Turf Painting Goes Green

Lawn painting was once a novelty used at golf courses and athletic stadiums to touch up withered pockets of turf. During the recent real estate boom, some homeowners used turf coloration to give their lawns an evergreen look.

In California, where foreclosures and drought are major issues, lawn painting is shaping up to be a potential growth market for landscapers.

In Murrieta, hazardous-waste consulting company Alliance Environmental & Compliance Inc. added lawn painting to its list of services in June. The company plans to pitch its services to real estate agencies in coming weeks.

“I think it’s a win-win for so many different people,” Alliance President David Milligan said. “Residents are aggravated with the potential for blight caused by these dead lawns … city officials get to make residents happy with a nice, green lawn and you save water in a time of shortage.”

Larson said he has done a few lawns inside Canyon Lake, and wants to reach out to homeowners in other cities hit by home foreclosures.

Riverside County has been among the counties hardest hit by the mortgage crisis nationwide, according to real estate statistics.

“I see this as something that can be done to the home that someone wants to sell and sell fast,” said one contractor said. “It is a quick fix.”

It was a fix Jerry DiBernardo, the real estate agent listed for the Longhorn Drive, was willing to try.

“I’ve seen it done on other properties. It was an opportunity to see if it will help sell the property,” DiBernardo said. “It’s got to look better than the dying brush. Anything is an improvement.”

Turfgrass science professors nationwide, however, said there are few drawbacks to lawn paint when it is used as a short-term solution.

The paints may change color over time from a green to a blue-green, and a dead-grass surface is hotter than live grass, said Robert Green, a turfgrass research specialist at the UC Riverside College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences.

Perhaps the biggest obstacle, however, is psychological, Green said.

“There will be some who just aren’t used to the idea of painting grass,” Green said.

Lawn painting has its detractors. Lake Elsinore officials declined to contract with Alliance to assist in fighting the blight caused by the foreclosed properties.

Alliance sent the city a proposal to trim and edge the lawns, haul away the yard trimmings and paint the lawns for $105 per home. The city estimated it would cost $52,000 for 500 homes, or $156,000 for three annual applications.

The price was one-third the cost of a watering program proposed by city Mayor Daryl Hickman.

“Paint is not the answer,” Hickman said.

Source: pe.com