Bermuda Lawn Hydroseeding in Phoenix, AZ

Bermuda lawn hydroseeding is how most Phoenix homeowners get a full lawn without paying for sod. Our truck mixes common bermudagrass seed with starter fertilizer, wood fiber mulch and tackifier, and we spray it over ground that has already been prepped; the fiber shades the seed and holds water between irrigation cycles. University of Arizona Cooperative Extension calls bermudagrass the turf best adapted to the low desert's heat and water needs, and it is what nearly every residential hydroseed lawn in the Valley is built on. We also handle grass seeding for winter rye, lawn repair and lawn renovation on thin or patchy yards.

Why common bermuda, and why summer

There are two kinds of bermuda in Valley lawns. Common bermudagrass grows from seed. Hybrid bermudas are sterile crosses that cannot establish a lawn from seed, so they only go in as sod, plugs or sprigs. That makes common bermuda the hydroseed choice. Extension's planting calendar lists May through August for seeding, with the lawn taking about a month to establish, and notes that the seed needs multiple waterings a day so it never dries out in the heat. Bermuda seeded in winter just sits there: the grass goes dormant and turns straw-colored for about three months after the first frost, which averages mid-November.

Soil prep is most of the job

A lot of new lawn installation in Phoenix happens on ground a builder graded and compacted for a slab. Under that, much of the valley floor is old fan and stream alluvium; the USDA's Mohall series, typed in Maricopa County, has a sandy loam surface over a lime-rich calcic layer beginning 20 to 40 inches down, with moderately slow permeability. We test how fast water soaks in, rip or till compacted ground, remove rock and construction debris, fine grade so water moves toward the yard drain or basin and not the slab, and add topsoil where the surface is bare subsoil. Irrigation coverage gets checked before seed goes down: dry corners in July show up as bare corners in August.

What it costs

Hydroseeding cost is mostly area, prep and access. For a home lawn, HomeGuide puts it at $0.12 to $0.35 per square foot, or $1,000 to $1,750 for 5,000 square feet, while Angi's range is $0.07 to $0.26 per square foot. Most hydroseeding companies set a minimum job fee, which HomeGuide and LawnStarter both put at about $300 to $500. Sod, by comparison, runs $1 to $4 per square foot installed in HomeGuide's figures. The cost table below lists the ranges with their sources.

Watering a new hydroseed lawn in Phoenix

This is where most lawns are won or lost. In June and July the surface can dry in an afternoon, so new seed gets several short cycles a day, enough to keep the mulch damp without running off. Once seedlings are up and filling in, cycles get longer and less frequent to push roots down. Extension's maintenance guide recommends deep, infrequent irrigation for established bermuda, roughly every three days in summer rather than several times daily. We leave a written schedule for your controller.

Winter rye and lawn repair

If you want green grass in January, perennial or annual ryegrass is overseeded into established bermuda in the fall. Extension's window for Phoenix is October 10 to November 10, at 12 to 15 pounds of seed per 1,000 square feet, and it warns against scalping the bermuda first, since that damages the crowns the lawn needs in spring. A new bermuda lawn should not be overseeded its first winter. For lawn repair, thin spots and dead patches from irrigation failures get scarified, topdressed and reseeded in the warm months; whole-yard lawn renovation follows the same calendar as a new lawn.

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Sizing the lawn to the water

Before we draw the seeding area, we talk about how much grass you really use. Extension's figures for the Phoenix area put an established bermuda lawn at roughly 6.3 to 6.7 inches of water a month from May through August. A dormant bermuda lawn that is not overseeded needs almost nothing in winter: Extension suggests running irrigation about once a month from December to February only if winter rains are lacking. That is the cheapest way to own a hydroseed lawn here, and it is why we suggest skipping winter rye on many yards. A compact lawn sized for the dogs, the kids or a patio view, with desert plants or rock around it, is easier to keep green and easier to water evenly, because fewer heads have to overlap perfectly.

When sod is the better choice

We will tell you when hydroseed is the wrong tool. If the lawn must be usable within a week, if it is November and you want bermuda, or if the area is a narrow side strip that is hard to keep damp, sod makes more sense. Extension notes a sodded lawn is ready for play and pets within about a week.

After the first month

The first mow comes when the bermuda is tall enough to cut cleanly, usually several weeks in, with a sharp blade and dry grass. Extension recommends about half a pound of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet a month through the growing season, with a higher-phosphate fertilizer in the month of seeding. Keep dogs and kids off until it knits together.