Hydroseed Lawns in New Orleans, LA

Hydroseed lawns are the quickest way we know to cover a bare New Orleans yard with seed and protection in a single visit. We prepare the soil, then spray a water-based blend of grass seed, fertilizer, wood-fiber mulch and a tackifier, tinted green so we can see the coverage. It is a lawn installation method that sits between dry seeding and sod on price, and it suits yards left bare by a house raising, a rebuild, a new foundation, drainage work or a pool dig.

Who it suits

Hydroseeding is a good fit when the yard is larger than a few pallets of sod, when the budget is tight, or when the ground slopes enough that loose seed would wash. It is a poor fit when you need a finished lawn next week, or when the grass you want does not come as seed. St. Augustine has typically been planted as sod, plugs or sprigs, since commercially viable seed only recently became available. Bermudagrass reproduces from seed as well as from stolons and rhizomes, forms a dense mat and recovers quickly when damaged, which is why it is the usual choice for a seeded lawn. Centipedegrass is lower maintenance, with medium shade tolerance, but it is shallow rooted and has poor drought tolerance. We go over these trade-offs at the site visit.

Prep decides the result

The mulch only holds seed in place; the soil underneath decides how well the lawn roots. Around here that soil runs from loamy natural-levee ground to stiff backswamp clay. The USDA describes Sharkey clay as very slowly permeable, with 60 to 90 percent clay below the surface, and it opens wide cracks in dry spells. On ground like that we break the crust, rake out debris and construction trash, fill ruts, pitch the surface so rain drains off toward the street instead of the slab or piers, and spread topsoil where the native soil is too dense or too thin. Settled fill around raised houses usually needs extra attention, since a dip that holds water will drown seed in the first wet week.

Timing in a long growing season

Warm-season seed wants warm soil. Bermudagrass starts actively growing above about 59 degrees, and the airport's monthly mean temperature stays above 70 from April through October. Angi points to late spring through mid-summer as the usual window for warm-season seed. We schedule most hydroseed lawns from April into early fall and try not to spray right before a forecast downpour. A lawn sprayed in November will mostly sit and wait for spring.

Hydroseed or sod on your lot

Sod gives an instant lawn and is the usual route for St. Augustine, but HomeGuide's figures show sod installation costing $1 to $4 a square foot, while hydroseeding runs $0.12 up to $0.35. On a 5,000-square-foot back yard that gap is large. Hydroseed also spreads easily over an odd-shaped or sloped yard, because the slurry follows the ground. Some owners do both: sod in the front where they want St. Augustine, and hydroseed in the back or along a side yard where cost matters more.

What hydroseeding costs

The national cost guides we checked land anywhere from $0.07 up to $0.35 a square foot for hydroseeding, and the table below credits each figure to its guide. Most companies have a minimum job fee, which LawnStarter puts at $300 to $500, so small patches cost more per foot. Slopes, extra topsoil and long hose runs to a back yard add to the price. Your written estimate lists each part of the job separately.

The first six weeks

HomeGuide says that with good conditions germination begins at 5 to 7 days, and Angi puts sprouting on most hydroseeded lawns somewhere in the 7 to 14 day window. Keep the mulch damp: the University of Nebraska Extension calls for a minimum of two to three light waterings daily during hot spells, and Iowa State Extension says light waterings should continue for about three weeks after seeding. A summer thunderstorm may handle a day of that for you, but a dry, hot week will not. Plan on the first mow at about 4 to 6 weeks, once the grass is around 4 inches tall, and keep foot traffic and pets off until then.

What to have ready

• Irrigation or hoses that reach every part of the yard
• Sprinkler heads flagged so we can work around them
• A gate wide enough for the hose, or a note if the back yard is reached another way
• A plan for dogs and kids for about a month