How to Paint Grass & How to Apply Endurant
Endurant turf colorant is easy to apply. Painting grass has been a common practice in sports field management and golf course maintenance for more than a decade. Now, it's also more common for owners of home lawns and landscapers to save money and get green grass while reducing water, fertilizer, fungicide and other chemical usage. Here's a step-by-step process to help you learn how to paint your lawn green.
Reading these steps and watching these three videos will lead to lawn painting success. Have more questions afterward, contact us at 1-877-ECO-GROW.
1. Gather what you need
A. Choose the best color of Endurant for you and your grass type
First, identify your grass type and then choose the best colorant to coordinate with it. If you're not sure, choose between Endurant Perennial Rye if your grass and desired outcome is lighter and brighter in color or Endurant Premium if your grass type and preference is darker or deeper in color.
B. Determine how much Endurant Turf Grass Colorant you need for the desired coverage
Next, determine or estimate the size of the area you will be painting. For a home lawn, if you're unsure of your lot size, walk the length of your lawn and count one pace as about 3 feet. Do the same with the width of the lawn. Then, multiply the length by the width to determine the total square feet. Make sure you subtract the square footage of your home and driveway or other large surfaces that are not grass when calculating the total square footage of your lawn.
The average coverage for the Endurant concentrated paint colors, which include Endurant Premium, Endurant Perennial Rye and Endurant Fairway are 5,000 to 6,500 square feet per gallon on dormant turf. The maximum coverage is 10,000 square feet per gallon, which may be on a short cut grass that already has some green color in the grass blade, for example.
So, if you have an acre, which is 43,560 square feet, or more, you may prefer to purchase in five gallon pails or cases that come in four gallons each, whichever are easiest for you to handle or will ship best.
C. Buy Endurant Turf Colorant on our online store or through one of our distributors
D. Gather or buy the equipment you need.
Endurant will work with most garden sprayers, backpack sprayers, airless
sprayers, skid sprayers with reel and boom sprayers. Entry level garden sprayers and backpack sprayers can be purchased at your retail store. An example is the Ryobi. This type comes with two nozzle types: conical and flat fan nozzles. Either one will work well.
Optionally, you may like to use the Endurant Wheel Sprayer to make edging faster and to get sharper edges and lines. It's available at some Endurant Turf Colorant distributors, such as SiteOne and Horizon Distributors, as well as on our store, ShopGeoponics. It comes with the fittings for almost all sprayers, including for the battery powered backpack sprayer.
2. Choose when to paint the grass
A. Consider the Weather When Painting Grass
Avoid heavy rain occurring within 24 hours of turf colorant application.
Painting grass when dew is present can enhance results, but is not necessary. Painting on dry grass is suitable. High humidity will increase dry time.
B. When to Paint Dormant Turf Grass
If you have a warm season grass that goes dormant, you may wonder whether you should wait to paint grass until it goes fully dormant or not. Grass can be painted any time of year. Consider the initial turf color is part of the canvas. So, if it has some green from chlorophyll, it will look darker green when painted until that chlorophyll is gone. Vertical growth will effect longevity of color if the grass is not fully dormant.
On warm season grasses, it is best to color turf when vertical growth has stopped, ceased or slowed down significantly. The sum total of the color will be the canvas base color on the leaf blade and the paint on top of it. Green grass with green painted on top will lead to darker green grass. If grass is brown, it will require more paint for full coverage of the leaf blade than if the grass is green already. Our application rates are recommended as a range to accommodate these differences.
If the grass is actively growing, it would be better to use one of the Endurant pigments, such as Endurant TE or the Endurant Flex as these products will enhance the existing green coverage. Otherwise, the Endurant concentrate paints, which include PR, Premium and Fairway, will provide coverage on brown grass.
3. How to Paint Grass: Prepare the surface
Remove any debris from the grass. Turfgrass may be lightly moist (but it will then take longer to dry) or the surface may be dry upon application. So, Endurant may be applied when dew is present.
Actively growing grass should be mowed prior to application of a pigment. For dormant grass, mow to the desired height for the winter season. If painting for winter, grow warm season grass best you can. The better the stand of turf, the better the application and results with Endurant. Though Endurant will cover or paint soil or bald spots in the lawn, it will still be just green dirt.
4. Mixing the Colorant: How to Mix the Paint
General guidelines for rates are to mix 8 ounces of Endurant with 1 gallon of water to cover 250 to 350 square feet. Mix and shake well, following all directions on the label. It is important not to dilute the colorant beyond recommended rates. If you add too much water, there will be less binder in the mix and the colorant will not last or adhere to the grass. Higher concentrations of paint in the mix can be effective for darker results.
5. The Application Process: How to Paint Grass
Wet pavers, stones or surrounding concrete areas with clean water to avoid accidental overspray of the paint upon application. And, you may continue wetting as needed throughout the application process. If accidental overspray occurs while painting, rinse it with water right away before it dries.
Using the finest mist setting helps reduce waste and promote even coverage. Also, spraying in more than one direction minimizes streaking and is a technique used for optimal even coverage of colorant. Experiment with a small spot to find your desired color, shade and mix ratio. Again, do not add more water than the minimum recommended rates as this will decrease the binder and the the color may not adhere. Using more paint can be okay for increasing darkness and depth of color if desired.
6. Dry time: How to Apply Endurant Turf Colorants
Turf grass will dry in about 60 minutes. For best results wait at least an hour after spraying before walking on the grass to prevent tracking. Turfgrass can take up to 24 hours to dry in very humid conditions. Do not allow pets on the grass until you have ensured it is fully dry. If there is a high traffic area consider adding more binder if there will be a lot of friction on the grass, such as in football, where Spray n Stay is added to the mix.
7. Clean up
Finally, it's time to clean up. Be sure to clean equipment right away. If you need additional cleaner, consider Endurant Pigment Cleaner
8. Reapplication
In relation to reapplication, people often ask, how long does Endurant last? How often do I need to reapply? Should I apply more than one coat?
On dormant turfgrass, one to two applications per winter will keep the grass green all season long. Otherwise, on actively growing grass, reapplication could be required more frequently.
Endurant lasts up to three months on dormant turf, depending on rate of growth, mowing frequency and other factors.