Turfgrass colorants do more than just mask dormant grass. They contribute to healthier courses, improve chemical application efficiency, and extend playability.

Why Use Turf Colorants?

Turfgrass often loses its vibrant green color during dormancy, and turf colorants offer a fast-acting, effective solution—especially when compared to traditional overseeding.

  • Traditional overseeding involves labor-intensive tasks like watering, fertilizing, and regular maintenance. Turf colorants can enhance your course’s appearance without requiring these inputs.
  • Overseeding with cool-season grasses in the fall can delay spring green-up in warm-season turf. Colorants don’t inhibit spring green-up; they enhance it by providing a darker color that absorbs more heat.
  • For courses that remain open during the winter, the effects of overseeding will take time to show. Turf colorants will restore color almost immediately, without the need to wait for growth or recovery.

Turf colorants work quickly to provide a realistic color response, enhance spring green-up, and eliminate the risk of turf competition during the transition period. This helps you avoid an expensive fall project and an awkward spring transition.

Liquid Overseeding and Turf Colorants

Liquid overseeding is a term used by superintendents and others who apply turf colorants. While turf colorants don’t contain any actual seed, the term is used because they have the same intended effect: green grass. 

Liquid overseeding is a popular alternative to traditional overseeding for superintendents managing warm-season courses, particularly in the transition zone, Mid-South, and South. A superintendent with a bermudagrass course may overseed with ryegrass, maintain it throughout the winter, and then transition back to bermudagrass in the early summer by eliminating the ryegrass. Compared to the labor-intensive process of traditional overseeding, liquid overseeding is a more attractive option for many superintendents.

Types of Turf Colorants: Pigments and Paints

Pigments like Optimizer Green Shade bring a realistic-looking color to golf courses and should be applied before the turf goes dormant. Rates for this product, in particular, range from 15-20 fluid ounces per acre, with the higher rates providing a darker shade. Pigments typically last four weeks before another application is needed.

Paints like the Endurant Turf Colorants line tend to be more realistic than pigments and are thicker and darker. Unlike pigments, the rates and water volumes of paints vary greatly. Paints can be used on semi-dormant and fully-dormant turf and can last six to eight weeks.

Applying Turf Colorants

Step 1: Remove any debris or clippings that could affect the uniformity of your application. A clear surface will promote even coverage and ensure the colorant adheres to the turf properly.

Step 2: Dilute the colorant as directed by the label. For the best results, you should make your application during mild weather and when the turf is dry, which will help prevent drift and uneven coverage.

Step 3: Apply your colorant. The best time to apply is just before the turf fully enters dormancy and there is still some green present. This allows for a more natural transition since the colorant can blend into the turf, giving it a more realistic look.

Important Note: In high-traffic areas, reapplications may be necessary, particularly if rain or irrigation begins to wash out the product or wear down the surface.

Choosing the Right Turf Colorant

  • Geoponics’ Endurant Turf Colorants line offers multiple options for painting fairways, tees, and roughs.  
  • Solarous, by Precision Laboratories, is a base green pigment that contains chromatic reflective ingredients which increase UV reflection by up to 15%.
  • ArmorTech Optimizer Green Shade is a pigment that can be tank-mixed with fertilizers, fungicides, herbicides, insecticides, or soil surfactants. It also doubles as a spray pattern indicator, showing the applicator where they’ve already sprayed to prevent overlap and striping.

Turf colorants can make course maintenance much easier this winter. Reach out to your ATS representative to learn more about liquid overseeding, go over application tips, and see the turf colorant products we offer.