Harmony sod farmer: Cool season grass gets color boost in New Mexico mountains
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Cool season grasses, including healthy fescue and bluegrass, get a boost of color on a New Mexico mountain sod farm using Endurant turf color enhancers to extend salability.[/caption]
Sod farmer Jeff Neddelton of
Harmony Brands, the #1 selling grass in the U.S., shares the challenges and successes of growing cool season grasses in the New Mexico mountains.
Endurant turf color enhancers are helping the farm with sales.
One thing we’ve really appreciated about Endurant is that it’s been very easy to use and it’s been easy on our equipment. The color is very natural color and when it fades, it fades in a natural way. We appreciate that. We’re big fans and plan to continue to use the product. Geoponics has fantastic customer service, very helpful and very responsive. ~Jeff Neddelton, of a sod farm located in New Mexico
Geoponics: What type of grass are you growing on the farm?
Neddelton: We’re growing cool season grass, including fescue and blue grass, on that Albuquerque, NM farm.
Geoponics: Why did consider using Endurant? And which product did you choose?
Neddelton: We wanted to get an early advantage with our semi dormant grass. It had not fully emerged from winter dormancy. We chose to apply Endurant PR (perennial rye). The second reason we chose to add colorant was to darken the field a little bit to absorb a little bit of heat to assist with some of the spring greenup. The third reason is to gain more sales time.
Geoponics: How is the Endurant helping with your sod sales?
Neddelton: We do a lot of work with
Lowe’s and
Home Depot. The grass is often rolled up for a long period of time so the color tends to degrade. The Endurant PR on the leaves of that sod masks that yellowing a bit. The product retains sales appeal longer as a result of holding onto its green color a little longer. We’re getting two additional days of salability with product sitting out front of box stores as a result of using the paint.
Geoponics: Is grass still healthy?
Neddelton: Yes. Even though it is healthy, people won’t buy grass when it’s turning brown. When they take it home and start watering it the grass will certainly make it. The Endurant keeps it green in the meantime.
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Fescue, a popular cool season turfgrass, gets a color boost with Endurant PR, a colorant with a vibrant perennial rye shade of green, at a rate of two gallons per acre at a Harmony growers' sod farm located in a high altitude area of New Mexico.[/caption]
Geoponics: How significant is it that you’re extending the amount of time grass is salable?
Neddelton: Our rule of thumb with salable product at these stores is two days—that’s the shelf life of actively growing grass. We need to sell through the product within two days or we need to dispose of it. Like I said, people won’t buy grass when it turns brown. If it’s green they will pick it up. By applying the green tint to the leaves of the product, it’s giving us another two days. It’s doubling the length of time that product can remain salable in front of the Lowes or Home Depot store. To us, that’s significant.
Geoponics: You have interesting growing conditions in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Can you tell us a bit about that?
Neddelton: It’s May and we are having 40-degree days. We’ve had snow. The Albuquerque farm is at 6,200 feet elevation. We have a cool season grass farm at 6,200 feet this far south where the days are a lot shorter in the summertime. There are very few cool season farms as far south as Albuquerque. Most are northern farms. So we have two factors, very cold temperatures and very short summer days. What do you need to grow turfgrass? Sunlight to stimulate chlorophyll and heat. We don’t get much of either one. So it’s a pretty challenging environment. We had a storm come through so we’ll be warming back up to the low 70s for the high and 40s-50s for the low. Later, summer highs are 80-85 degrees. It’s slow for us to greenup after winter dormancy.
Geoponics: What
application rate did you choose?
Neddelton: We applied 2 gallons per acre of the Endurant PR and used a follow up application as needed.
Geoponics: What do you think of the Endurant results?
Neddelton: One thing we’ve really appreciated about Endurant is that it’s been very easy to use and it’s been easy on our equipment. The color is very natural color and when it fades, it fades in a natural way. We appreciate that. We’re big fans and plan to continue to use the product.
Geoponics has fantastic customer service, very helpful and very responsive.
Thank you!
