Grass Choices - Seed, Artificial, Sod

Seed

Make sure the seed is certified by a reputable nursery and compatible for your area. Buyer beware, initial lower cost verses higher risks. Same ground preparation and soil amendments needed as other grasses. Additional costs to apply cover to protect seed from blow away, run off, birds, insects, dogs, etc. Difficult to apply evenly and you may still have to hire a landscape contractor to apply. Increased chemical application to fight weeds during the longer establishment process. Long term inconvenience and non use of the seeded area and mud problems while waiting for a true establishment of seed. Seed establishment takes MORE WATER than sod. After all the time, water and inconvenience many homeowners have marginal results and unfortunately end up having to start all over again. Seeding is not for the fainthearted. Seeding is the choice to make IF you have plenty of time and are willing to baby-sit your lawn, are aware and willing to take risks, accept higher water costs and increased chemical usage. Generally not recommended for homeowners yard areas unless for over seeding or establishment of very small grass areas.

Artificial/Synthetic

Although it is true our cash strapped schools save money by not building or maintaining grass sports fields, the initial costs to replace grass fields with artificial/synthetic substances are astronomical. It is estimated to install a basic artificial athletic field it would cost ONE MILLION DOLLARS and is projected to last only 6-10 YEARS. In addition, those artificial sports fields will still need very costly maintenance updates.

Artificial/Synthetic turf has rubberized pellets. The health risks are uncertain. Ask the athlete about the small rubber pellets. First, you will see the black rubber all over them on and in their clothes and in their hair and faces. A big fear is how much of the rubber pellets have been ingested thru the mouth and nose of the player and how many of the rubber pellets have worked their way down the player’s air passages or to the lungs. The players are spitting and coughing constantly. The heat generated from the rubber is so hot sometimes that many athletes report they feel like their shoes are burning. Many are starting to question if more severe injuries are occurring on synthetic/artificial fields. A well maintained grass field has more give and is less likely to entangle a person’s foot. Another legitimate concern is how the artificial fields will be cleaned. Whenever it rains or snows? Blood, spit, sweat and secretions are not readily absorbed by artificial turf. The artificial grass blades and rubber pellets will be subjected to repeated coating of these secretions. Ingestion of rubber pellets and broken skin to surface contact could become a health issue. Will a chemical cleaning be prescribed and if so, what type of chemical and at what cost.

**Note: The future wave of real grass fields with small amounts of interwoven synthetic grass blades which do not incorporate rubber pellets may be a possible solution for cash strapped schools looking for safer alternatives.

Colorado Sod

It’s time to set the record straight. If bluegrass or fescue sod is Colorado grown, all you have to do is purchase it from a reputable quality grower/supplier, prepare, amend and grade your soil properly, install properly and continue to maintain properly. With these conditions met, the Northern Colorado Front Range Area and Wyoming should choose bluegrass to achieve the most drought resistant and wear resistant sod. They should choose fescue to achieve long term lower water maintenance.

Drought resistant means (during an extreme drought if grass/sod receives no water for an extended period of time, will it die). Bluegrass is remarkably drought resistant. It can turn almost completely brown and if sufficiently watered soon after will generally recover and green up. Bluegrass also can be trained to be very water efficient. Bluegrass is excellent holding up to wear and tear. Low water maintenance means (if properly trained, within a certain period of time it will use less and less water. Because fescue has the capacity to grow very long roots, it is a low water maintenance grass/sod. Fescue is also drought resistant but unlike the bluegrasses, Fescue once browned does not recover very well and is more likely to die.
Fescue does well holding up to wear and tear.

Many Benefits of Sod

• Increased OXYGEN
  • 2,500 Square feet of Lawn absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and release enough oxygen for a family of four to breathe.
    
    
• FILTERS POLLUTION and contaminants
• Turfgrass traps and removes dust and dirt from the air
  
  
• ABSORBS run-off rainfall so storm sewers are not overwhelmed



• COOLS home and surrounding areas
  • On a hot summer day, lawns will be 30 degrees cooler than asphalt and 14 degrees cooler than bare soil
    
    
• DECREASES ENERGY use of air conditioning
  
  
• Decreased energy use decreases pollution
  
  
• SOAKS UP and REDUCES NOISE from traffic and neighbors
  
  
• Provides a NATURAL, beautiful play and rest area for adults, children and pets
  
  
• INCREASES THE VALUE of your home.

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Park in Colorado Spings, CO.

Park in Colorado Spings, CO.

Recently Sodded Park Playgound
Immediate Irrigation Necessary After Sod Installation