Hydroseeding in Bethlehem, NY

Hydroseeding in Bethlehem means working in a town framed by water. The Hudson River forms its eastern edge, and the Normans Kill forms the border with Albany before reaching the Hudson inside the town, where its last mile is tidal. Between those edges are hamlets like Delmar, Glenmont, Slingerlands and Selkirk, with lawns ranging from old village lots to new houses on former fields.

Low spots and heavy soil

Much of the Hudson Valley floor is underlain by clay and silt left on old lake plains. USDA describes soils like the Rhinebeck series, found in the Hudson and Mohawk valleys, as somewhat poorly drained, with slow permeability in the subsoil. On ground like that, seed sits wet in spring and can rot. We check for standing water before seeding, and where a yard holds water we regrade it to shed toward the street or a swale before any seed goes down.

A town that takes wetlands seriously

When the Bethlehem Energy Center was built on the former Albany Steam Station site, its certificate required 1.5 acres of new wetland for every acre of newly industrialized land. That gives a sense of how closely wet areas are watched here. If your lot edges a wet area, we keep the work to the lawn side and use silt fence to hold sediment back.

Growth along the old rail line

Delmar grew around the Delaware and Hudson railroad, and the town's population rose about 45 percent in the 1950s alone. That old right of way is now the Albany County Helderberg-Hudson Rail Trail. Many yards along it date from that boom and are due for renovation: aeration, a little topsoil and overseeding.

Stream banks

Yards that drop toward the Normans Kill or its tributaries need more than grass seed on a steep bank. We use erosion control blankets on the face, with seed under them, so roots can knit the slope together.

Get a free estimate or call (518) 690-6268.