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THE ADVANTAGES OF HYDROSEEDING!
Hydro Seeding works great for lawns, roadsides, erosion control projects and more. It offers faster germination, eliminates the use of messy straw and has a nice green appearance.
There are reasons hydro seeding works so well. The seed is suspended in a nutrient rich slurry. The contact of the seed with the water in machine triggers the germination cycle. The mulch layer seals in the moisture, and holds the soil in place. The seed is at an ideal depth for good results. The conditions are right to produce a lush green lawn in very short time.
Hydro seeding is a fast, cost effective way to have a new lawn that will turn your neighbors green with envy.
Hydro seeding costs only a little more than old fashioned methods using dry seeding techniques combined with a messy straw mulch.
The cost to have your new lawn hydro seeded is less than 1/4 the cost of using sod, and in a few weeks you will have a better appearing lawn with no need to worry if the sod will take.
The protective mulch covering has an attractive green appearance. A special blend of seeds will be used that will be chosen for the conditions and requirements you have. The factors that may go into the choice may be the amount of sun, shade, the terrain, the type of soil and if you have children or pets.
Your lawn will be hydro seeded with a tested, high quality, certified turf mix. Germination time will depend on the weather, the time of year, the amount of water, the area you live in and other factors. Usually grass will be visible in 5-7 days, a few days slower in cold weather or the hottest part of summer.
H & K Landscaping
Brett Huizenga
Hydroseeding, Hudsonville
http://hklandscaping.com Hydro Seeding works great for lawns, roadsides, erosion control projects and more. It offers faster germination, eliminates the use of... more -
Hydro Seed Lawncare Maintenance & Tips
H & K Landscaping Lawncare Tips
WATERING
Do not water until the hydro-seed application has completely dried. This allows the tack to set which helps hold the mulch, seed and soil together.
For optimum seed germination, the soil surface should be kept moist for a period of 6 to 8 weeks.
To prevent washouts, it is recommended that you avoid watering when heavy rains are predicted.
To prevent fungus, it is recommended that you water thoroughly every other day when temperatures are 85 degrees or higher.
MOWING
The lawn should be mowed after the grass has reached a height of 3 1/2 to 4.
The cutting height of the mower should be set no lower than 3.
No more than 25% of the grass should be cut off in one cutting.
The mower blade should be sharp to prevent tearing.
The clippings should only be picked up to prevent clumping of cut grass.
The lawn should be cut with the lawn mower set on 1/2 throttle to reduce the amount of suction generated by the mower blade.
The above procedures should be followed for the first 3 or 4 cuttings.
There are three very important conditions to obtain optimum seed germination and plant growth.
First you need a good soil. If your seed bed contains too much clay, your ground becomes too dense and hard making it very difficult to establish good root growth. If your seed bed contains too much sand, then it will be extremely hard for your seed bed to retain a sufficient amount of moisture to support plant growth. We suggest that if you have a clay base area to be seeded that you should add a minimum of 2" sandy base topsoil. If you are dealing with a sandy base area to be seeded, such as yellow sand or coarse sand, then we would recommend 3 to 4 inches of a clay based topsoil.
The next important thing is water. Your seeds must be kept moist, but not saturated. Kept moist could mean, not watering at all today because it had rained enough to keep the ground moist all day or it could mean that you need to water as many as 8 times a day because it is a very sunny, warm and breezy day resulting in quicker evaporation, which in turn will dry out the surface of the Hydro Seeding. It is likely that the germination process will be extended if you are watering only one or twice per day during time when there is little or no rainfall. Insufficient watering will more than likely have an effect on the germination and growth rate. It will usually extend the time it takes for the seed to germinate. For example, if your seed blend contains perennial turf type rye, it will take 7 to 10 days to germinate under optimum conditions. If the seed is not watered sufficiently, then it might take 15 to 20 days for the seeds to germinate.
