Do it yourself hydroseeding is essentially a process where you mix specific amounts of seeds – usually grass seeds – with certain nutrients, water, and mulch after which the mix is then placed in a bucket or container of some kind that is made for Hydroseeding. Then the mix is sprayed over the area you want the grass seeds to grow in, making a lush green lawn in a matter of a few weeks.
Pros and Cons of Do It Yourself Hydroseeding
Doing your own Hydroseeding can be significantly cheaper as well as far less time-consuming than other methods can be, particularly if you have a large area of the yard to seed.
This method can easily be used to ‘patch up’ areas where the grass is thinning if going over the whole yard is not something you need, and touching up any areas you may have missed is quite easy. However, if you have a comparatively small area of land you want to do a do it yourself hydroseeding lawn on, then it might not be worth the trouble to get everything you need for it.
Since the seeds are mixed with nutrients before being sprayed this helps them sprout much faster, and the short soaking in the water, while it is being sprayed, will help the germination rate of the grass as well.
On the other hand, since this method involves spraying the seeds over the surface of the ground this means that they will dry out quickly if they are not watered at least twice a day every day for a week or more while the grass is getting established.
Depending on how much money you wish to save you can either buy the individual parts and put everything together yourself, buy a ready pre-made kit, or in some places you can even rent a set of do it yourself hydroseeding equipment.
However, the area you live in might not have the items you need in stock at all, meaning that you might have to travel long distances or special order specific seeds or mulches that you need and wait however long it takes for the stuff you ordered to arrive.
Do It Yourself Hydroseeding Equipment and Supplies
There are seven main things you will need if you plan on doing your own Hydroseeding.
The first thing will, of course, be the seeds, and these can be bought from any one of a few different companies that sell do it yourself hydroseeding equipment. You will want to be sure here that the grass seeds you choose are ones that will grow well in your area/zone.
The next thing you need will be the fertilizer which should be one that will support the different stages of growth of the grass seeds and release its nutrients over time. Some kinds of lawn fertilizer will work well for this.
Though there are a few different kinds of mulches you can use, including fiber mulches or paper or wood mulches, the most common one to use for Hydroseeding a lawn is a mulch that is dyed green in color so that it will not be an eye-sore while the grass is growing.
The fourth and fifth things you will need are your spray container or homemade bucket and hose set up that can spray your mix as well as the back of a truck or something to set the container on and move it around the yard as you spray.
Though an agitator may not always be mentioned as being needed, it is never the less an important part of do it yourself hydroseeding in that it keeps everything mixed together and prevents the seeds from sinking to the bottom.
And the last thing you will need is enough water to make the mix thin enough to spray and to continue to water the area while the new grass is getting established.
Do It Yourself Hydroseeding Costs
Getting a beautiful thick lawn of green grass is easy with Hydroseeding and can sometimes cost merely a third of the cost of laying the sod. That does not mean that you can buy everything you need for mere peanuts, however.
You will either need to buy a kit that has everything you need or sources each ingredient that goes into the mix and buy them individually, hopefully in the right amounts so that you do not have any leftovers.
Perhaps the most expensive do it yourself hydroseeding cost is that of the machine that is needed to spray your mix. This can cost nearly $300 a day to rent and over $1,000 to buy a cheap used one to own.
Making your own container complete with the proper size hose, special nozzle, pump, and agitator, while it is cheaper, can still cost somewhere in the vicinity of $700 to make, though you might do it less expensive if you already have some of the items needed.
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