The past few weeks have been challenging for all. We consider ourselves incredibly fortunate to be operational. But more than just being operational, we’re moving forward with launching an entire new line of playground grasses. (We have a feeling that a brand-new playground in the backyard may be just the ticket to cure some of that cabin fever we’re all dealing with).  

The Play Series 

All the grasses in the Play series feature our non-directional Willow yarn which eliminates traditional wear patterns and any worry about seam direction. When working with a directional yarn, you must be careful to ensure that all the grass is facing the same direction, or you’ll end up with a variance in color between the separate rolls of grass. If you’re dealing with an odd shaped area, this can quickly become a headache. With Playscape’s non-directional yarn, the entire surface will look uniform no matter which way its facing. Whether you’re doing a large playground installation or DIYing your backyard, that’s one less thing to worry about! 

Playscape 

We’re proud to introduce our Playscape grass. Innovative and original, it is a grass designed for 21st century play spaces. By combining both rigid and softer yarns, we’ve created a grass that is durable as well as flexible, meaning it will stand up to years of high traffic play, while also being a comfortable surface for children to run, jump, and even fall on. A newly developed anti-static additive to the grass will keep kids safe from any pesky shocks, even when contacting metal playground equipment. Weighing in with a 55oz face weight, and standing 40mm (1.6in) tall, Playscape offers superior fiber strength and a strong tuft bind which will reduce the amount of degradation that occurs over the product’s life.  

Is this a grass that’s only meant for children? Certainly not! While being a perfect surface for playgrounds and competitive sports fields, we also kept our four-legged friends in mind when designing Playscape. It’s anti-microbial, which will eliminate any odors left by pets, and features a fully permeable, proprietary, acrylic backing. This results in Playscape draining much faster than grasses with traditional SBR or PU backings and allows for it to be completely recycled.  

Easy to install? You bet. The non-directional willow yarn makes worrying about seam direction a thing of the past.  

Playscape PRO 

Playscape Pro retains all the technological advancements of Playscape in a heftier package. With a 78oz face weight, Playscape Pro can handle truly anything you throw it at, while still being flexible, totally permeable, and recyclable. You’ll still find all the features that mark a Playscape grass: it’s anti-microbial, anti-static, and includes superior fiber strength with a strong-tuft bind. Playscape Pro is specifically designed for the customer that wants superior performance in a non-directional fiber. 

Perennial Green 

Perennial Green is another new member of our Play series that is a tremendous option for your playground needs. Slightly taller than the Playscapes, its non-directional willow fibers stand 60mm (2.4inches) tall. Like the other Playscape grasses, its fully permeable and anti-microbial, making it perfect for use by kids, athletes, and pets! 

Playground PRO 

Playground PRO is a mainstay in the Purchase Green stable, and long been the standard bearer for Playground grasses. As always, it is still available in traditional green, as well as brick-red and white coloring.  

Please contact your local Purchase Green store for questions about how we’re handling social distancing guidelines and on best practices for ordering, picking up, or having your product delivered. 

Silica Sand is a form of infill used in many artificial grass installations and is often one of the most inexpensive options on the market. However, it comes with some major tradeoffs. If you’re considering using silica sand infill for your artificial turf project, there are a few things you need to know regarding silica sand’s potential health impacts and overall effectiveness. Let’s get into it.

What is Silica Sand?

Artificial grass almost always needs infill – a sand-like material that goes between the blades, helping the blades stand upright and preventing wrinkling over time. Silica sand is one of the most ubiquitous forms of infill for the simple reason that it’s inexpensive. How much less expensive? Compared to our premium infill, Herofill, selling at $22 per bag, our silica sand sells at just $8.50 per bag. Despite this, silica sand is not always a smart or healthy choice for your artificial grass. Let’s get into the question of health first.

Silica Sand Health Considerations

Silica sand is made out of – yep, you guessed it – silica. Silica, as you might know, is a carcinogen, meaning it has been shown to increase cancer risk in those exposed to it. That’s why products containing it often must display a California Proposition 65 warning label.

For details on the presence of silica in infill see our Proposition 65 blog post.

