Turf paint pros take the guess work out of colorants
Having a field day: Green Resource, Geoponics team visit Brunswick Plantation Golf Course for a lesson in turf grass, pinestraw and mulch colorants
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Meet Rob Vaughan, Dr. Paint:
“There are people who can paint as good as Rob Vaughan can, but there aren’t people who can paint any better.” ~Jennifer Seevers, Geoponics turf colorant specialist
Rob Vaughan, golf course superintendent at
Brunswick Plantation Golf Resort in Calabash, N.C., is known as one of the most prolific painters of turf in the country.
He has been a golf course superintendent since 1975 and is one of the pioneers of using turfgrass colorants as an alternative to overseed.
So, when
Green Resource became a distributor of the best-in-class turf grass colorants,
Endurant colorants, a team decided to go learn from *the doctor.* The turf paint field day held in late June offered a great time to discuss how colorants became a game changer for dormant turf as well as how colorants have grown in their applications over the years to include beating summer heat stress on turf.
For the past 20 years Vaughan hasn’t merely painted turf, he has perfected the art, becoming a consultant for many others who are newer to the practice. His knowledge and experience helps to yield not just good results, but stellar results. Experimentations over the years help take the guesswork out for newer golf course superintendents and turf grass professionals.
Vaughan’s experiments have given him the knowledge for using the best nozzles, pumps, sprayers, colors and application rates for various conditions.
Since Vaughan first became a turf paint pioneer there is now a lot more information available on
how to paint turfgrass.
Golf Course Industry magazine has estimated all golf courses—or nearly all—will completely replace overseeding with turf colorant by 2018. Many now use colorants throughout the year for heat stress and other conditions to save on water while maintaining the optimal shade of green. (
http://www.golfcourseindustry.com/article/gci1013-turf-health-rob-vaughan/)
In terms of overseed the practice of using Endurant colorants saves tens of thousands of dollars in labor, fuel, fertilizer, fungicide and other harmful products.
Now, turf colorants have more uses beyond the replacement of overseed.
Endurant TE has become a popular replacement for indicator dyes and is used on growing grass to enhance existing color. Colorants are also used to beat the summer heat stress. (We’ll have more on that in an upcoming
blog.) And colorants are used on
mulch to
avoid overmulching while maintaining aesthetic landscape color contrast. Green Resource recently became a distributor of Endurant colorants (
view announcement here). A team from
Geoponics, the maker of
Endurant, and Green Resource visited Vaughan at Brunswick Plantation Golf Resort and had the opportunity to see the colorants put to various uses and tests, including multiple shades of the Endurant turf colorant line as well as the
mulch colorants.
Joining Vaughan was Seevers, who has also been a pioneer in the turf colorant world helping to create some of the first colorants for optimal usage and applications in the golf course industry.
Tips of the day from Vaughan:
- The number one, most important thing is the set up of the spray rig. Check out this blog to learn how to set up a spray rig properly for applying colorants.
- The speed of the spray rig, pressure setting, nozzle selection and spacing all work together.
- Geoponics has a team that helps people set up for the best results given their conditions and equipment. Contact Geoponics if you have questions, info@geoponicscorp.com or 1-877-ECO-GROW.
- Application depends on what you’re painting too—is it a home lawn, golf green or a fairway? The Turf Paint blogs and contacting the Geoponics team, info@geoponicscorp.com or 1-877-ECO-GROW, can help give the best advice for various conditions.
- Check out the USGA for tips on fairway painting as an alternative to overseed.
