Equipment
and Product Ingredients
The following equipment and product ingredients
are necessary to protect the topsoil with a mulch cover.
A Hydromulch unit mounted on a truck chassis.
This unit consists of a roll formed steel tank which contains inside
the tank a number of motor driven shafts to which beaters are attached.
These shafts are driven by a motor mounted on the Hydromulch unit.
A Hydromulch unit of 5000 litre water capacity would require a motor
in the vicinity of 100 hp minimum. The tank has hatches on top into
which water is added untill full.
This water filling can be by standpipe or by pumping from a dam
or similar source on site or off site.
The beater shafts are activated and loading of the tank commences.
Bags of Evergro mulch, a measured qty of seed varieties, a vegetable
dye and a granulated fertiliser are added.
A qty of high performance tackyfier is supplied in each bag of Evergro
and its role is to provide adhesion of the mulch fibres to themselves
and to form a bond with the topsoil.
The tank is then topped up to correct level with water and the beater
shafts are reactivated . There is a Mixing time of 10 minutes or
whatever time is necessary to mix all ingredients together with
the water to form a completely wetted out slurry. The motor then
engages a heavy duty pump which delivers the slurry via a rigid
hose and out through a fan nozzle.
It is normal industry practice to include a small qty of green vegetable
dye in with the mix so that the operator can see the mulch fall
onto the topsoil and can move his impact point to
achieve uniform coverage.
Covering the topsoil from preferably two angles will avoid any shadowing
effect. |