Hydroseeding in Crescent, IA

Hydroseeding in Crescent deals with a town at the edge of two landscapes. Crescent sits directly across the Mormon Bridge from North Omaha at the base of the Loess Hills, so the flat river bottom ends and the hills rise sharply right at the edge of town.

Living below a hill

The Loess Hills are the first rise in land beyond the Missouri floodplain, a kind of front range for western Iowa. Yards at the bottom of that rise receive runoff from above, and loess silt carried by that water settles out as soon as it reaches flat ground. Before we hydroseed a lot like that, we work out where water enters and give it a defined path, usually a shaped swale lined with straw or coconut blanket, so it does not bury new seed under a fan of silt.

Hillside yards

Homes built up onto the hills deal with the opposite problem: soil leaving instead of arriving. Loess holds a vertical face when dry and loses cohesion when wet, which leads to the cat-step terraces and slumps you see on local hillsides. On slopes we use a bonded fiber matrix or pinned blankets and a mix that includes deep-rooted grasses.

Ski hill and nature center

The Mount Crescent ski area lies near town, and neighboring Hitchcock Nature Center has miles of hiking trails and an observation tower that looks out over the hills, the river valley and the Omaha skyline. Terrain steep enough for skiing tells you what many private lots here look like. It also means visitors' parking areas and trail edges see wear that needs reseeding.

Native prairie fits here

The Loess Hills hold some of the region's last stands of native prairie, including big bluestem, little bluestem, Indian grass and sideoats grama. Red cedar spreading into prairie and oak savanna is threatening the stability of these fragile soils. On larger hillsides that will not be mowed, we can hydroseed a native mix that matches the surrounding land and roots far deeper than turfgrass.

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