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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Companies that manufacture or install artificial lawns are experiencing a boom in business, due to the drought-like conditions and watering restrictions in many North Texas cities.

But the synthetic lawns today arent the same plastic AstroTurf made popular in the 1970s. The products on the market now, are not just used for putting greens and football fields either.

Scott Armstrong, owner of the company Texas Turf Solutions, and gets calls every day from homeowners inquiring about artificial grass.

If you were to talk to the turf manufacturers, thats a big thing they notice. As soon as there are drought restrictions, watering restrictions, or an ordinance like the City of Dallas two-days a week restriction, it really just makes this industry explode, said Armstrong.

Todays synthetic lawns are made to stay cool underfoot, drain rain water, and last for 10-15 years. The products come in different shades of green, different textures, and mimic different varieties of natural grass.

Choosing artificial can be expensive upfront: prices range from $7.50 to $15 a square foot.

Homeowner Mike Corwin installed artificial grass in his front yard, and says the investment was worth it.

The initial cost is expensive, but its already paid for itself over the four years. Not having to re-sod it, not having to water. The yard guys[come less often]. So its more than paid for itself, said Corwin.

Read more from the original source:
Artificial Lawn Popularity Grows During Drought

Published: Wednesday, July 23, 2014 at 10:05 p.m. Last Modified: Wednesday, July 23, 2014 at 10:05 p.m.

LAKEWOOD RANCH - No patch of grass is safe from Floridas soggy summers, even the well-manicured fields of Lakewood Ranch Park.

Now, construction crews are working on storm-water retention ponds and a drainage system to pump rainwater from the fields, which are on 130 acres about a mile north of State Road 70 on Lakewood Ranch Boulevard.

Tom Yarger, a Manatee County construction services manager working on the $300,000 project, said the project is the first step in realizing the countys general development plan for the park, which features new pavilions, playgrounds, parking spaces, concession stands, locker rooms and a press box.

Weve had the general development plan for a couple of years, Yarger said. Our parks and natural resources department prioritized the project.

But before the new amenities begin to take shape, crews will spend the summer constructing pipes and ditches to help drain waterlogged fields into an already existing retention pond and the new, acre-and-a-half sized retention pond now under construction.

They also are digging just west of the softball fields, where additional parking will be built.

Yarger said the construction will not interfere with the fields or team practices and should be finished by the end of September.

All the fields are already established, Yarger said. We wont do anything on the fields aside from repair irrigation, sod, fencing when its needed.

After the storm-water improvements are made and more funding becomes available, Yarger said thats when construction on the new amenities will begin.

Read more:
Work to improve drainage at Lakewood Ranch Park

The grass at Roman Forest City Park looks a lot greener these days thanks to a donation of sod from Double T Tree Service.

The idea of beautifying the park was recently pitched to the council by representatives of the business, after which council was on board to see what improvements needed to be made.

[Double T Tree Services owner Dennis Rands] essentially adopted the city park, said Roman Forest Police Chief Stephen Carlisle. That means that he intends to keep all of the trees in the park trimmed and keep the park looking good.

Some of the immediate work included the trimming of dangerous limbs that were hanging over park equipment. This also cleared the way to let the sunlight in.

It all looks like a little fairy tale land since the work has been done, said City Secretary Liz Mullane. Once the turf went down, it just looks very green and soft and new.

The process of laying the sod down took approximately two days to roll it out and get it set. Once the process was finished, the city maintenance crew made the decision to have the sprinkler system run above the new sod.

Weve noticed several residents coming into the park to look at the grass and just commenting on how beautiful it looks, said Mullane.

Roman Forest Mayor Ray Ricks is equally happy with the work that has been done, issuing a special thank you to Rands and his employees.

Mullane anticipates that there will be many more improvements on the park.

We have been approved for an East Montgomery County Community Development Grant from EMCID (East Montgomery County Improvement District), Miller Homes and the city, said Mullane. We intend on taking that grant and trying to get funding from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, as well. We are definitely going to continue to try to improve.

See more here:
Business helps beautify Roman Forest

It seems that they come earlier and earlier each year, but armyworms are back. The most common type that we are seeing now are Fall armyworms and they love grass crops. In this past week, I have observed armyworms in soybeans, hayfields, pastures, and in a bermuda grass lawn. Armyworms are a really bad pest because they have the ability to devour a lawn, pasture or hay field in a very short period of time. Many times they go unnoticed, as they cause most of the damage at night.

Hay producers and homeowners are sometimes given a warning that armyworms are in a field by the presence of white cow birds or a cluster of birds. But hay producers that are applying high levels of fertilizers to grow a quality crop should scout their fields every other day to make sure these destructive pests are not eating their hay crop. Scouting for Fall armyworms requires a hay producer to go into the field, push back the grass and look for worms.

Homeowners should be observant of brown patches of bermuda grass that rapidly spread and enlarge. If you see this, start looking for armyworms. The caterpillars feed at night, so the culprit of the damage is not noticeable at first. Scouting for homeowners can be a little different. To inspect your lawn for armyworms, simply mix about two tablespoons of a lemon-scented dishwashing detergent in one gallon of water and pour it over a one square foot area of the lawn. If armyworms are present, they will quickly come to the top of the sod.

