprayed erosion control mat.

Sod: Provides instant grass and is THE way to go when you want a lawn this year, are getting ready to sale your house, or if you have ground pearls.

Hydroseeding is the most effective technique to establish a lawn from seed and can provide a sod comparative yard in 1 season for cool season turfs and 2-3 seasons for warm season turfs,

For homeowners, one of the largest benefits of hydroseeding vs sod is cost. In 2024 we had a customer that was looking at ~$25K for sod vs ~$6K for hydroseeding his large backyard. Hydroseeding, when established is perfect for your site conditions, but it takes time to establish.

Warm Season Turfs: you should mow your hydroseeded lawn when your nurse or marker grass gets to around 2 inches tall. Adjust mower height for 1st through the 3rd mowing to 1.5 inches tall. After the 3rd mowing you can begin to lower your height to your final turf height (typically 1 to 1.5 inches tall).
Cool Season Turfs: you should mow your hydroseeded lawn for the 1st time when your nurse or marker grass gets to around 2 inches tall. Afterwards, adjust your mower deck to 3 inches and mow to your hearts desire.

The top 2-6 inches of soil should be disturbed or tilled. This allows water , nutrients, and roots to penetrate into the soil. The disturbed earth also enhances the ability of the hydromulch to bond with the soil, keeping your seeds on your yard. You can do this yourself, or we can do it with one of two attachments for our Ventrac Tractor.

Yes, we've purchased a small hydroseeder specifically to for small sites that has a lower base equipment fee; however, mileage fees are the same as our larger seeder and may make local sod a viable alternative. The larger the site, the better the savings.

Not very well. There are groundcovers that may do OK from seed when you've got ground pears; however these typically don't have the traits desired in a home setting. We recommend using SOD in instances where there are ground pearls, preferably an aggressive turf (Bermuda or Zoysia) and follow with an aggressive irrigation and fertilization plan. Ground pearls will typically attack seeded turf roots on germination and survival is limited.

We recommend Bermuda Triangle (a mix) for most residential sites due to is price point and performance. If you have the budget, you can't go wrong with one of our premium bermuda turf options.

Simply put it depends. Bermuda can establish in one summer if seeded early in spring and adequately watered and fertilized. Centipede typically takes 2 years/seasons to establish as does Carpet Grass. Bahia can establish in one season, as can Zoysia. All cool season turfs will typically establish in one season.

The seeds themselves are typically the same, the difference is the intent of the seed and the quantity they are applied. Temporary seeding may require 50 pound per acre, however if used as a nurse crop or marker grass could be applied at rates of 6 pound per acre, or lower. Check out our page on the differences (https://nchydroseeding.com/nurse-temp-marker-seed.html).

Whenever you "till" your soil you will uncover dormant weed seeds and those in the "grow zone" will germinate and grow. We recommend that you wait until at least 3 mowing's before you attempt to address the weeds. READ the label, follow the label, and use the minimum recommended rates to address the weeds... you don't want to kill your new lawn.

Warm season starts when the ground temperatures average around 70 degrees. When the pine pollen starts to cover your car is a good "natural" thermometer and a good time to seed.

Cool season starts when the ground temp drops below 70 degrees. When your tree leaves begin to change color in the fall is a good "natural" thermometer and a good time to seed.

If you have shade, you need to minimize or eliminate it to establish your turf.
There are NO shade tolerant warm season turfs (period).
St Augustine does OK as do a few Zoysia strains... but they will still be stressed and thin in shade and will need to be installed via SOD.
Seeded warm season turfs will not do well, or establish in shaded areas. Our recommendation is to go with mulch, gravel, or eliminate the shade by cutting trees.

Yes; however, we pass the credit card fee's to the buyer. These fee's are typically in the area of 3-4% and will be included in the estimate in most cases (Cash vs CC cost).

We only guarantee that we will install what we estimate/bid. We do not guarantee of an established yard.

All seeds require the correct temperature, adequate water and sunlight to germinate and grow. When any of these are less than optimal things slow down. Rough germination times:
3-Weeks:Centipede, Bahia, Zoysia, Carpet Grass
2-Weeks: Bermuda, Fescue, Millett, Rye Grain
1-Week: Annual Rye Grass

Yes; however, they will be "stressed" each summer and require significant irrigation to survive. You'll probably need to over seed each fall with additional seeds to maintain a good viable turf. We've only see cool season turfs in Eastern NC when homeowners have a shaded site where warm season turfs won't survive and they have irrigation.

Yes, active or retired Military, Police, Fire Department, EMT, and Teachers can receive a 5% discount (residential only).

A good ball park number is $.25 per SF or hydroseeding.... ground preparation is an additional fee. This assumes that you are within 40 miles of our office and your site is prepared for seeding and relatively large. Our fee's can be as low as $.10 per SF, however that number increases when the site is a long commute, a small project, or requires ground preparation.