Saudi Arabia

Hidrovetes Ltd. introduced the hydro seeding technology to Saudi Arabia in 2007 in partnership with Hydro Home Ltd, a local Saudi Arabian company. After two years of testing the possibility of implementing hydro seeding in a desert climate, the results showed that if irrigated, success was guaranteed. Hydro Home is now the exclusive retailer for Turbo Turf Technologies and Hidrovetes in the entire Gulf area.

Three test sights were chosen. 

The first was the rock covered slopes at the Hanifah Dam Park in Riyadh. Most of the area planned to be seeded had rocks in place and sufficient soil covering was dispersed between the rocks.

Our seeding teams mixed the hydro seeding mixture on sight. The hydro seeders needed a continuous supply of water, of about 20,000 to 30,000 liters of water per day. A water truck equipped with a hose and good water pressure was needed to immediately follow the application of hydro seeding mixture to “wash” the sprayed material in between the rocks. Approximately the same amount of water was needed to wash the mixture in between the rocks as was needed for the hydro seeding mixture itself. There could only be minutes between the application of the hydro seeding mixture and the water truck that washed it in between the rocks because the hydro seeding mixture dried quickly. 

Irrigation for the hydro seeded area began in the evening after the area was seeded.

Irrigation for this area depended on the temperature. Many short intervals of watering brought the best results. A minimum of 5 x 10 minute watering intervals was suggested per day and if the temperature increased above 30 degrees Celsius than additional night time irrigation was recommended.

RESULTS:
A picture is better than a 1000 words!



The second site: Al Elb Dam Park

This area was prepared and seeded exactly the same way as the Hanifah Dam Park area.

Neither area was seeded with grass seed. Desert bushes were planted instead.

After a period of about two weeks the bushes started to grow:

The gorge goes through the entire capital of Saudi Arabia. The city’s treated sewage water and the occasional flood water is collected by the damns allowing a small river to flow through the entire city of Riyadh.

A river in the center of the desert is quite the phenomenon!


Therefore the city is in the process of making a park along almost the entire extent for people to go picnicking and hiking.

The lower level is also being prepared. This will take years of preparation, but many areas are already in use. It is packed with people on the weekends. We weren’t able to work on the weekends because of the tourists!

The third test site was at the Riyadh City Nursery.
The city officials wanted to see how hydro seeding was implemented and wanted to watch the results day by day. Therefore they asked us to do a very small area right in front of their offices.

City officials were quite impressed and therefore HydroHome will be seeding a highway exit area in downtown Riyadh in February of 2009.

The work began in April of 2009 and finished in the beginning of May. Take a look at the pictures and decide whether or not it was a success!
Exit 13:
April 15, 2009:



May 8, 2009:



June 3, 2009: