At Rocky Mountain Hydroseed, business is growing

FORT COLLINS – There’s nothing like a dry spell to get people to think about their grass. As Colorado’s landscape has gotten drier in recent years, business has been picking up for Rocky Mountain Hydroseed.

The 30-year-old business – officially Rocky Mountain Hydro-Seeding LLC and run by Tina Hunt – handles a vast range of clients and grassy landscapes. From the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s Carter Lake Project to a new skate park in Fort Collins and the Trail Head subdivision, Rocky Mountain Hydroseed has turned dirt into lush lawns.

Ever wonder how hydroseeding works? Here’s how the company describes its process:

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“The watery slurry containing the grass seed, fertilizer and mulch is constantly agitated during application. This agitation coats the seeds with the fertilizer, while the mulch absorbs the water. When evenly sprayed on the ground, the water-logged mulch keeps the seeds moist for rapid germination, usually occurring in five to seven days. Once germinated, the grass feeds on the fertilizer to increase root development and growth.”

The company doesn’t just hydroseed grass. It handles the full scope of landscaping work for its customers. Their process begins with the soil itself, which is carefully rejuvenated, graded and covered with topsoil to ensure a long life to the new lawn.

It offers four types of seeding: turf, native, wetland and wildflower, each of which is seeded to custom specifications, depending on whether existing grass will be retained or it’s a start-from-scratch situation. Erosion control measures are part of that process.

Rocky Mountain Hydroseed has a multi-state clientele. Many of its clients, especially on the government side, have operations that span more than one state, and they take Rocky Mountain Hydroseed with them across state lines.

Railroad rights-of-way use a surprising amount of grass and other ground cover, and Rocky Mountain Hydroseed has railways across the plains and western states. State transportation departments in Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming are among its regular customers. Forest Service projects, airport landscaping, pipeline rights-of-way, bike paths and ball fields all sport greenery provided by the Fort Collins company.

“We’re rather small, but we do keep busy,´ said one company employee. “You’re hitting us just as the work is starting to pour in.”

In addition to its direct hydroseeding business, Rocky Mountain Hydroseed offers consulting services to engineering firms, cities and towns, contractors and others who perform landscaping services themselves.