Artificial grass-is it good and worth it?

[kcal09]

Due to the drought I’m thinking about replacing approx. 1,200 sqft of my lawn with artificial grass. I understand that about 50-60% of my water usage goes to exterior irrigation. There is also currently a state rebate that pays about $2 per sqft. of artificial grass.
I would appreciate any comments especially which companies here in San Diego are good, pros and cons and comments about savings.
Thank you!

[LAAFTERHOURS]

[img_assist|nid=20790|title=grass|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=100|height=33]

I just ripped out about 4k sq ft of grass and installed roughly 1500 sq ft of fake turf. I went with a product from Purchase Green, which was normally 3.89 a sq ft but was on sale last month for 2.89 a sq ft. With the 2 dollar per sq ft replacement, it was a no brainer. I also put in pavers, drought tolerant trees and plants and a pool but decided to use my paver guys to do the grass as they claimed it was their in the wheelhouse. They screwed it up so I ended up hiring a guy named Tony from Purchase Green who repaired it and was very reasonable ( would definitely recommend).

A couple thoughts on the grass: Dont go cheap on the material or labor. Try to keep the seams as minimal as possible.

A couple thoughts on the rebate: You must first get your project approved before starting which includes photos of existing landscape. You then need to knock out the project and go back online and submit receipts, photos of completion etc and then it takes roughly 8 -12 weeks to get your rebate so be prepared for this.

[CA renter]

That looks nice, LA. Thanks for sharing.

[ocrenter]

Went with the fake stuff 5 years ago, 1300 sqft at $6.5/sqft for about $8500.

ROI in less than 4 years given reduction in monthly water cost and no need for gardener.

Grass holds up really well, still looks new. Some maintenance is needed especially with weeds around the edges after raining season and raking of leaves around spring time.

[kcal09]

Savings are substantial if you have a large lawn.

[moneymaker]

Noticed Home Depot putting some in in their parking lot islands, good idea for them as they get everything wholesale and can write it off as business expense.

[svelte]

[quote=LAAFTERHOURS]

A couple thoughts on the grass: Dont go cheap on the material or labor. Try to keep the seams as minimal as possible.

[/quote]

I bought some cheap remnants to do a test area of several hundred square feet (long story), and I can vouch for your comment. Cheap stuff does not hold up well. And it takes more skill that it would seem. My DIY install looked good initially but is starting to curl around the edges…not a good look.

And the seams are definitely visible.

Another consideration: artificial grass gets HOT mid-day, so it may not be the best choice if you like walking barefoot or having kids laying in the grass during the hot part of the day.

We will probably redo the whole yard in artificial eventually…but that time around I’m gonna go with real nice products and professional installation.

Love that pool, LA. Very nice design.

[no_such_reality]

I’m not a fan of artificial grass. I think there are other alternatives like xeriscape or buffalo grass.

In the end, artificial grass is just more hardscape. And climate change is being driven by land use and the spread of hardscape. Cities look like rock deserts.

[svelte]

[quote=no_such_reality]I’m not a fan of artificial grass. I think there are other alternatives like xeriscape or buffalo grass.
.[/quote]

Kinda depends upon what you want to do in the space.

Buffalo grass may work, but weed control is an issue.

But its kinda hard to kick a soccer ball around a xeriscaped area.

[zk]

I could be reading it wrong, but it seems that the city of San Diego might exclude artificial turf in their rebate program, and that other programs only pay if you comply with the city’s guidelines.

http://www.sandiego.gov/water/conservation/rebates/grassreplacement.shtml

Note that on that webpage, it says artificial turf won’t get you a rebate in their program, but it points to two other rebate programs, and says that rebates “may” be available through those programs. Of those two links, one link refers you back to the other link, and that link says that applicants must “follow any additional requirements for their city.”

If anybody reads that different or knows what the story is, I’d be very interested to hear.

