Painting sports fields is a viable alternative to the use of overseed in sports field management. It's popular in professional sports, such as the NFL, but also useful for municipal fields, such as the one in Walters Creek Park, North Richland Hills, Texas. Endurant allows for consistent results to get game day ready turf while conserving resources.
Saving money, reducing labor and conserving water are some of the main reasons for seeking alternatives to overseed. Endurant turf colorant, called "liquid overseed" is one of those alternatives. Learn more about the terms liquid overseed, which is colorant instead of overseed for dormant turf grass, and hybrid overseed, which is an equally popular choice to combine some seed and some paint for the best of both. Even without dormancy, colorants can be a great way to enhance a field with Endurant's natural-looking pigments and powerful binders for lasting results.
Once a sports field manager or municipality has decided they do want to save money, water and labor, choosing a colorant is next. In this case, Brad Gentry, of Horizon, and Brad Driggers, of Geoponics, chose to apply Endurant Premium turf colorant and Endurant Spray n Stay to this softball field in North Richland Hills, Texas.
Consider existing shade, the species and desired results. This colorant for the municipal softball field was selected based on the existing shade of the bermuda grass. Here, Driggers uses Endurant Premium (P+), which is one of the multiple Endurant concentrate colors. Endurant Premium is a cooler shade of green. It is chosen when a rich and deep green is desired. It differs from Endurant Perennial Rye (PR) turf colorant, for example, which is a lighter and brighter shade. Comparatively, Endurant Premium (P+) is not as bright as Endurant Fairway (FW), which is the darkest of the colors in the line.
Also, they added Endurant Spray n Stay. The Spray n Stay is particularly popular in sports field management because it helps the colorant to adhere even more to the turf grass. This prevents undo staining of uniforms and balls, despite high impact and high friction during play.
For more on choosing the best colorant for your turf grass and desired results, check out this blog.
Whether it's a softball field, golf course or home lawn, preparing the field for color is part of the process.
Here, Endurant turf colorant and Spray n Stay are being applied to a softball field in Walkers Creek Park, North Richland Hills, Texas. The municipal field is mowed and clear of debris. Grass height is about an inch to an inch and a half, so colorant won't be mowed off right after use. There is no rain in the immediate forecast. The field will be given two days to dry before game play.
Whether painting a home lawn, golf course or sports field, different equipment is likely to be used. For this athletic field, they used a Spray Hawk hooked to a hose reel on a skid sprayer. Most people use the Spray Hawk for bigger areas they want to paint, and especially in sports turf. Boom sprayers are common on golf courses, but many sports field operators don't have those. Basically, it's just a walk behind boom.
Mix Endurant at the rates recommended on the label. Diluting the colorant beyond label rates will dilute the binder and thus lead to the possibility of the color wearing sooner. If you must dilute the paint or pigment in this way, then Endurant Spray n Stay is recommended.
Apply Endurant Premium and Endurant Spray n Stay as recommended. Although Spray n Stay can be applied to a field once it's already painted, it can also be mixed with the colorant to add the boost and not redo the labor. Spray n Stay is also popularly applied to end zones to make the team logo more long lasting and durable.
In this case, Driggers adds the Endurant Spray n Stay and the Endurant Premium together into the mix tank. They applied at a rate of about 4 gallons per acre. The choice was made to make a second application to apply Endurant in two directions. Generally, if doing this, it would be split in half. However, in this case three acres was applied in one direction and a last minute decision was made to spray the remaining prepared gallon at a light right in the other direction, says Driggers.
Endurant worked perfectly to show how paints can be used in lieu of overseed on sports fields.
The costs for colorant applications are much less than half the price of overseed.
"It turned out great. The color is natural. The application went really well," says Driggers.