The industry is growing despite an uncertain economy.
For
the last three years, crews with Loomis, CA–based Selby’s Soil Erosion Control
have been spreading a mix of native seed, compost, and commercial fertilizers
along an 8-mile stretch of new highway that runs around the northern California
city of Brentwood.
It’s
just one of the many major hydroseeding projects that Selby’s is now taking on.
Jay Selby, president of the company, says that a growing number of
municipalities and contractors are calling on Selby’s to hydroseed their
construction sites as a way to prevent soil erosion.
And
Selby, like other erosion control specialists, says he doesn’t expect the
increased demand for hydroseeding to lessen.
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Photo: Selby's Soil Erosion Control |
| To prevent soil erosion, a hydroseeding machine is used. |
“The
federal and state regulations regarding soil erosion are becoming so much
stricter, so people are looking for the best ways to control erosion on their
job sites,” he says. “The hydroseeding industry is definitely a growing industry
right now. It’s one that is not going anywhere.”
Selby
is far from alone. Contractors, municipalities, state departments of
transportation, and developers are more frequently turning to hydroseeding as a
viable means of preventing erosion on their job sites.
The
reasons are many: Hydroseeding is effective, providing a natural vegetative
cover to keep soil in place. It is also relatively cheap. And with today’s new
hydroseeding machines, crews can spray seed over construction sites in record
time. The impact of the wildfires in California can’t be ignored, either;
municipalities often turn to hydroseeding companies to help quickly revegetate
areas that have been scorched bare.
The
tougher regulations governing erosion on job sites are also playing a role in
the growing strength of the hydroseeding industry. Contractors need to make sure
that they control erosion effectively. If they don’t, they face significant
fines both on the state and federal levels. Hydroseeding does contain erosion,
and it does it well.
For
these reasons, Selby says, business at his company remains
steady.
“We
are working on a ton of state projects right now,” he says. “And then there are
the wildfire jobs. As we are talking, there are over 600 wildfires in northern
California. We expect to have a lot of work on the wildfires this
year.”
A
Strong Industry
When
Scott Harrison looks at the hydroseeding industry, he sees a bright future.
Hydroseeding has always been common practice in California, where Harrison works
for Bakersfield–based Terra Novo, a manufacturer of EarthGuard, a fiber matrix
that can be applied as a tackifier and often used for hydroseeding
projects.
But
now, he says, this erosion control method is gaining in popularity across the
country as well. Part of the reason is that crews can seed large amounts of
areas quickly when using hydroseeding machines and mixes. Harrison estimates
that crews operating a large machine can hydroseed 8 to 10 acres a
day.
“This
has been a real common practice in California over the last decade or so,”
Harrison says. “Now we are seeing it being more widely accepted in other parts
of the nation and internationally. In the past, a lot of these other areas
relied on erosion control blankets and other products to control erosion.
They’ve now found that hydroseeding actually works quite well with other quality
erosion control products to allow people to seed large areas quickly and
effectively.”
A
constant source of business has come from areas impacted by frequent
wildfires.
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Photo: Selby's Soil Erosion Control |
| A hydroseeding machine sprays a mixture of native seeds, compost, and commercial fertilizer at the State Route 4 Bypass near Brentwood. |
“You’ll
see a lot of hydroseeding being done in emergency situations after fires,”
Harrison says. “If you are going to re-seed an area to protect roadways and
cities that might be near fire-damaged areas, hydroseeding is a very efficient
way to go. Then you’ll have protection from impending storm
events.”
Not
every manufacturer, though, sees hydroseeding as a business with unlimited
growth in the near term. Andrew Blubaugh of Haven, KS–based Kincaid Equipment
Manufacturing, a company that manufactures hydroseeding equipment including the
AgiGator line of mulcher/seeder machines, says that the struggling economy has
had an impact on the hydroseeding industry just as on many others. That is
something that won’t change until the housing and construction industries bounce
back from their own slowdowns, he says.
“With
the economy, there has been a downsizing of this industry,” Blubaugh says.
“There is some growth because of the higher demand for green building. The
erosion control industry is definitely growing somewhat with the green industry.
But the economy’s impact has been greater. It’s definitely not a dying industry,
but the economy is slowing things down a bit.”
One
portion of the erosion control industry that has boosted the demand for
hydroseeding is the land reclamation work that is needed after landowners put in
oil and gas wells, Blubaugh says.
