New Lawns

Sod Vs Hydroseeding?

You will have to excuse my obvious bias against sod in this article. I regularly install and even recommend sod to some of my clients as it is totally appropriate . It does have it's good points.

..however (here it comes) Sod is made from 80-90% Kentucky blue grass, the most water loving and highest maintenance turf grass ever used.

Sod cannot be made from other types of grasses as blue grass is the only grass species that can product a dense, shallow mat of roots that a machine can cut and then roll up. This wonderful feature is also what makes sod such a poor choice for many homeowners and businesses.

The short root system of blue grass means this grass is highly susceptible to drying out and it also means that a lot of fertilizer is required to keep it alive because it's roots can't get down deep enough to extract the deeper moisture and nutrients in the soil. This is also why weeds can get into the turf as well. Dandelions just have to punch through about 2 inches of roots and then it's got all the soil below for itself. With Eco grass those same weeds need to penetrate almost 12-14 inches of root mass which is much more difficult.

If you have if built in irrigation or don't mind extra work or using a lot of water, sod is great.

Most sod is bought and installed because we cannot wait long enough for other varieties of grass to grow in.

Most Alberta people want the yard the green and they want it now, if that's your need..sod is the only choice you have. You get a three year old patch of grass in a matter of hours. Many families with kids and pets do not want to wait due to the open dirt which can cause cleaning headaches.

This is where planning can help, if you have that luxury ! If you know you are going to be moving in on a certain date often it can be arranged with the builder to have the lot hydroseeding in advance. I know most builders are not that organized and are often still working on the home right up until the move in day (and often after) this is a chronic problem here in Alberta.

From an environmental perspective sod is a poor choice not only due to the high water needs but also the high maintenance involved. Sod often requires a lot of chemical based help in the form of herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers. Read my article on the eco grass page "is your lawn making you sick. The other pollution factor is the mowing, blue grass needs a lot of mowing compared to other grasses. Lawn mowers produce a lot of emissions.

Technically even electric powered mowers produce pollution because most of electricity in the west is coal generated. I know this may sound a bit excessive, but this where longer term planning can really help. If your grass only needed to mown once a month instead of weekly and you multiplied that by millions of people , it can have a significant impact on pollution.

Extensive use of Eco grass instead of sod can have that benficial effect, which by the way is why we call it "Eco Grass"due it's ecologically friendly attributes. NOTE: We have a variety of types of "Eco Grasses" that are blended for specific expectations. Some do have a blue grass content and varying degrees of other fescues depending on what the client want's as attributes in their lawn.

Blue grass is also very intolerant of salt, which means our Western Canadian clay soils, which are high in sodium (salt) and alkalinity can often have very adverse effects on our blue grass lawns.

Family pets have an adverse effect on sod lawns as their urine is high in salt, this is one of the main factors in dog spots , or dead grass spot in our lawns.

NOTE: for larger areas like acreages we have other options like no till seeeding into existing turf and mechnical seeding for open soils.These methods are dramatically less costly for larger areas over an acre and up to 20 acres.

Weeds : Weeds will always be an issue. Where ever you have open soil, there will be weed seeds in it. even new soil bought from garden centres is fully contaiminated with weeds unless it has been sterilized. Packaged soils are usually sterilized , however the popular "big bags" of soil are not. They will contain weed seeds.

The Hydroseeding process and mechnical seeding does not introduce weeds into the soil, our seed is certified 95% weed free and we cannot guarentee in any way shape or form that weeds will not grow along with the grass, in fact I can assure you that weeds will grow in the soil, that is a given. This also applies to sod lawns. the weeds in the soil beneath the sod will produce weeds if not treated first. It is naive to think sod will choke out all the weeds in the soil it is laid on, weeds like thistles and dandelions if they exist in the soil will still come through the sod within a matter of weeks.

However weeds can easily be controlled after the grass has reached the 3 leaf stage (about 3 weeks) . Spraying a mild but effective in turf broad leaf specific herbicide like Killex will kill about 95% of the weeds. usually 1 or 2 treatments the first year will suffice and allow the lawn to establish to a thick enough cover to prevent weeds from being a major issue again. With any lawn , sod or seeded regular spot weeding is required to maintain a weed free lawn. A healthy lawn will not allow a lot of weed incursion in most circumstances.