Fall armyworms will eat many kinds of grass, but their favorite is bermuda grass that is well fertilized and watered. Homeowners frequently notice them after their grass starts to thin.

Armyworms are susceptible to cold and are unable to survive even the mildest winters in Georgia. Each year, Fall armyworm moths are carried by air currents from Central and South America. The size and timing of the initial moth flights are two factors that influence the outbreak potential of this pest.

The four stages of development of the fall armyworm are the egg, larvae, pupae and adult. The adult is an ash-gray colored moth. The front wings are mottled and have white or light gray spots near the tips. The back wings are white with a narrow, smoky-brown edge. The female moths lay eggs at night in masses of up to several hundred in grass and on light-colored surfaces. The eggs are light gray and covered with grayish fuzz from the females body. These masses darken with age and the eggs hatch within 2 to 4 days.

The tiny, light-colored, black-headed larvae (caterpillars) spin down to the ground on silken webs and begin to feed. As they grow, their bodies darken and noticeable stripes appear. When fully grown, larvae may be up to 11/2 inches long and vary in color from light green to almost black with several stripes along the body. The face is marked with a light colored inverted Y. Development from egg to fully grown larva requires about 2 to 3 weeks.

Once the caterpillar reaches maximum size it burrows into the soil and forms a pupa. The moths emerge in about 10 to 14 days. Three to four generations can occur in southeast Georgia.

Fall armyworm damage often seems to appear suddenly overnight. The young armyworms do not eat very much. Almost all the damage is caused by the older caterpillars which eat more than all the other ages put together. Large fall armyworms will often march into an uninfested area in search of food once an adjacent lawn has been defoliated.

Several insecticides are available to homeowners that will provide effective control of fall armyworms; trichlorfon (Bayer Advanced), carbaryl (Sevin) 50WP, Bacillus thuringiensis (Dipel WP) and various pyrethroids. Always be sure to read and follow label directions.

Read the rest here:
News from the Farm: Armyworms marching into lawns, pastures, crops

Crime & Safety Headlines More Crime&Safety Crime Stoppers More Crimestoppers Crime Databases More Databases Continuing stories More Ongoing Stories Local Stories from ThisWeek More Articles By Theodore Decker& Allison Manning The Columbus Dispatch Tuesday July 22, 2014 4:19 AM

When the Justice Insider comes across the word turf in the course of a days work, it usually is preceded by gang or followed by war.

Not this time.

A Dublin parks employee told police on July 8 that someone had turfed the lawn by the dumpster at Emerald Field Park, according to a report. Apparently, this is a continuing problem. The parks employee requested extra police patrols after hours.

The Insider will admit to having no idea what turfing is, imagining a diabolically giggling grass thief making off with strips of rolled sod under each arm. But the grass was damaged, not stolen.

The Internet opened our eyes to the practice of turfing, which amounts to trashing a lawn with a vehicle. The Insider knew this practice as doing doughnuts.

Perhaps its a generational thing.

In addition to being a pastime for teenage rapscallions, turfing is British slang for forcing someone to leave a place. As in:

The intoxicated teen, angry to be turfed out of the bar for underage drinking, turfed the establishments lawn.

Originally posted here:
Justice Insider: Parks lawn damage is new turf for some

Boyd Huppert, KARE 6:29 p.m. EDT July 18, 2014

Sod shortage(Photo: KARE)

NORTHBRANCH, Minn. - The contraption lumbering across this Chisago County field is known as Sod Harvester. This year it could also be called a treasure hunter.

"trying to search around for any bit of sod we can possibly cut," says the machine's driver, Harley Johnson.

Johnson is a third generation sod farmer, in business with his father and sister, at HD Sod in Hugo.

The family's product has never been in shorter supply.

"it's been pretty rough," says Harley's father, also named Harley. "We had about 13 inches of rain and that's what really held us back."

That heavy rain flooded out newly seeded fields while keeping harvesters off soggy ground.

"On this side of the field over here, it's still too wet and soft," says the younger Johnson, pointing from the cab of the harvester."It's a good year that there's a lot of people needing sod, but a bad year that we just don't have it."

The seeds for a sod shortage were actually being sowed several years back. During the great recession new home construction waned. With fewer lawns to cover, sod farmers plowed up their grass to plant corn and soybeans, commodities which were rising in price at the time.

Read the original:
Sod shortage worsens in Twin Cities

Jon Willing - July 17th, 2014

A picture of City Hall on July 17, 2014 after workers covered the damaged lawn with more sod.

More sod went down at City Hall this week after the annual Great Grass Slaughter at 110 Laurier Ave.

The Jazzfest tent destroyed the grass.

Actually, the lawn is usually beat up at least twice a year: During the winter from the Rink of Dreams traffic, and during Jazzfest.

One thing theyre going to try and do at Lansdowne Park is keep stages and other pieces of big equipment on the porch outside Aberdeen Pavilion. No one wants to see the new grass on the Great Lawn ruined.

