All You Need To Know About How To Water Hydroseed

Want to know how to water hydroseed? You’ve come to the right space.

Proper lawn maintenance is essential if you are looking to have a beautiful lawn. If you love your yard, then your yard will love you back. This is a fact, not just a saying. You will have a beautiful outside space that you can relax on. Your friends and neighbors will envy the beauty, and your kids will love playing on it.

With a lawn, you will not just have a house but a proper home. By now, you must have known about the benefits of using hydroseed to grow your lawn. Because water is life, let’s have a look at the best way to water your hydroseed lawn, importance and the consequences when you fail to.

How To Water Hydroseed

You will need to ensure that your hydroseeded lawn stays moist; most especially on the first 2 weeks. Better yet, it would be best if you started your watering routine the next day after hydroseeding. This way, rest assured of proper germination. 

Also, you should stick to a watering schedule of 3 times a day. For example, perform your irrigation at 8 am, 12:00 Noon, and 4 pm. The watering cycle should last for about 10-15 minutes for every cycle. Preferably, do not water your lawn after dark.

After 2 weeks (when you notice that the grass has proper germination), you can start scaling back the watering to twice a day. Once you are past 4-6 weeks, your lawn should be fully grown, and you can begin mowing it. At this point, you can cut down on the watering to once a day. That said, if you come from a generally dry area, then you should water the lawn at least twice a day.

As it is important to keep the seeds constantly damp and moist, you need to be careful and avoid creating water pools on your lawn. Water pools are a sign of overwatering which leads to seed damage. 

Consider the Weather and Season

Primarily, it is important to adjust your watering, keeping in mind the temperature or season. This way, you should water your lawn for more extended periods; more frequently during the hot summer seasons and less often and with a shorter cycle in cooler fall months.

The mulch contained in the hydroseed helps in retaining moisture. If you note that your seeds have not germinated after 2 weeks, they are probably dry. Once you get to this point, it would be best to begin watering your seeds on a daily basis to maintain the soil moisture.

If you are in adversely windy and dry areas, then we recommend a watering frequency of 3-4 times a day. You can begin watering less often once your seedlings grow to 2 inches and above tall.  

Even though the seeded areas will not require much watering than broadcasting, you will still need to ensure that germinating seeds get sufficient water to take root and grow. It would be best if you always ensure that the seedlings do not get too dry. Make sure you water the seedlings twice per day when the weather gets warm.

The Perfect Balance 

When using hydroseeding, one of the trickiest bits is finding a balance between the ground temperature and just enough moisture. If you have too much water on the lawn, the temperature will drop, and the seeds won’t germinate. Of Course having little or no water in the yard will dry out the seeds, and they too will not grow.  

We know this sounds like a lot of hard work, but it is not hard at all, to be honest. With a little bit of patience and following the instructions laid out below, you will find out that establishing a healthy lawn from hydroseed is just as easy as any other lawn.

Just as we have said earlier, it will take around 1 to 2 weeks for the seeds to germinate. However, this depends on the time of year, as seeds will grow faster during the warmer seasons than during the cooler seasons. The type of irrigation you choose will also affect the germination of your grass seeds.

When deciding on a watering system for your hydroseed lawn, keep in mind the time of the year. As we have said before, the season will affect your grass in different ways. Assuming that we are in the growing season (Sept-April), the best irrigation system will look like this;

The goal we have in mind is for germination to take place. To realize this goal and allow the seeds to germinate, we will need to apply systematic irrigation methods that will not last too long. Doing this will ensure that you keep the soil moist and avoid lowering the soil temperature. 

We know that not much growth will occur when the temperature goes under 5 degrees Celsius. With that in mind, we will aim to keep the soil temperature above that. If we plant during the spring and summer, this will not be a problem, and an investment in a soil thermometer will not be necessary. It is important to note that if you tend to overwater your lawn, the soil temperature can drop to the point that the seed growth will be stunt.

On the other hand, if you underwater the hydroseed, you will end up with moisture deficiency soil. During the dry seasons, moisture deficit becomes a big challenge and will lead to the death of young seedlings. During this period, over-watering stops been much of a concern. You will need to perform as much irrigation as possible. However, it would help if you were careful not to cause run-off or ponding.

3-5 applications per day and with a 5-15 minutes length will be an ideal irrigation schedule for a new hydroseed lawn.

Manual or Automated Irrigation Systems

When you are selecting an irrigation system, always put into consideration the size of your established lawn and the location it will be at. In areas like a sports field, it is obviously impossible to irrigate the entire field manually. On the other hand, if you are growing your front lawn, you could get garden hoers and water away. Although with a requirement of 3 to 5 applications, this may also pose a challenge.

When it comes to irrigation, we highly recommend a well-designed automated irrigation system. Having this system will enable you to grow and maintain your lawn properly. With the automated irrigation system, you will get more efficient water use as well as an even water distribution across the lawn.

With the automated system giving proper water distribution, it will help prevent leaching and nutrient loss. Another advantage of the automated system is that you can change the watering periods and times to accommodate the changing needs of a lawn through the different stages of germination and the seasons of the year.

If you are unable to set up a proper irrigation system in place, then speak with your hydroseeding contractor before they start the process. Some of the contractors will have a temporary irrigation system that they can set up for you.  

How Will The Heavy Rains Affect Your Hydroseed Lawn? 

Hydroseed, just like any other seed planting, is not exempt from soil erosion. Even though this system will require your lawn to get constant watering during the first 2 weeks, if you get heavy rains, the seeds will get washed away if they are yet to germinate and develop roots.

If your hydroseed lawn is hit with heavy rainfall before the grass develops a proper root system, then it will get washed away. If you want to lessen this effect from the heavy rain, then we advise you to practice adequate site preparation. The preparation will help speed up the seed germination; thus, your grass will develop deeper roots. 

If you get heavy rains before germination, then you will need to replant the portions of your lawn that the heavy rain will have washed away. You will also need to practice proper lawn maintenance to create an even and beautiful lawn.

To avoid these issues try your best to plant your seeds sometime before the rainy seasons, as this may lead to your lawn growing unevenly. If, for one reason or another, you find it impossible to avoid the rainy seasons, then make sure you practice proper lawn maintenance to fill out your lawn evenly in the end. If your lawn is not growing evenly, you may need to reseed areas again.

During heavy rains, you can lessen soil erosion by utilizing straw erosion blankets. The straw erosion blankets can endure extreme water run-off, all the while preventing your hydroseed from getting washed away by the rainwater. We recommend placing these blankets in swales, slopes, ditches, and large hills.

As you can see, watering the hydroseed lawn is extremely important. The hydroseeding process will tend to use more water in order for the grass to grow healthy. That said, it is also important to avoid overwatering the lawn to avoid washing the seeds away.

Parting Shot

With the watering, you should always pay attention to the weather and season. During the dry seasons, you will need to water the lawn more than in the wet seasons. It would be best if you also avoided watering during the rainy seasons.

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