Enough negativity about so, as I said it does have it's good points.......

Sod Installation

Purewest Environmental Solutions will install your new sod and insure that it is done properly.

With a stronger focus on soil conditions and proper installation techniques our sod installations have a much higher success rate than most other companies.

Unfortunately most sod installations in Alberta are not done correctly. With many developers, the idea is to just get it on the ground so they can check it off of their list. Remember it's usually the last thing they need to do before they can get final payment. The installation just needs to be done, it doesn't need to be done right.

Sod is unique in that it can be kept alive for almost an entire summer by just watering it. The sod can be laid over the worst soil (and often is) or clay.... soil so bad that the roots can't penetrate it but if you keep it wet,
it will stay alive and green for an entire summer by living on the thin layer of water between the roots and the clay soil surface.

However, it will not survive the winter or will just make it out of winter with significant die off and dead patches. You can liken it to a deadbeat child, still living at home at 28 years old because mom and dad are supplying food and doing the laundry etc..why leave ? why improve.. I'm happy living off of them.

Sod can be like that..it will not spread it's roots deeper and grow if you keep a constant supply of water and fertilizer supplied to it, it doesn't need to grow roots to search deeper for water. This is a chemically dependant lawn.

The point I am trying make here is that it is very important to have good soil that your sod can grow and thrive in. The loam provided by most builders is terrible stuff. it's the soil and mostly clay scraped off the area that was developed .Those big scrapers they use are NOT accurate, they strip off equal amounts of the underlying clay and mix it all in. Blue grass based sod does not like salty or alkaline soil. Clay is very salty and alkaline.

The other problem I see is the soil is infested with weeds and the installers will lay the sod right over that. this often results in a weedy lawn a year or two down the road. Purewest deals with that problem right up front before laying the new sod.

You'll pay forever and ever with a costly to maintain and water needy lawn if you don't pay attention to the soil you have before you get sod installed. Often it's not that expensive to bring in some proper soil to provide a good working layer that will help your sod grow well the first year.

If you've been "had" by buying or getting poor soil, we do have some soil treatments that can be used after the sod has been installed, even a few years later.

Cost for Sod installation

Typically our cost for both supplying and installing sod is about 75 cents per square foot, however that doesn't include all the costs, so talk to us about a quote before comparing or shopping around. There may be soil required and labour to spread and level that along with other amendments and things. The cost per square foot is close enough to get a good idea of the finished cost.

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Hydro Seeding and Hydro Mulching

Hydro Seeding and Hydro Mulching are basically the same thing. With HydroMulching you just add a lot more of the mulch and seed mixture than normally used (in Hydro seeding). Hydro Mulching will give you close to sod like results as the seed density is extremely high.

The deeper root systems of Eco grass and the low mow or low maintenance blends Purewest uses in hydroseeding are more aggressive and efficient in pulling out the moisture and nutrients in our soil. Our blends contain mostly native grass blends ideal for turf. These species produce lawns just a beautiful and soft as blue grass based sod lawns. Have no fear, it's more advantageous and just as nice to walk and play on.

The cost of hydro seeding is far less than sod and it produces much better results than mechanical or broadcast seeding.

We offer many kinds of grass when hydroseeding, you chioices include Eco grass, Premium golf course mixes rich in blue grass, native grasses, drought resistant blends, sportfield blends and even grazing mixes for those people with horses on their acreages and farms. We can mix the varieties on an acreage, such as turf grass near the home and grazing mix out in the farther reaches etc.

You can read up on Eco grass by clicking here.

Hydroseeding a new lawn takes a bit more patience in the beginning as it takes about 6-8 weeks for the seed to germinate and grow in thick enough for a first mow. Watering, like sod is critical in the first 20 days for residential yards. Acreages can be left to nature (rain) if desired.

The spray on mulch will seal in the dirt and seeds with a layer of paper mache like crust held together with a natural gum compound. You can walk on it and it's not like a raw dirt surface. the mulch has green dye in it that will last about a week before fading so it looks neat and you can see where the seed/mulch has been applied.

Other options

For larger areas like large acreage's we can offer mechanical seeding at lower rates than hydroseeding.
This type of seeding is only advised under certain circumstances as it is critical to do it properly and at the right time to get good results.

Cell (403) 899-9663

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voice (403) 638-8090

email: ecograss@mac.com