[zk]

[quote=svelte][quote=no_such_reality]I’m not a fan of artificial grass. I think there are other alternatives like xeriscape or buffalo grass.
.[/quote]

Kinda depends upon what you want to do in the space.

Buffalo grass may work, but weed control is an issue.

But its kinda hard to kick a soccer ball around a xeriscaped area.[/quote]

We had “UC Verde buffalo grass” for a while. It wasn’t bad, but it didn’t work for us. The water savings was less than I expected. It spread by runners, and if the runner hit established grass, it just died. So you’ve got hundreds of dead runners blowing all over, making a bit of a mess. Plus it’s brown in the winter. Just a couple things to keep in mind.

[afx114]

Just installed 720 sq ft into our back yard and love it. I was really hesitant because I hate fake shit, and worried about a lot of things like heat, toxins seeping into the soil, etc, but it looks nicer than dirt/dead grass and we actually use our back yard way more than before. There are a lot of styles to choose from these days. We went with one that has various thicknesses/lengths/colors of the strands, so it looks more “real” and less like golf grass. It even has some brown threads to make it look more natural. Stay away from the 100% green stuff, it looks too fake. Don’t go cheap. Spend the money on the quality turf and a legit installer.

Just received our $1400 rebate check, so I’ve got that going for me, which is nice.

Oh, and we don’t have to water it.

[an]

[quote=zk]We had “UC Verde buffalo grass” for a while. It wasn’t bad, but it didn’t work for us. The water savings was less than I expected. It spread by runners, and if the runner hit established grass, it just died. So you’ve got hundreds of dead runners blowing all over, making a bit of a mess. Plus it’s brown in the winter. Just a couple things to keep in mind.[/quote]
I totally agree. It’s not for everyone. It does go brown/dormant in the depth of winter. Mine went brown for about a month. The solution for that is to spray paint it during its dormant time, which for me, is mid December to Mid January. It does send out runner and runner will die if it doesn’t hit dirt to create new roots. It doesn’t really both me much. But then again, I also love the natural prairie look, so I only mow about once a month. Mowing will get rid of the dead runners too.

[LAAFTERHOURS]

I am thinking about filling in a back slope with the UC verde. I will never cut it though, which is the look we are going for (tall prairie grass). My only concern is whether it will take over trees or plants in the same area.

[CA renter]

[quote=AN][quote=zk]We had “UC Verde buffalo grass” for a while. It wasn’t bad, but it didn’t work for us. The water savings was less than I expected. It spread by runners, and if the runner hit established grass, it just died. So you’ve got hundreds of dead runners blowing all over, making a bit of a mess. Plus it’s brown in the winter. Just a couple things to keep in mind.[/quote]
I totally agree. It’s not for everyone. It does go brown/dormant in the depth of winter. Mine went brown for about a month. The solution for that is to spray paint it during its dormant time, which for me, is mid December to Mid January. It does send out runner and runner will die if it doesn’t hit dirt to create new roots. It doesn’t really both me much. But then again, I also love the natural prairie look, so I only mow about once a month. Mowing will get rid of the dead runners too.[/quote]

Thanks for sharing your information and perspectives on UC Verde buffalo grass. We are going to do something with our grass, but are really at a loss for what do to. We absolutely HATE the rock/desert look, and have kids and a dog that regularly use the lawn, but acknowledge that cyclical droughts will always be a part of California living.

As I was researching the UC Verde, I saw some people talking about Eco-Lawn. It looks as though this type of grass uses about the same amount of water as the UC Verde, but does not get brown in the winter.

Did you do any research on Eco-Lawn? Any reasons for choosing UC Verde, instead?

If anyone has any experience or knowledge about this type of grass, please share. Thank you! 🙂

http://eartheasy.com/wildflower-farms-eco-lawn-low-maintenance-grass-seed

http://ucverdeblog.com/2011/07/08/uc-verde-vs-eco-lawn-seed/

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