How does turf colourant work. 7

You use turf colourant, lawn pigment, and grass dyes to instantly paint grass green. These:

• Cost less than overseeding;
• Avoid the issue of having to remove over-seeded grass from warm-season turf;
• Give an immediate natural looking result;
• Some have plant health benefits. e.g Bayer with their Stressgard® technology or Vertmax Duo.

Are Turf Colourants Safe?

Turf Colourants are very safe. Once these dry the area is safe for children and pets. The copper active is non hazardous to fish or plants.

However, there are major differences between turf colourants which can be grass dyes, lawn pigments, and paints.

Types of turf pigments, grass dyes, paints & colourants

Turf colourants are dyes, pigments, or paints. These products allow you to paint grass green and contain a solvent, a colourant, additives, and up to 40% binder.

The difference between a lawn pigment and a dye:

• A lawn pigment is a suspension of very small particles in a liquid. Over time these settle out which is why you need to shake a drum of turf pigment to put these back into suspension if it has settled out.
• When you apply a lawn pigment it is coated on the leaf surface.
• A turf dye on the other hand is dissolved in water and chemically binds to the leaf. These are often in spray indicators.
• Pigments are able to resist fading, whereas dyes are more vulnerable to fading or bleaching caused by UV light.

Products that enable you to paint grass green include Vertmax®, Vertmax Duo®, Green Pig®, Ryder®, Sensi-Pro®, and BASF Vision Pro®. These turf colourants are all based on copper pigments and the amount a product contains determines its rate of use, and the amount of greening.

To better understand how these products perform we will use work from North Carolina State University and more recently in Sydney, Australia by Gilba Solutions.

Colourant Influence on Turf Colour.

Turf pigments tend to be a darker green or blue colour which is especially the case on dormant turf. Application rates vary due to the amount of binder that they contain as the higher the amount of binder, the lower the colourant content and the higher the rate of application. So a product with an application rate of 2L/Ha contains less of the “good stuff” than one with a rate of 1L/Ha.

How Long do Turf Colourants Last?

The longevity of turf colourants depends on the time of year that they are applied and how often you may. On a golf green that is mowed every other day you will get at best 17 days. See our recent research blog on the longevity of green grass paint and turf colourants on a closely mown golf green for more information.

On a dormant fairway turf colourants can last months.

The incorporation of stickers and adjuvants gives increased longevity and rain fastness. Vertmax® with QDT (Quick Dry Technology), contains both of these, and lasts around a month when you use it on a dormant couch.

What do Turf Colourants do?

The use of Vertmax Colourants has these benefits:

• Increase light absorbance and reflectance.
• Improve the ability of the turf to fight against stress like disease and drought. Vertmax Duo contains salicylic acid.
• Increase the rate of photosynthesis and
• Increase root growth and lateral root branching

Negatives

There are two main negatives when you use turf colourants.

• They permanently stain concrete and clothes if you do not follow the label instructions and
• They don’t give a harder wearing turf unlike overseeding.

How to Get the best results with Turf Colourants.

The following effect the results when you use lawn pigments and turf paints:

• The existing turf colour when you use them.
• If the turf is wet i.e. a dew is present.
• The air temperature when you use them.
• You get the best results from grass dyes If you use these before turf goes dormant. This is because the colour of the actively growing turf enhances the colourant.
• Moisture helps if turfgrass is dormant or about to become dormant. As dormancy occurs, the leaf tissue becomes dryer. If you irrigate it, the leaf moisture content increases. This increases the turf colourant coverage, and improves the colour which is important with high viscocity products.
• Many turf colourants do not dry or stick very well if you use them in cool weather. This can result in the staining of clothes and shoes. Vertmax Duo® avoids this issue. It contains a sticker that gives a faster drying time plus a nonionic surfactant to give more even coverage.

Research into turf colourants and grass paint.

A 2 year study into turf colourants vs overseeding. ¹Hargey, D., Wherley, B., Reynolds, C., White, R., and Parker, G., Performance of Winter Overseeded and Colorant-treated ‘Tifway’ Bermudagrass Receiving Weekly Irrigation and Simulated Traffic, HORTSCIENCE 51(5):580–587. 2016..

• In both years, there were differences in % green cover, soil volumetric water content (VWC), % visual turfgrass injury, surface hardness, and % couchgrass transition.
• % green cover and visual turfgrass injury levels were similar between annual and perennial ryegrass in year 1;
• In year 2 loss of green cover and greater turfgrass injury were seen in annual ryegrass.
• Residual benefits of applying a turf colourant in the Autumn lasted from 2-4 months depending on the year.
• Overseeding reduced couch Spring transition by up to 50% vs untreated and colourant-treated plots.