05
Erosion control across Hunterdon County
Holding bare ground in place after the trees come out, from hydroseed to silt sock.
Chapter 01
Why bare ground is a deadline
Ground that has just been cleared or graded is bare, and bare ground does not wait. The first heavy rain after the trees come off a lot moves soil downhill, off the property and into a road, a ditch, or a neighbor's yard, often within days of the last excavator leaving. A cleared lot is not finished until something is holding the surface in place.
That is why erosion control usually follows land clearing rather than arriving as an afterthought. See our land clearing page for what happens before the ground is bare in the first place.
Green hydroseed slurry being sprayed across freshly graded ground
Hydroseeding
Hydroseeding sprays a slurry of seed, mulch and tackifier across bare graded ground so grass takes hold and holds the soil while it establishes. It covers ground evenly, including slopes and irregular grading that would be slow to seed by hand.
The clearest example on our own job list is a commercial building we hydroseeded after the site was graded: bare prepped soil with the irrigation hoses still run out, and the same building afterward with an established green lawn in its place. Real before and after, same site, shown below.
Chapter 03
Holding a slope while it establishes
Hydroseed still needs help on a real slope. Straw blanketing and erosion blankets pin material to the grade so rain does not wash the new seed straight back off before it can root, and hay bales get staged at the base of a slope to slow water and catch anything that does move. Straw blowing and tacking spreads a mulch layer and glues it down over ground that is not going to hold anything on its own yet.
Which method gets used depends on the grade and how exposed the ground is, not a single default answer applied to every job.
Silt sock
A silt sock is a filled mesh tube staged along the low edge of a site to catch sediment before it leaves the property, keeping it out of the road, a storm drain, or a stream. It is often the first thing installed on a job, before the ground upslope of it is even disturbed.
Countryside, Fully licensed (NJTC770078) and insured. Call (908) 638-9405.
Same building, before and after
Bare prepped soil to an established lawn
This is a genuine before and after from one of our own jobs, not a stock comparison. The hoses are still run out from the day the soil was graded on the left; the same building, hydroseeded, on the right.
Also worth knowing
The rest of what we handle
- Tree servicesRemoval, pruning, stump grinding and crane work, planned or at two in the morning after a storm.
- Plant healthcareTreatment and feeding for trees worth keeping, including Emerald Ash Borer and Spotted Lanternfly.
- Land clearingLots taken from standing timber to buildable ground, with the material chipped and hauled off site.
- Land managementKeeping acreage from closing in: brush hogging, forestry mowing and underbrush clearing.
Free estimates
Hold the ground before the rain moves it
The owner comes out to look at the grade before quoting. Free estimates, and the right method for the slope, not a single default applied to every job.