Hydroseeding a Landfill.
Wright’s Hydroseeding of Fayetteville, GA, hydroseeded the Safeguard Landfill in Fairburn, GA. Work on the 17-acre site began the Saturday of Labor Day weekend and ended September 21, 2015. ”We were in and out and we didn’t work every day, using a five man crew” says Mike Wright, owner of the firm. The biggest challenge of the project was “the terrain and terraces. The work required dragging a lot of hoses,” he says. In some sections, the slopes measured 2 to 1. Profile Products’ Flexterra was used on about 9 acres of the project. ”It’s expensive, but it’s good. With the amount of rainfall we had, it did an exceptional job,” says Wright. In some areas, the work went more quickly than in others. Where soil had been removed by the construction crew, Wright’s workers were able to use it as a cap later. The soil at the landfill was Georgia’s famous red clay. The landfill site was seeded with native grassing, including fescue, Bermuda, Bahia, and lezpedeza. No nurse crop was needed. Wright’s seed supplier is Landscape Depot of Fayetteville, GA. Wright used Triple 19 fertilizer from Beaty Fertilizer of Cleveland, TN. Liquid lime and Flexterra were also in the hydroseeding mixture. No straw was used. For an extra degree of erosion control, a permanent turf reinforcement mat (TRM) from Western Excelsior was put in place. For hydroseeding projects, Wright - who bought his first Finn HydroSeeder in 1987 - relies on two Finn T-90 HydroSeeders. “I’ve been very pleased with the Finn equipment. We also have one of their strawblowers,” he says. He adds, “I like their dependability. The agitation and pump units are great. We get good distance spray with them.” Finn’s T-90 HydroSeeder offers 800-gallon working tank capacity for mid-size hydroseeding projects. This machine features hydraulically controlled paddle agitation and liquid recirculation. Operator controls are located at both the front and rear of the unit. The T-90 can discharge material up to 180 feet from the tower.
Wright is pleased with how this project turned out. “We pushed through the rain. It slowed the project, and we moved the dates later. Now you’ll see beautiful stand of fescue that anyone would like to have in their yard. All of the inspections passed,” he says. Wright earned a degree in agronomy from the University of Georgia, but “got tired of that.” He switched to commercial farming, which included some erosion control tasks. From farming, he moved to full-time erosion control work.
Article Written By: Margaret Buranen