“That
is something that in the last year is really starting to pop up,” he says. “A
lot more states are requiring that after a certain number of days after the
wells are put in, the ground be completely covered for erosion control
purposes.”
Gary
Meyer, owner of Bowie, TX–based Bowie Industries, which manufactures its own
line of Hydro-Mulchers and Aero-Mulchers, agrees that the economy has affected
the growth of the industry.
“Things
have slowed down, and I think it’s because of the economy,” he says. “We’re
hoping to see a rebound when the economy finally does pick
up.”
When
the economy does perk up, Meyer’s company is poised to take advantage. Bowie
sells a wide range of hydroseeding machines, ranging from 300-gallon versions
powered by 13-horsepower engines to custom-built machines of 6,000
gallons.
The
company’s end users are as varied, encompassing contractors planting residential
lawns and golf courses to department of transportation officials building new
highways.
A
big part of Meyer’s business, though, comes from contractors concerned about
controlling erosion on their job sites. This is because hydroseeding is
especially effective in preventing erosion, Meyer says. Erosion control mats,
for instance, lay atop soil. If heavy rains hit them, the water can slip under
the mats.
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Photos: Selby's Soil Erosion Control |
| Ground crew creating a mix of wood and tackiflier for planes |
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| Hydromulching areas scorched by Lake Tahoe's Angora Fire |
“If
you’re really serious about holding soil in place, you go with bonded fiber
matrix,” Meyer says. “That’s what really keeps soil erosion from happening. When
you use mats or blankets, the water is free to go right under them. That doesn’t
happen when you hydroseed with the right mixture.”
A
Variety of Uses
Erosion
control specialists rely on hydroseeding for a variety of uses. That’s something
that hasn’t changed, even as the
nation’s economy struggles to shake off its
slump.
For
instance, there’s Selby’s highway, the four-lane State Route 4 Bypass near
Brentwood. One of the key requirements for this job was that construction crews
prevent soil erosion. The new bypass runs close to the ocean. Any soil runoff
could end up in the San Francisco Bay.
The
job has been a lengthy one, with Selby’s crews following behind workers digging
up the dirt for the new bypass. As the workers move the dirt, Selby’s crews,
armed with their hydroseeding machines, spray a mixture of native seeds,
compost, and commercial fertilizer over the bare earth. They then come back and
blow straw over the whole area before returning a third time to apply a
tackifier and wood fiber combination. The three-step process has been one that
Selby’s crews have been repeating on the project now for three
years.
“We
do a lot of work with the California Department of Transportation,” Selby says.
“The work we do with restoring land after wildfires
probably gets more press, but we actually do a lot more work with developers and
the department of transportation. Those are more typical jobs than are the
wildfire ones.”
That
doesn’t
mean, though, that wildfire work doesn’t make up an important part of Selby’s
business. Last fall, the company hydroseeded 636 acres in South Lake Tahoe, CA,
that had been scorched by the Angora Fire. That fire eventually burned more than
3,000 acres.
The
area that Selby’s company had to hydroseed
was unreachable by the ground. Selby’s crews created a mix of wood fiber and
tackifier—2,000 pounds per acre of wood fiber and 100 pounds per acre of
tackifier—and pumped it into private airplanes. The planes then flew over the
burned acres and released the mixture.
“That
was quite a project,” Selby says. “We’d never done something like that before.
It was definitely a first.
The
fire project highlights a key consideration when contractors are hydroseeding an
area: It’s important to approach sites with the right seed
combination.
For
the Angora Fire work, Selby’s crews did not include any seed in their
hydroseeding mixture. That’s because the hydroseeding mixture was only for soil
stabilization. State officials had determined that the native plants would
re-establish themselves without the help of a specialized seed
mixture.
“It
is definitely crucial to have the right mixture to fit whatever project you are
working on,” Selby says. “If you go to with the wrong mixture, you won’t do any
good.”
Leo
Brendis, owner of Hydrosprout Inc. in Escondido, CA, also tackles a wide variety
of hydroseeding work.
