In 2025 there’s a variety of ground cover solutions available to landscapers, contractors, designers and planners. But what is the superior ground cover solution? Surely you’ve seen big projects being completed using ground cover methods like hydro-seeding, terra-seeding, and even straw mat ground cover. These erosion control methods, while at first glance may seem effective, simply don’t cut it. You can end up wasting a lot of time, money and resources when trying to implement these erosion control methods effectively.
Weather variability, bird damage, and germination failures often put a damper on project completion with these alternative ground cover options. Here at Greenhorizons, we’ve been growing natural turfgrass sod since 1975. In our 50 years of business, we’ve seen countless ground cover projects completed all across Ontario. In fact, one of the first projects Greenhorizons took on was for the Bruce Nuclear plant back in 1977. The sod we installed there continued to perform for many many years. For a first job, it turned out pretty great. But of course we can’t take all the credit… sod is simply the superior ground cover solution.
What is Sod, Hydro-Seeding, and Terra-Seeding?
Sod
Pre-grown grass rolls harvested from turf farms. There are many different kinds of sod. Different cultivars of turfgrass are often tailored to the local climate it’s being grown in. Different types of sod have advantages for different applications.
Hydro-Seeding
Liquid mixture of seed, mulch, fertilizer, and water applied via spray.
Terra-Seeding
Dry seed broadcasting with soil amendments.
Get Immediate Results with The Superior Ground Cover Solution
You’ve spent months (sometimes years) working through the structural components of your project. Now it’s time to decide on the most effective ground cover solution to finish things off. On the one hand, you can have instant erosion control by installing sod and watering it in, initiating the establishment process. On the other hand, you have some cheaper options that will take weeks (even months) to start to help with erosion, and it’s the furthest thing from guaranteed that it will be 100% effective. When installing sod, you don’t have to worry about germination uncertainty or patchy growth. Sod begins to absorb rainfall and protect your ground from wind erosion immediately. Birds and other wildlife will have no impact on your sod’s ability to establish. These factors can be extremely detrimental to hydro-seeding and terra-seeding projects. Sod is the superior ground cover solution, especially for time-sensitive projects.
Superior Establishment Success Rate
It’s important to look at the establishment success rate of these various ground cover solutions. When projects encounter poor establishment success, it ends up costing contractors time, money and resources having to go back and reapply seed. Your establishment timer gets reset every time you go back over a project. This provides more time for the topsoil layer to blow or wash away. Project managers often have to bring in additional topsoil to make up for eroded materials during the establishment process of seeding. All it takes is a heavy rain, a wind storm, or a flock of birds to completely ruin your seeding efforts. Install the superior ground cover solution for your next project. We’re confident you’ll save time, money and effort by simply choosing sod.
Sod’s Long-Term Durability and Root Development
A key benefit to installing sod is the mature root system that comes pre-grown. Your project will have instant stability thanks to the established root system that absorbs a ton of water. The mature canopy also has a lot of benefits. Sod is able to capture some particulates from the air that would otherwise be blowing around your job site. Once your sod is established in 3-4 weeks, your project will have robust drought tolerance. The other ground cover options can be completely wiped out by drought conditions. Water requirements drop dramatically following the establishment period of sod as well, making it a much more environmentally responsible product to use, especially during drought.
When hydro-seeding and terra-seeding, weed growth can run rampant. As much as these technologies are supposed to provide a decent foundation for establishing grass seed, that foundation will also be great for establishing airborne weed seeds. You might have a vision of a beautiful, lush lawn for your finished project, but instead you’ll end up with a field of weeds. Sod will always out-compete encroaching weeds as long as it was installed properly.
Cost-Effectiveness Over Time of Sod: The Superior Ground Cover Solution
During the planning phase of any project, it’s easy to make mistakes when selecting an appropriate ground cover. Hydro-seeding and terra-seeding can seem like more cost-effective options upfront. How complicated can it be? Simply spread the seed and watch it grow into a pristine lawn! Unfortunately that’s almost never the case. These cheaper seeding options often require intensive follow-up maintenance and repairs. When establishing any grass seed, the property manager is required to keep the seed consistently moist to ensure proper germination. This can be very time intensive, not to mention the increased water usage. Alternatively, sod requires some deep water applications during the establishment phase, but once established, the water requirements drop dramatically. You’ll save time, money and resources by choosing sod, the superior ground cover solution.
Weather Independence and Seasonal Flexibility
Anyone who works outside knows that the one thing we can’t control is the weather… Delays in construction due to weather happen all the time. Especially when hydro-seeding or terra-seeding are in the plans, weather can totally ruin entire days that were planned to get your ground cover completed. If it’s too windy or too rainy, these seeding options can turn from solutions to problems really quick. Sod can be installed in a variety of weather conditions. While some conditions may be more conducive to sod establishment, with the proper care and technique, sod can be effectively established regardless of the weather.
Instead of hoping and praying for the ideal seed germination conditions, choose sod for your next ground cover project. It’s truly the superior ground cover solution. You also don’t have to worry about seasonality. One of the best times of year for sod establishment is in the fall! Many project managers are scrambling at the end of the growing season to complete their projects. There are almost always other delays further up in the project schedule.