H & K Landscaping
Hudsonville, MI
http://hklandscaping.com H & K Landscaping Lawncare Tips WATERING ... more -
Inflation Gets Right Down to the Real Nitty-Gritty
Even dirt isn't dirt-cheap anymore.
At your local garden center, the cheapest dirt, which often goes by the name of "premium topsoil," may cost $4.99 for a 40-pound bag, about a buck more than a year or two ago.
Then there's the gourmet dirt -- the scientifically exquisite potting mixtures, soil enhancers and soil amendments, crafted from special ingredients such as peat moss, bark fines (partially composted pine bark), perlite, coconut husks, and/or "spent mushroom substrate." You can buy a bag of "Bumper Crop," for example, for $14.99 at Johnson's Florist and Garden Center in the District, up two bucks from 18 months ago.
Dirt and its upmarket cousins offer a glimpse of how rising energy prices have caused inflation in the grittier corners of the consumer culture. Products that are cheap, heavy and bulky, such as bags of soil, are particularly vulnerable to rising freight costs.
Moreover, thanks to technology, globalization and changes in consumer preference, a bag of potting mix is now a highly manufactured, meticulously designed product, often containing ingredients from all over the continent and from across the planet.
Pricier dirt is what consumers want, says Bob LaGasse, executive director of the Manassas-based Mulch and Soil Council, which represents soil and mulch producers nationwide. "People have less time. So their garden projects have changed over time. Convenience, time-saving factors, less mess," he said. They want high-performance dirt, so charged with organic nutrients you could serve it as an appetizer.
"It's potting soil on steroids," said Chris Sexton, marketing manager for Fafard Inc., a major soil manufacturer in Anderson, S.C.
He said that an eight-quart bag of Fafard's premium potting mix would have retailed for less than three dollars a couple of years ago, but now is likely to cost four dollars.
"Our input costs are just going up so much," Sexton said. "The peat moss comes from Canada. It doesn't come here magically. It has to come by truck or on the train." Even dirt isn't dirt-cheap anymore. ... more -
Martian soil may contain detrimental substance
LOS ANGELES - NASA's Phoenix spacecraft has detected the presence of a chemically reactive salt in the Martian soil, a finding that if confirmed could make it less friendly to potential life than once believed.
Scientists previously reported that the soil near Mars' north pole was similar to backyard gardens on Earth where plants such as asparagus, green beans and turnips could grow. But preliminary results from a second lab test found perchlorate, a highly oxidizing salt, that would create a harsh environment.
The first test "suggested Earth-like soil. Further analysis has revealed un-Earthlike aspects of the soil chemistry," chief scientist Peter Smith of the University of Arizona in Tucson said in a statement Monday.
On Earth, perchlorate is a natural and manmade contaminant sometimes found in soil and groundwater. It is the main ingredient in solid rocket fuel and can be found in fireworks, pyrotechnics and other explosives.
It's unclear how perchlorate forms on Mars or how much there is of it. NASA is investigating whether the substance could have gotten there by contamination before launch. Phoenix used another fuel, hydrazine, to power its thrusters and land on the red planet on May 25.
Phoenix detected the salt through a chemistry experiment. The lander mixed soil with water brought from Earth into a teacup-size beaker and stirred it. Two dozen sensors inside the beaker detect the soil's pH and probe for traces of mineral nutrients.
The first test determined the soil was slightly alkaline and contained nutrients such as magnesium, sodium, potassium and chloride necessary for living things. The second test found the highly reactive perchlorate.
Scientists want to confirm their results because another Phoenix instrument that bakes and sniffs soil samples found no evidence of perchlorate during a run on Sunday.
Brown University geologist John Mustard, who has no role in the mission, said judgment about the soil's potential to support life should be reserved until all the data are in.
But at first glance, "it is a reactive compound. It's not usually considered an ingredient for life," Mustard said.
The latest soil finding comes less than a week after NASA extended Phoenix's three-month mission by another five weeks through the end of September.
Since arriving at Mars, the three-legged lander has impressed scientists by confirming that ice exists in the Martian arctic plains. Its main task is to study whether the landing site could be a habitable zone for primitive life forms to emerge. LOS ANGELES - NASA's Phoenix spacecraft has detected the presence of a chemically reactive salt in the Martian soil, a finding th... more -
Emperor - Chapter 2
A Brief Summary of the Uses of Hemp
Our Challenge to the World: Try to Prove Us Wrong
If all fossil fuels and their derivatives, as well as trees for paper and construction were banned in order to save the planet, reverse the Greenhouse Effect and stop deforestation;
Then there is only one known annually renewable natural resource that is capable of providing the overall majority of the world’s paper and textiles; meeting all of the world’s transportation, industrial and home energy needs; simultaneously reducing pollution, rebuilding the soil, and cleaning the atmosphere all at the same time…
And that substance is—the same one that did it all before—
Cannabis Hemp…Marijuana!
Ships & Sailors
Ninety percent* of all ships’ sails (since before the Phoenicians, from at least the 5th century B.C. until long after the invention and commercialization of steam ships, mid-to late-19th century) were made from hemp.
*The other 10% were usually flax or minor fibers like ramie, sisal, jute, abaca, etc.
(Abel, Ernest, Marijuana: The First 12,000 Years, Plenum Press, 1980; Herodotus, Histories, 5th century B.C.; Frazier, Jack, The Marijuana Farmers, 1972; U.S. Agricultural Index, 1916-1982; USDA film, Hemp for Victory, 1942.)
The word “canvas”1 is the Dutch pronunciation (twice removed, from French and Latin) of the Greek word “Kannabis.”*
*Kannabis, of the (Hellenized) Mediterranean Basin Greek language, derived from the Persian and earlier Northern Semitics (Quanuba, Kanabosm, Cana?, Kanah?) which scholars have now traced back to the dawn of the 6,000-year-old Indo-Semitic European language family base of the Sumerians and Acadians. The early Sumerian/Babylonian word K(a)N(a)B(a), or Q(a)N(a)B(a) is one of man’s longest surviving root words.1 (KN means cane and B means two, two reeds or two sexes.)
In addition to canvas sails, until this century virtually all of the rigging, anchor ropes, cargo nets, fishing nets, flags, shrouds, and oakum (the main protection for ships against salt water, used as a sealant between the outer and inner hull of ships) were made from the stalk of the marijuana plant.
Even the sailors’ clothing, right down to the stitching in the seamen’s rope-soled and (sometimes) “canvas” shoes, was crafted from cannabis.*
*An average cargo, clipper, whaler, or naval ship of the line, in the 16th, 17th, 18th, or 19th centuries carried 50 to 100 tons of cannabis hemp rigging, not to mention the sails, nets, etc., and needed it all replaced every year or two, due to salt rot. (Ask the U.S. Naval Academy, or see the construction of the USS Constitution, a.k.a. “Old Ironsides,” Boston Harbor.)
(Abel, Ernest, Marijuana, The First 12,000 Years, Plenum Press, 1980; Ency. Britannica; Magoun, Alexander, The Frigate Constitution, 1928; USDA film Hemp for Victory, 1942.)
Additionally, the ships’ charts, maps, logs, and Bibles were made from paper containing hemp fiber from the time of Columbus (15th century) until the early 1900s in the Western European/American World, and by the Chinese from the 1st century A.D. on. Hemp paper lasted 50 to 100 times longer than most preparations of papyrus, and was a hundred times easier and cheaper to make.
Incredibly, it cost more for a ship’s hempen sails, ropes, etc. than it did to build the wooden parts.
Nor was hemp use restricted to the briny deep… A Brief Summary of the Uses of Hemp Our Challenge to the World: Try to Prove Us Wrong ... more -
Farming on Mars?
NASA scientists are saying that Martian soil is good enough to grow asparagus!
"The soil you have there is the type of soil you have in your backyard," said Kounaves. "You may be able to grow asparagus very well." said Samuel Kounaves, the project's lead chemist at the University of Arizona.