In the case of silica sand, it’s only considered hazardous when it is stirred up to form dust and inhaled; something which most often occurs while it’s being installed. To minimize risk while installing silica sand, it’s best to wear a mask and periodically to spray down the sand with water as you go.

Proper Use of Silica Sand Infill

If all that seems pretty bad, you might be asking, “Is there any upside to silica sand?” It turns out it’s actually quite effective and safe in certain applications. Here’s what you should consider before determining whether to choose silica sand for your artificial grass project.

The two most important factors when it comes to silica sand infill is traffic level and traffic type. Silica sand performs best when paired with aesthetic-only applications, or applications with low frequency and intensity of foot traffic. Doing so results in:

1. Reduced potential for dust formation
2. Little or no matting from infill compaction

Silica sand is only known to create dust when disturbed. Thus, if your artificial grass won’t get walked on frequently, silica sand might work just fine. We see silica sand used in no-traffic aesthetic-only applications quite often and with great results.

Another benefit of pairing silica sand with aesthetic-only grass is avoiding compaction – a phenomena to which silica sand is particularly prone. Compaction is the compressing of the infill due to weight from above. If infill becomes tightly compressed it will no longer be able to perform its essential duties of supporting the grass blades, resulting in matting. While compaction can be easily reversed by giving your grass a brisk brooming, we think you’ll agree, it’s better to avoid this problem alltogether.

In summary, if your grass will get little or not foot traffic, silica sand might be the infill for you! Otherwise, we recommend checking out our line of non-toxic anti-odor and anti-microbial infills designed to suit a whole host of needs. As always, feel free to direct any questions you might have to our turf experts by giving us a call at 844-TURF-444 or by stopping by your local store!

Contents:
1. Preventative Measures for Easy Turf Maintenance
2. How to Get Rid of Weeds
3. How to Remove Pet-related Odors
4. Brushing to Remove Wear Patterns and Matting

Artificial grass is a great solution for those looking to reduce their time and money spent on landscape maintenance, and while turf is even sometimes marketed as “maintenance free”, the truth is that there are actually a few tips to keep in mind if you want your lawn in top condition for years to come.

1. Preventative Measures for Easy Turf Maintenance

Maintaining your artificial lawn is an easy task made even simpler when you’re sure to follow essential preventive measures, such as installing a weed barrier or applying a pre-emergent product before installing sub base to help prevent weed growth, as well as using sufficient amounts of an antifungal and anti-bacterial infill for areas with pets to prevent odor build-up – infills such as Purchase Green’s Mellowfill and Herofill.

2. How to Get Rid of Protruding Weeds

However, if weeds do protrude, we recommend using safe topical solutions that have a pH balance between five and nine, as required for the product warranty. Products such as Natria and BioAdvanced have solutions listed with pH balances between 6 and 8, but we advise reviewing their Safety Data Sheets (SDS) before purchasing. Nevertheless, the hard truth is that, given the right conditions or if your yard is prone to weeds, there’s a possibility that they will still grow. This won’t be the case for most, but for some it will.

3. How to Remove Pet-related Odors

If your yard happens to develop an odor from pet urine, Purchase Green’s Turf Bomb, an enzymatic deodorizer and disinfectant, is a non-toxic and hypo-allergenic topical solution made to remove odor build-up from turf. Turf Bomb comes in two sizes – a 32 oz bottle with a spray nozzle, and a one gallon replacement jug. 32 oz will cover approximately 1,500 square feet, and one gallon covers approximately 6,000 square feet. We recommend using Turf Bomb at least once every two weeks, but depending on the number of pets in the area or their size, you may need to apply Turf Bomb more frequently; and you will only need to spray the affected area, rather than the entire yard. Check out the above-linked product page for pricing, a comprehensive how-to and product FAQs.

4. Brushing to Remove Wear Patterns and Matting

Lastly, the most common maintenance need is brushing, which helps prevent matting patterns from forming over time due to heavy usage. Purchase Green’s Turf Broom has long nylon tines that can reach deep into artificial grass fibers, helping you to “freshen up” your lawn, or even as an installation tool to help apply infill between the grass blades. These nylon tines are important to distinguish because metal tines, very common in landscape rakes, are abrasive and will damage the turf. Moreover, certain fiber shapes will have a lower “memory” performance and can show matting patterns quicker than others, so we recommend brushing as often as you feel it’s necessary; though, for larger applications or areas with extra stubborn matted fibers, we suggest using a power broom to get the job done thoroughly and much faster. Purchase Green locations will have power brooms available for either purchasing or renting. If you’d like to learn more about artificial turf memory and the steps you can take to prevent matting, check out our informative video on the topic.

