How To Choose The Right Spray-On Grass Seed For Your Lawn

When you are looking to give your yard a quick boost of green by growing new grass, the traditional sowing of seeds by hand may not work quickly enough. If sod isn't in your budget, you may want to learn more about hydroseeding and how it can benefit your lawn. What does it cost to hydroseed a lawn? You can expect to pay up to 20 cents per square foot when you hire a pro to perform a spray-on grass treatment over a large yard. If you have interest in what feels like it should be a less expensive option, you may consider buying a DIY spray-on grass product in a bottle at the hardware store.

As you might imagine, not all DIY hydroseeding products are created equal. Some can be quite messy, while others require special tools and hardware that you may need to rent. Some products are less efficient than others at growing a thick, lush lawn. Many products have a dye included with them, making it easy to see the spots where you applied them, but it can also cause staining on nearby tree trunks or rocks.

Determining whether to purchase a pre-made product or hire a pro to handle the hydroseeding job at your property comes down to the specific needs you have and the amount of time and money you want to spend. 

When it's time to consider the right spray-on grass product for your yard, you typically can pick among products that you find at a local hardware store or online in a ready-to-use bottle, renting hydroseeding tools and purchasing a hydroseed product, or hiring a professional hydroseeding contractor. 

Pre-made bottles of spray-on grass products probably work better to cover any bare spots or areas where the dog dug or ruined the grass. If you have a large space to cover with the product, such as for a new lawn, hiring a pro or renting your own equipment is probably the smarter choice. The store-bought bottles would take a long time to apply over a large space, and they don't carry any guarantee. Another good reason to use a professional is if you have an area with a steep slope, which complicates the process of adding the liquid grass seed.

In addition to matching the product to the location where you're working, cost is a key factor. For a small space, the pre-made bottle is a reasonable cost, typically around 22 cents per square foot of application. However, this is higher than what it costs to hire a pro for hydroseeding, which can be between 6 cents and 20 cents per square foot. But a pro likely won't want to come to your home to fill in a few bare spots, so the store-bought bottle is best for small areas.

If you want to purchase a DIY bottle at the hardware store, one of the most widely available products is Hydro Mousse Liquid Lawn. You just attach the plastic bottle to your garden hose and start spraying. You can purchase a bottle of Hydro Mousse at Amazon for $22 that reportedly covers 100 square feet of ground. However, online reviews are not overly favorable for this product. One homeowner in Texas tried Hydro Mousse as part of an online review. Although the product's manufacturer claims you should see results within 7 to 14 days, the online reviewer saw no grass 17 days after application. On Amazon, Hydro Mousse has nearly 20,000 reviews, but its ratings are far lower than what's found with traditional dry grass seed products, such as Scotts Turf Builder Rapid Grass, which costs about $35 on Amazon for 839 square feet of new lawn coverage (about 4 cents per square foot). 

If you want to try to hydroseed your own property over a large area, you can mix your own hydroseed liquid. However, renting a commercial-level spraying machine for it can cost up to $500 per day. Before trying this job yourself, it's worth seeking some quotes from local hydroseeding contractors, who already have the equipment and carry liability insurance. Pros also may give you a guarantee of lawn germination, which is a huge advantage versus doing it yourself.