Hydromulch Component Selection for Rapid Revegetation on Disturbed DoD Lands.

The costs of unsuccessful periodic or regularly scheduled vegetation and revegetation efforts on DoD Lands areas can easily consume the budgets of installation DPW and Natural Resources offices. Hydromulches, one of the more dominant mechanisms for seed dispersal and germination, ranges on average from $1500 to $3000 per acre to apply. In most instances, off-the-shelf hydromulch products are unsuitable for given field soil conditions without proper adjustment of the mixture to match soil type and gradient.  Additionally, a lack of clear and concise application instructions promote product waste and misapplication.  Furthermore, there are a multitude of additional hydromulch additives available to the consumer that further complicates the selection process. Proper knowledge of hydromulch additives and their use is crucial to successful hydroseeding.  In general, most projects will experience some form of hydromulch failure during the first application.  A hydromulch product selectively tailored to the appropriate soil conditions, season and seed mixture has the potential to reduce this failure and improve seed germination eliminating the need for hydromulch reapplication.  The development of a selection process for hydroseeding including hydromulch mixture selection and materials guidance is needed to maximize the success, efficiency and cost benefits of vegetation efforts on military installations. Alterations to existing guidelines/specifications, if any, would help facilitate transitioning these lessons learned to end users.