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Photos: Selby's Soil Erosion Control |
| Hydroseeding machines efficiently and effectively provide the mulch, fertilizer, and seed all in one tank. |
 |
| Hydroseeding machines seed large acreages at a time. |
For
the last four years, his company has been hydroseeding behind contractors
building the new extension of State Route 125 in San Diego. The new toll road,
which will run from San Diego County’s State Route 905 near the international
border with Mexico to State Route 54, will fill in the last missing link in what
is becoming only the third full north-south highway in San
Diego.
Overall,
Brendis’ crews have been hydroseeding about 9 miles of roadside for the
project.
Hydrosprout
workers have sprayed the construction site with a bonded fiber matrix mix for
erosion protection. The crews are also tackling the follow-up work on the site,
adding ornamental and native plants to the site for additional erosion
protection.
“We
do so many different kinds of jobs,” Brendis says. “We could be out in the
desert doing a golf course or hydroseeding around large parks or schools in the
summer. There is always something for us to work on.”
Like
other hydroseeding companies in the area, Hydrosprout also tackles its share of
wildfire work. In March, the company seeded 110 acres at the US Marine Corps’
Camp Pendleton, a base located between the Southern California cities of
Oceanside and San Clemente. Another wildfire had burned on this plot of
land.
Many
of the areas that Hydrosprout had to reach were also inaccessible by land. The
company, then, created its hydroseeding mix, and then watched as it was
transported by helicopter above the inaccessible areas. The helicopters
performed aerial drops in the course of a week over those areas. The helicopters
were loaded with a native seed mix of shrubs and native
grasses.
“We
were trying to help Mother Nature put back what was lost,” Brendis says. “There
was the feeling that they might have lost some species due to the
fire.”
Brendis
says that he expects his company’s business to remain steady as more contractors
look to hydroseeding to control erosion.
“We’ve
been at this since 1988. It’s been a real consistent business for us,” Brendis
says. “We’ve had a lot of growth, I remember, in our first 15 years. We were
growing every year. In the last five, we have probably captured as much of the
market as we are going to get right now. We get a lot of calls for hydroseeding,
though, from the people we work with. This has been a steady business. We get
year-round erosion control here in California. The people here are very
sophisticated when it comes to the importance of preventing
erosion.”
A
Host of Benefits
Kincaid
Equipment Manufacturing makes a range of hydroseeding machines, from models that
hold 425 gallons to those as large as 1,200 gallons. The company’s clients range
from small landscapers to large hydroseeding and erosion control contractors to
state and county landfills.
These
clients choose hydroseeding primarily because it saves them time and money,
Blubaugh says.
“Hydroseeding
is such a fast and easy application,” he says. “There is a great cost
effectiveness, say, for the small landscaper. They can use these machines to
seed a large acreage at a time. It is more efficient than having them work the
ground, put fertilizer and seed down, and keep it watered. This provides the
mulch, fertilizer, and seed all in one tank. In seven to 14 days, you have a
solid grass stand.”
Choosing
the right seed mix is critical. There are hundreds of mulches available for
different applications, most dependent on what the job entails. Blubaugh says
that for erosion control, contractors generally use 1,500 to 2,500 pounds of
mulch per acre. That can change, though, depending on the slope of a job site.
If working on mountain or hillsides, contractors will use a greater amount of
mulch.
Harrison,
from Terra Novo, says that hydroseeding is always in demand because the
technique works.
“When
you are hydroseeding, you are creating an environment that is conducive for seed
germination,” he says. “It does not harden when pressed over, so it doesn’t
create a crust. There are no growth-inhibiting factors that would prevent the
seeds from germinating. It allows water to infiltrate into the soil. It allows
the water to be retained, which the seeds need [in order] to grow
properly.”
Hydroseeding,
though, can’t be effective if contractors don’t use the technique properly. As
hydroseeding becomes more popular across the country, contractors are making
fewer mistakes, Harrison says.
But
there are still errors that they have to watch out for, he notes. The biggest
potential problem is when seeds don’t stay in place after hydroseeding. This, of
course, defeats the entire purpose of the technique. That’s why Harrison
recommends that contractors use proper best management practices (BMPs), such as
EarthGuard fiber matrix, to hold seed mixtures in
place.
“One
of the main keys in hydroseeding is making sure the seeds are staying in place,”
Harrison says. “You have to make sure the seeds are staying in place long
enough, even through what could be multiple rain events. You need to have proper
BMPs in place. You have to ensure that there is stability during the first few
months after the hydroseeding to make sure that the seed and soil stay in
place.”