Clemson graduate student William Sarvis shows how special dyes can help golf course superintendents keep winter greens colorful without overseeding with winter annuals.

DATE: 10/27/2006

CONTACT: Dr. Haibo Liu, 864-656-6367: haibol@clemson.edu

Dr. Bert McCarty, 864-656-0120; bmccrty@clemson.edu

WRITER: Tom Lollis, 803-284-3343, ext. 241; tlollis@clemson.edu

A little paint brightens golfer’s lie when winter greens are drab to eye

CLEMSON – Fine-bladed bermudagrass turf is the putting surface of choice on many South Carolina golf courses. The only problem with it is that it looks a little drab when it goes dormant in winter.

To put the green back in the greens many golf course superintendents, especially in high-tourist areas like Myrtle Beach, overseed bermudagrass greens with winter annual grasses.

That’s not the only way to keep the green in greens, however. Painting dormant greens is gaining popularity among many South Carolina golf course superintendents, according to Haibo Liu, associate professor of horticulture at Clemson University.

More than 200 persons attending the recent annual Turfgrass Field Day at Clemson University took a look at a painted-greens project co-funded by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America and the Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association. Liu is principal investigator for the study.

The “paints” used on winter greens are really special dyes, not oil-based, and they have several advantages, according to Liu.

Painting greens costs less than overseeding, a process which usually weakens the bermudagrass into which winter annuals are planted.

One of Liu’s graduate students, William Sarvis, told field day attendees that painted greens began breaking dormancy earlier in the spring than unpainted greens since the paint helped absorb more solar heat, raising soil temperatures faster.

Sarvis said that test plots were painted in December and again in February.

Liu does not expect painting of greens to replace overseeding in popular tourist areas.

“Real grass is more attractive to people from northern states coming south for winter golf,” he said.

“Turfgrass has about $1.5 billion in economic impact on the state’s economy annually,” Liu said. “About 420 golf courses are located in South Carolina, and they generate more than $500 million in tax revenue each year.”

Many of the people who care for those courses attended the field day and heard about research into turf problems and ways to take care of turfgrass. Participants learned about growth regulators as a way to reduce the number of times a course needs to be mowed. Field day stops also covered topics such as weed control, proper fertilizer regimes, topdressing treatments, foliar fertilization, bermudagrass shade tolerance, wetting agents for control of localized dry spots and a look at 42 bermudagrass cultivars in the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program.

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