As you can see, artificial lawn maintenance is substantially less demanding than maintaining natural sod, and adhering to these preventative and proactive care tips will ensure a beautiful and long-lasting installation.

Dear Friends of Purchase Green,

We are monitoring the ever-changing situation due to the COVID-19 virus. We’re committed to the health and safety of our employees and our customers, and so we’ve made some temporary changes to how we do business at Purchase Green.

Our online store continues to be open 24/7, and our support center will remain open during our normal hours of 7am-6pm Mon-Fri and 8am-2pm on Saturday. We will still tentatively be able to fulfill and deliver any product orders, at most of our stores, as well as answer any questions you have. Most of our showrooms and stores remain open, and we have made some changes to help ensure everyone’s safety.

Our Showrooms and Offices

First, anyone who can work from home is doing so. We have dropped our store staffing at most locations to a 2-person team and are cleaning and disinfecting three times a day. You may notice some caution tape or partitions set up to help maintain social distancing between you and our employees. We’re not trying to be rude, but we want to ensure the safety and health of both you and Purchase Green staff.

We are following all recommendations from states and counties that are home to PG stores. In some instances, this means that our stores have closed their doors or altered their hours.

View information about specific store closures or schedule changes

Installations

The primary method of communication during installations will be over phone, email, or text. Our employees will not be coming to your door and asking to speak with you. If you have questions or concerns, please call your local store and they will be able to help. If in-person communication is required, we will always make sure to remain 6 feet away from you and we ask that you do the same. Our crews are mostly young and fit, but we feel that “social distancing” is the best recommended practice. We will certainly miss shaking hands with all our customers, but we realize that everyone’s health is most important.

In some instances, local requirements mean that we will have to delay installations.

More information about store installation policies

Estimates

Most of our stores are currently still able to run job site estimates. If you have an estimate scheduled, we will come to your door and knock to let you know that we’ve arrived. Please don’t feel obligated to answer the door or come outside and speak to us. We’ll complete your estimate and email you your proposal. We can leave samples outside your front door and answer questions you have on the phone later. If you are comfortable, you can feel free to come outside. We’ll lay the samples on the ground and can have discussions, but we will maintain the recommended 6′ of separation per the social distancing guidelines. Please don’t be offended that we don’t shake hands or hand you our business card, we will email you all our contact information.

Again, some store locations will not be running estimates

We are confident that these simple practices will allow our crews to continue to be Happy, Helpful, and Happy to help while keeping both you and them safe.

We thank you for your business and we are committed to delivery of your services as efficiently and safely as possible.

Please feel free to reach out to us if you still have any questions or concerns! We’d love to hear from you.

-Your friends at Purchase Green Artificial Grass

Further Information on COVID-19

Center For Disease Control’s website on Covid19

In an effort to ensure the safety of our employees and customers, some store locations have closed or altered their hours.

The following showrooms are closed. These stores are still available to answer questions over the phone.

San Jose, CA

Petaluma, CA

Concord, CA

Palm Desert, CA

North Las Vegas, NV (The showroom is closed to walk-ins but we are taking phone calls and can arrange for transactions by appointment only. Preferred payment is over the phone).

Rancho Cordova, CA

Phoenix, AZ

Yuba City, CA

Encinitas, CA

Escondido, CA

Los Alamitos, CA

Murrieta, CA

San Bernadino, CA

San Diego, CA

San Dimas, CA

San Fernando Valley, CA

South Orange County, CA

The following locations will not be doing installations until further notice.

San Jose, CA

North Las Vegas, NV

Palm Desert, CA

The following locations will not be running estimate appointments until further notice.

San Jose, CA

North Las Vegas, NV

Palm Desert, CA

If you have questions, please call our support center at 844-TURF-444