Hydrograss Technologies heads down south

Golf Course News, Jan 2003 by Overbeck, Andrew

SARASOTA, Fla. - North Oxford, Mass.-based Hydrograss Technologies has opened an office here to serve the Southeastern United States.

Matt Zirkle, who has worked in golf course construction for Gary Player Design and Jack Nicklaus Design, will head up the new office.

"We are excited about the potential here," said Zirkle. "With the drought and water conditions and the fact that Hydrograss offers an alternative to erosion control and sod applications there is good market potential."

While Zirkle has yet to sign a contract, he is doing test sprays for a number of architects and developers. The Hydrograss system blends grass seeds and sprigs with a wood fiber product, Eco Aegis, that helps grass establish itself and acts as an erosion control device.

"Up North this is a proven technology. It is just a matter of doing test sprays and showing them that we can grow grass with the system down here," Zirkle said. "We have been doing some test sprays for WCI Communities over the last couple months."

According to Zirkle, the biggest adjustment is hydrosprigging warm season grasses as opposed to hydroseeding cool season grasses.

"The tests show that the distribution of sprigs is very good," he said. "We can also spray over sprigs that have already been put down mechanically to help with erosion control."

Hydrograss will be taking a different approach to the market in the Southeast.

"We won't hydrosprig the whole course," said Zirkle. "We will focus on sloped areas that have erosion concerns, like green surrounds, lake banks and car path edges. These are areas that are normally sodded and we can offer an alternative to sod and still hold slopes and establish turf quickly."

Zirkle said hydrosprigging is usu

ally 30 percent cheaper than sod.

From the Sarasota office, Zirkle and new salesman Tom Ross will handle Florida, and the rest of the Southeast in addition to the Caribbean, Mexico and Latin America.

"We are already pricing jobs in the Caribbean," said Zirkle. "There is good potential there because of water concerns. Since Eco Aegis is a wood fiber we are able to cut down on the water needed during grow-in because the fibers retain water. It is also not as expensive as shipping rolls of sod."