Luckily turfgrass naturally grows roots aggressively in the fall. Turfgrass anticipates the coming winter conditions and knows that it has to grow roots to ensure resiliency through the colder months. Project managers and planners can take advantage of this increased root growth by choosing sod for their ground cover, and installing it in the fall. That’s not to say that establishing sod is significantly harder at other times of the year, but the fall growth pattern of turfgrass does provide an establishment advantage. Hydro-seeding and terra-seeding require much warmer, and more consistent conditions to establish properly.
Quality Control and Consistency of Sod: The Superior Ground Cover
We’ve already talked about the invitation to weeds that hydro-seeding and terra-seeding provide. But weeds aren’t the only plants to be concerned about with these inferior ground cover methods. It’s also very difficult to anticipate the cultivars of grass that will dominate the seeded area. You may have hopes and dreams of lush kentucky bluegrass providing the finishing touches to your project. Instead you’ll be left with some sparse tufts of rye grass. Seed mixtures often incorporate some fast germinating, but poor performing grass cultivars to try and boost initial germination rates. While this may give you a confidence boost when you start to see your grass seed germinating, you’ll be sincerely disappointed with the finished product.
Sod on the other hand is exactly what you see when you lay it. If you want kentucky bluegrass, you’ll get kentucky bluegrass. We also provide other sod options to fit your specific project requirements. Once again, no matter the cultivar you choose, your finished project will reflect the vision you had at the outset when you install sod. Say goodbye to unexpected bare spots and inconsistent growth by choosing natural turfgrass sod for your next ground cover project.
Environmental Benefits of Natural Turfgrass Sod
In 2025, everyone should be concerned about the environment. There are countless examples of how the modern world is working against nature. More and more environmental concerns are being addressed during the planning stages of any project. We know that turfgrass is excellent for carbon sequestration. Rough estimates have said that over the last 10 years, turfgrass in North America has sequestered around 860 million metric tons of CO2. To put that into perspective, you would have to fly 1200 Boeing 747 airplanes 24/7 for those same 10 years to produce that much carbon!
Seeding options can have ambitions of becoming powerful carbon sinks, but they need to be germinated and properly established before providing any environmental benefits. Sod on the other hand starts sequestering carbon immediately. After all the grass is still alive and growing when you install it. Beyond the carbon sequestration, live turfgrass is also pumping out oxygen as it grows. It would take years for a hydro-seeded or terra-seeded area to start sequestering CO2 and pumping out oxygen to the same levels as a similarly sized sodded area.
We already talked about the erosion control benefits of natural turfgrass sod in the context of saving you money, but soil health is an environmental concern as well! We need to take care of the soils we have, and we know our soil is eroding at alarming rates. Using sod as your ground cover solution will ensure immediate erosion control to your project, and mother nature will be thanking you.
Common Objections to The Superior Ground Cover Solution
“Sod is too expensive!”
It may seem like the upfront costs of sod installation are significantly more than hydro-seeding or terra-seeding, but we’ve seen the post-project reports… These “cheap” seeding options will end up costing you heavily in maintenance and repair costs. You’ll end up having to make several applications, hoping for the ideal seed germination conditions, multiplying that upfront cost right away. Not to mention the additional labor and water costs of keeping the seed bed consistently moist… Once sod is established, the water and maintenance costs are dramatically reduced, making it truly more cost-effective than the other options.
“Hydro-seeding is more natural”
Sure, it might give you a warm and fuzzy feeling knowing that you grew the grass on your project from seed. But take it from us, germinating seed isn’t easy. Here at the sod farm, it can take anywhere from 2-4 years to properly establish grass seed in our sod fields depending on conditions. Ask yourself if you have 2-4 years to wait until the seeded areas of your project can start to look like you hoped they would… We also choose grass cultivars that naturally thrive in our climate to plant in our fields. We also use many natural processes to boost our sod growth. Cover cropping greatly improves soil health in our fields, and turning all those nutrients into the soil naturally feeds our sod crop throughout its life cycle.
“Installation and establishment is complicated!”
Here at Greenhorizons, we know turfgrass inside and out. We help thousands of landscape professionals complete their ground cover projects using natural turfgrass sod each year. Not only do we provide the sod, but we also provide the knowledge we’ve accrued over our 50 years of growing and installing sod. Do you have concerns about establishment? We offer a service to large scale installations that we like to call our ProXstablishment program.
ProXstablishment is an additional service Greenhorizons Sod Farms can supply to guarantee the complete establishment of sod after the installation and first watering of sod. Any experienced turf manager can tell you that site preparation and laying the sod is only half of the job. How the turf is managed just after installation can drastically affect time-to-use or sign off of
the site.
Sod is Truly The Superior Ground Cover Solution
Ultimately sod is faster, more cost-effective, and more environmentally friendly than hydro-seeding or terra-seeding for ground cover. Investing in sod will pay dividends as your project continues to serve your community for many years to come. If you’re deliberating on the ground cover solution for your next project, we hope you’ll know what the superior ground cover solution is. If you need any more convincing, be sure to reach out to the Greenhorizons team today and ask about how we can help make your next ground cover project a resounding success.