Hydro-seeding and Hydro-mulching are commonly used techniques for establishing seeded varieties of turfgrasses, wildflowers and ground covers throughout the United States. ?EUR??,,????'??Hydro-sprigging?EUR??,,????'?? is a variation on the technique that is quietly revolutionizing the planting of warm season grasses on golf courses from Georgia to Hawaii.

Traditionally, hybrid Bermuda stolons (a living part of the grass plant that is able to produce roots and leaves) are harvested and then planted mechanically or by hand. Both methods share the assumption that a disc and roller are the best method of making stolons root. Sod farms and a few private operators maintain specialized tractors that feed sacked stolons or whole sod pieces through a system that shreds, scatters, tucks and rolls the stolon into the soil. Large, open, relatively flat areas can be planted quickly at a reasonable cost.

Mechanical planters also are not effective when planting near slopes, cart paths or bunkers, necessitating some hand planting or spot sodding to fill in these areas. Irrigation systems almost always suffer damage from mechanical planters, no matter how careful the operator.

Today, mechanical sprigging increasingly is being replaced by the more effective hydro sprigging method. To plant hydraulically requires $80,000-100,000 of specialized equipment. A truck-mounted tank, an agitation system and a pumping system are the
basic components. Water, fertilizer, stolons (or seed) and virgin wood fiber mulch are mixed in the tank, then applied to the site with a hose or tower-mounted spray gun. Agitation keeps the slurry uniformly mixed until it can be sprayed, fully hydrating fiber and stolons in the process.

Once sprayed in place, the hydro-sprig technique produces superior results. ?EUR??,,????'??The wood fiber acts as a growth and protection medium for the stolon,?EUR??,,????'?? says Dan James, Chief Horticulturist for Western Sod. ?EUR??,,????'??The wood fiber layer has better wetting, aeration and moisture retention properties than the top layer of soil alone, providing a much better growth environment than traditional mechanical methods not using mulch.?EUR??,,????'??

A few times I installed a mulch cap over a mechanically stolonized fairway or a hand-planted green,?EUR??,,????'?? reports Micke Santoro, owner of Southern California Hydro-seed & Hydro-mulch, Inc. in Temecula. ?EUR??,,????'??It?EUR??,,????'???s too expensive to do two steps when you can get better results in one complete pass with the hydro-mulcher.?EUR??,,????'??

?EUR??,,????'??In the cooler months, we do just the opposite and apply one layer of wood fiber and stolons, but we mix in charcoal to darken the fiber and the stolon to absorb more of the sun?EUR??,,????'???s rays and increase the soil temperature,?EUR??,,????'?? explains James. The season for planting stolons runs approximately from the first part of May to the first part of October.

In Hawaii, the problem faced on golf courses is fungal growth. Princeville?EUR??,,????'???s golf course builder, Yoshi Harada, has seen it all. ?EUR??,,????'??The temperature and humidity are ideal for a fungus, that?EUR??,,????'???s why we have to use wood fibers instead of paper mulch. The wood has better aeration and a healthier wet-dry cycle than paper. It?EUR??,,????'???s saved a project more than once by not compounding the fungus problem when we over-watered, and by giving us a high degree of erosion control so the sprigs didn?EUR??,,????'???t wash away. Cost is not a big factor, performance is.?EUR??,,????'?? Harada used hydro-sprigging to bring a new Princeville course into play in only 6 months. Similar, if not faster, times are possible in desert areas when all other conditions are right.

?EUR??,,????'??When you have to shoot them through your own equipment everyday, you learn what it takes to chop perfect stolons. Otherwise, your crews spend more time unclogging equipment than planting,?EUR??,,????'?? cautions Willis. For lack of adequate supplies of sprigs, Yoshi Harada harvests his own with a verticutter from previously planted fairways and his turf nursery.

?EUR??,,????'??On a good day, we usually shoot 1,500-1,700 bushels of stolons for our customers,?EUR??,,????'?? remarked Santoro. ?EUR??,,????'??It?EUR??,,????'???s not quite as easy as it looks,?EUR??,,????'?? he cautions, ?EUR??,,????'??that little stolon is alive and won?EUR??,,????'???t perform for you if it?EUR??,,????'???s not treated properly. Breakdowns and delays are bad news. Unlike a bag of seed, live stolons require care and sometimes can?EUR??,,????'???t wait to be planted.?EUR??,,????'??

Seventy or eighty percent of stolon production has consistently gone to hydro-sprig new golf courses; the remainder is planted mechanically or by hand. ?EUR??,,????'??Almost all of the capable contractors have modified their hydraulic planting equipment to some extent to handle the stolons,?EUR??,,????'?? reports Bob Jones of Bowie Industries. ?EUR??,,????'??The big thing in the West is the use of ?EUR??,,????'??rotor-stator?EUR??,,????'??? type pumps that handle the stolons with minimal damage. These pumps can push through as much as 1,000 feet of 1 1/2 inch hose, allowing the applicator to move freely and minimize distances traveled by the heavy equipment on prepared surfaces. Even the largest green can be sprayed from the perimeter without workers ever setting foot on the finished grade.?EUR??,,????'??

Courses such as the Phoenician, TPC Scottsdale, PGA West, Mission Hills, Princeville, Sun City, Indian Wells, Country Meadows, La Quinta, Gainey Ranch, Tustin Ranch, The Lakes, Marbella, Santa Rosa Cove, Ocotillo, Golden Hills, Wigwam, West Beach and scores of others have found lasting success with the hydro-sprigging technique.

?EUR??,,????'??We?EUR??,,????'???re not selling tons of stolons and mulch blown onto acreage, we?EUR??,,????'???re really selling the finished result, a lush fairway and a fast green,?EUR??,,????'?? adds Willis, ?EUR??,,????'??it just so happens that hydro-sprigging with virgin wood fiber is the very best way we know to get those results time after time. Just ask our customers.?EUR??,,????'??

The hydro-sprigging technique also has application beyond championship golf courses. Bermuda grass has long been a favorite plant for lining flood plains and diversion channels that sometimes double as recreation areas. Everything common Bermuda does in these applications, hybrid Bermuda does better.

Michael Mellon is a licensed C-27 contractor, active in the Southwestern landscape industry for more than 10 years. He is currently the Western States Market Account Executive for Weyerhaeuser Company?EUR??,,????'???s Engineered Fiber Group, makers of SilvaFiber 100% virgin wood fiber mulch for hydraulic planting, which is marketed nationwide. He was a two-time president of the International Erosion Control Association and currently is serving his second term on the Board of Directors as Administrative Vice President. He also is a featured speaker at the Landscape Development Expo at the Irvine Hilton, Irvine, CA, August 25-26.