wasabi
Platinum Member
Has anyone built their own or know of an economical unit to suggest?
Hydroseeding
- Thread starter wasabi
- Start date
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rdbrumfield
Veteran Member
Commercial, or just a bit for yourself?
OP
wasabi
Platinum Member
Just for ourselves....got some roadside banks, woodland trails and upcoming pastures to do. May not go the hydro route, but have read about it and thought it at least worth exploring if it could be done cost effectively.
thcri
Elite Member
Here's what I did. May not work for you but I had good luck with it. I basically worked the soil up good and then got myself a Herdseeder Spreader and filled it up with grass seed. I spread the seed around pretty good and then I took a drag and worked the seed in. In about two weeks I had a pretty good lawn. I did it in the fall when you have cooler temperatures but warm soil yet at night. I also spread some nitrogen on the soil also. This actually worked out better for me than my neighbor who spent lots of dollars on Hydroseeding. My grass is by far thicker than his. I have done this on two different occasions and both times it worked great. The Herdseeder Spreader was around $275.00. And I can use it for spreading fertilizer.
Murph
Murph
Turfman
Gold Member
True hydroseeding is an expensive business to get into. Even the small seeders are 6,000 dollars, with the better units running into 25,000. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
micromike
Silver Member
I looked into this about a year ago and researched it extensively. I believe it is doable in terms of building your own unit for personal use. Essentially what you need is a poly tank about 150 to 300 gallons, a trash pump and some plumbing. A trash pump will pump a slurry of solids. Northern has them in their catalog at reasonable prices.
This site: http://www.turboturf.com/ has a lot of information for the "jet" type of machine that I'm talking about. They will also sell you any of the components you can't find such as the spray nozzle. Their cheapest unit is $1,295 with a 50 gallon tank. Here is a link to their price list. http://www.turboturf.com/Prices_Spec's.htm
This site... http://pub126.ezboard.com/fhydroseedingfrm1
is a message board and has a great deal of information and discussion for the small operator. There is a lot of discussion of what works and what doesn't, what type of mulch, where to get it, application rates, fertizer, techniques etc. It will take a lot of the guess work out of it... If your read back, there is a guy who built his own 300 gallon machine and uses it to do lawn installations. He seems to be doing quite well but says if you want to get into it for a side business you'll eventually want a larger tank. Good luck and let us know if you decide to build one.
Mike
This site: http://www.turboturf.com/ has a lot of information for the "jet" type of machine that I'm talking about. They will also sell you any of the components you can't find such as the spray nozzle. Their cheapest unit is $1,295 with a 50 gallon tank. Here is a link to their price list. http://www.turboturf.com/Prices_Spec's.htm
This site... http://pub126.ezboard.com/fhydroseedingfrm1
is a message board and has a great deal of information and discussion for the small operator. There is a lot of discussion of what works and what doesn't, what type of mulch, where to get it, application rates, fertizer, techniques etc. It will take a lot of the guess work out of it... If your read back, there is a guy who built his own 300 gallon machine and uses it to do lawn installations. He seems to be doing quite well but says if you want to get into it for a side business you'll eventually want a larger tank. Good luck and let us know if you decide to build one.
Mike
Bird
Rest in Peace
I've no experience at all using that kind of equipment, but when I bought my last new house in town, I had it "hydromulched" as they called it. Cost about half the cost of sod. The instructions said to mow and fertilize the 28th to 30th day. I just couldn't wait that long; had to mow it the 21st day. It worked great!! Made a beautiful lawn quick.
Phred
Veteran Member
I have also though about this.
in my case the goal is to be able to reseed some areas that are way to steep to drive on.
How about a pto driven trash pump, and a poly tank?
They seem pretty simple. My understanding is the pump recirculates the solids/water until you get it really well mixed up and then throw a valve and it blows it out the hose.
Key issue is the pump must be able to pump the solids.
Anyone have a source for a pto driven trash pump?
Fred
in my case the goal is to be able to reseed some areas that are way to steep to drive on.
How about a pto driven trash pump, and a poly tank?
They seem pretty simple. My understanding is the pump recirculates the solids/water until you get it really well mixed up and then throw a valve and it blows it out the hose.
Key issue is the pump must be able to pump the solids.
Anyone have a source for a pto driven trash pump?
Fred
OP
wasabi
Platinum Member
Thanks for the Herd suggestion...looks interesting! Hard to beat utility and flexibility at that price. I also like the idea of using a trash pump (mine would have to be hydraulic as PT has no PTO), poly tank and some parts to make an economical hydroseeder....I too have some hard to reach, steep areas that can't drive or even walk on easily /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
Phred
Veteran Member
Hydraulic would probably be easier since you don't need gears or pulleys to speed up the 540 rpm pto to the 1700+ the pump wants to see. Although I kind of like the idea of a ~70hp hydro seeder. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
The other thought I was mulling over was to rent a gas powered 3" trash pump and build the rest. The pump is the bulk of the system cost and for casual use the rental cost would be much lower. Most rental yards stock trash pumps for construction compaines.
Fred
The other thought I was mulling over was to rent a gas powered 3" trash pump and build the rest. The pump is the bulk of the system cost and for casual use the rental cost would be much lower. Most rental yards stock trash pumps for construction compaines.
Fred