Hydroseeding in Carter Lake, IA

Hydroseeding in Carter Lake means seeding ground that was once part of the Missouri River. In March 1877 a flood moved the river's course about 1.25 miles to the southeast, and the old bend, called Saratoga Bend, became the oxbow lake that gives the city its name. Carter Lake is the only city in Iowa west of the Missouri, surrounded on three sides by Omaha and on the fourth by the river.

What river-bed ground means for a lawn

Old channel and floodplain soils are flat and layered. One yard can have a pocket of sand next to a band of heavy silt. Water drains through the sand and sits on the silt. Before seeding we probe the surface and look at how water has been behaving, then grade so it moves off rather than collecting in the low pockets.

Shoreline yards

Homes along the lake have lawns that slope down to the water. Bare soil near the shore washes straight into the lake. On those lots we keep a strip of erosion control blanket along the waterline, use silt fence or a fiber roll during any grading, and hydroseed the rest of the yard with a tackified mulch so it stays in place in a hard rain.

Next to the airport

Carter Lake surrounds Eppley Airfield on the south and west, and the city covers about 2 square miles, of which roughly 0.15 square miles is water. With flat, open ground and a busy airport next door, wind is a constant on bare lots. Tackifier in the hydromulch and a prompt first watering keep the mulch from drying and lifting before the seed germinates.

A long recreation history

After the lake formed, the site became a busy recreation area with a boathouse, hotels and club houses, and later the Courtland Beach and Lakeview amusement parks operated there until 1933. Much of the city has been built on and rebuilt over a long time, so we often find fill under yards. Thin topsoil over old fill is a common reason lawns struggle, and adding topsoil before seeding fixes it.

Get a free estimate or call (402) 704-4105 for Carter Lake.