As for City Hall, I dont know what the long-term solution will be. Maybe re-sodding is it.

Vacation alert: Starting Friday, Im off for a couple weeks on vacation. Ill be back in early August, so dont expect much action on the blog in the meantime. Hope youre enjoying the summer.

Follow City Hall reporter Jon Willing on Twitter at @JonathanWilling and at ottawasun.com.

Original post:
Re-sodding: An Annual City Hall Tradition

Ethan Irwin, 8 and Katalina Pete, 8, both of Farmington, play with a blue-tailed lizard on Thursday outside of the Kirtland Youth Association in Kirtland. Katalina said, "We're digging a hole for the lizard to live in." (Alexa Rogals The Daily Times)

Julian Gaytan, 8, shoots hoops at the playground on Thursday outside the Kirtland Youth Association in Kirtland. (Alexa Rogals The Daily Times)

KIRTLAND A new grass activity field is in the works for the Kirtland Youth Association after the group received a $50,000 grant from the Public Service Company of New Mexico.

The youth association is one of 24 nonprofit agencies in New Mexico and Texas to receive a grant from PNM Power Up Grants. The program distributed $500,000 to organizations for various community projects.

On Thursday, San Juan County Commissioners and representatives from local Navajo Nation chapters, San Juan United Way and the San Juan Generating Station attended a grant presentation in the parking lot of the Kirtland organization.

The Kirtland Youth Association is one of four agencies and the only one in the Four Corners to receive $50,000 from the PNM foundation. Twenty agencies each received $15,000 grants.

It's a dream come true to build the playing field for youth sports like football and soccer, said the Kirtland association's executive director, Charles Kromer. Members of the organization have worked hard to build the facility for the community, he said.

"We've trying to make it as successful for the community as we can," Kromer said.

At the presentation, children participating in the association's summer program sat in the bleachers set up in the parking lot. San Juan Generating Station Plant Manager Tom Fallgren opened the presentation by talking about the program and the effect the youth association has in the community.

"The Kirtland Youth Association is dedicated to serving the youth of the San Juan River valley with educational, recreational and social programs," Fallgren said.

Read the rest here:
Kirtland Youth Association receives $50K grant to build sports field

The kids at the Aurora Early Learning Center have more room to roam and play thanks to a grant from the Community Foundation of Fox River Valley.

One Hope United recently received a grant for $18,300 to resurface its Aurora Early Learning Centers play area.

Initially, when the learning center was built, sod was put in. The sod frequently turned into a mud pit, said Beth Lakier, the associate executive director of the Child Development Centers of One Hope United. The children were not able to run around.

The learning center depends on the ability to take the children out during the day to play or participate in other outdoor activities, said Ralph Voris, grant coordinator for the Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley.

The combination of kids and grass can lead to things getting pretty worn out, he added.

After a rain or at certain times of the year, what had been grass would turn into a muddy mess that was being tracked into the building, he added.

The sod has been replaced by artificial turf so that the area could be used almost year round, Voris added.

With the new turf, kids can don swimsuits and enjoy water play, Lakier said. Walking out on the playground, Lakier spotted a girl who was enjoying her very first time playing under a hose.

The new experience hit for Lakier.

With the beautiful new space, the kids get to go out do things that they typically dont get to do at home, she said.

More:
Good Cause: New surface for One Hope United playground

The front yard of Dr. L.W. Buddy Nichols and wife, Delores Beery, is filled with white river pebbles, river rock, mountain stone and pavers. Colorful blossoms of crape myrtles, knockout roses, zinnias and petunias pop against the white rock.

Delores Beerys landscaping includes seating areas where guests may stop to enjoy settings such as this birdbath surrounded by hostas, a rambling rose climbing a trellis and fuchsia crape myrtles.

This view from the second-story balcony shows the variety of rock used around the design of the front yards three islands.

Lily pads and a heron-shaped fountain are two elements in the couples backyard pond, where birds love taking baths, Delores Beery says.

Orange and yellow lilies and white petunias are planted beneath a hummingbird feeder.

Delores Beery always had an aversion to mowers, but never more so than when I mowed the end of my second toe off. That accident was the catalyst for a total landscape makeover in which she yanked all the grass out of the front and back yards at her East Ridge home and replaced it with pea gravel, river pebbles, river rock, mountain stone, flagstone and pavers. It is manual labor in which she and husband, Dr. L.W. Buddy Nichols, have invested over four years.

Weve eliminated almost every bit of grass, she says. We dont have a lawn mower and we dont want another. We have one tiny patch of grass on one side of the house where were going to put in a putting/chipping green.

Hes got it all planned that hes going to paint Augustas Amen Corner on the fence behind it, she laughs.

Nichols estimates that the two of them hauled in 60 tons of rock, mulch and topsoil to complete the DIY project. The lawn is white river pebbles mixed with a small amount of pea gravel. Islands of raised flower beds are outlined in stacked rock with flagstone trails winding throughout.

Its a clean, manicured look that the couple says is easy maintenance.

Continue reading here:
Chattanooga couple spreads 60 tons of rock and mulch to get rid of lawn