"We basically have found what appears to be the requirements of the nutrients to support life, past, present or future," said Kounaves.
Scientists found elements in the soil that included magnesium, potassium and sodium. NASA scientists are saying that Martian soil is good enough to grow asparagus! ... more -
Soil Bacteria THRIVE on Antibiotics
Researchers from Harvard discovered that everyday soil from urban parks to farms to suburban lawns to pristine forest contain bacteria that not only are resistant to classes of antibiotics humans use every day, they can subsist on the antibiotics EXCLUSIVELY.
"Of 18 antibiotics tested, representing eight major classes of natural and synthetic origin, 13 to 17 supported the growth of clonal bacteria from each of 11 diverse soils.
"This phenomenon suggests that this unappreciated reservoir of antibiotic-resistance determinants can contribute to the increasing levels of multiple antibiotic resistance in pathogenic bacteria."
I don't think anyone is ready to claim any causality. But having so many bacteria that are related to human pathogens, literally being soaked in antibiotic tainted agricultural and human runoff can not be good. Researchers from Harvard discovered that everyday soil from urban parks to farms to suburban lawns to pristine forest contain bacteria... more -
2008 Indigenous Earth Day Summit at Northern Michigan University: Proposal deadlin...
Call for Proposals: NMU 2008 Indigenous Earth Day Summit
EXTENDED DEADLINE!
Northern Michigan University is seeking presentation proposals for the 2008 Indigenous Earth Day Summit to be held at NMU April 22-23.
This summit is made possible by the Center for Native American Studies, the Environmental Science Program and the Office of International Programs.
This summit will function as a call to action on Indigenous environmental issues in the Great Lakes area, on Turtle Island and around the world.
An Aboriginal Australian delegation from the Traditional Knowledge Revival Pathways project will be featured as keynote presenters and will provide musical entertainment.
http://www.tkrp.com.au
Presentations should ultimately include ideas on how to address Indigenous environmental concerns. Topics include, but are not limited to, the following.
- Traditional Ecological Knowledge (T.E.K.)
- Education and Indigenous environmental concerns
- History of industrialism, industrial threats, Indigenous peoples and the Earth
- Economic globalization and Indigenous peoples
- Indigenous languages and the Earth
- Solutions in Indigenous cultures to environmental problems
- Indigenous subsistence rights and protection of sacred land
- Global poisoning and the impact on Indigenous peoples
- Climate change and its impact on Indigenous peoples
A variety of presentations are encouraged (music, art, films as well as papers and panels).
Activists, Native elders and Native community members are strongly encouraged to submit proposals.
Proposals should be 150-300 words in length. Deadline for submissions has been extended to Monday, March 17, 2008.
Send to:
cnas@nmu.edu
(attachments should only be in Microsoft Word or as a PDF)
Subject line: Indigenous Earth Day Summit Proposal
-or-
Center for Native American Studies
Northern Michigan University
1401 Presque Isle Ave
Marquette, MI 49855
For more information call 906-227-1397
http://www.nmu.edu/nativeamericans Call for Proposals: NMU 2008 Indigenous Earth Day Summit EXTENDED DEADLINE! ... more -
Synthetic soil lightens load from rooftop gardens
"With an eye on the growing need to expand green space, Suntory created Pafcal, which it says is suitable for urban areas because it is lighter and more solid than soil.
Some 450 grams of the sponge-like material, which is made of the synthetic substance urethane, can be put to the same use as one kilo of soil, the company said. Leafy plants growing in the synthetic soil can reduce the roof temperature by 10 degrees Celsius (18 degrees Fahrenheit).
'This will make it possible to plant greenery on roofs and walls of buildings that have less load capacity,' said Suntory's executive general manager Norio Kanayama."
Suntory makes whiskies, beers, and sodas.
http://www.suntory.com/products/beverage.html "With an eye on the growing need to expand green space, Suntory created Pafcal, which it says is suitable for urban areas because... more
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