What’s the difference between Artificial Grass and Turfgrass?

The main difference between artificial grass and turfgrass is quite simple: one is real grass while the other is synthetic. Both have their own pros and cons respectively, however one is better for the environment than the other. Let’s take a look at these two types of grasses side by side to gain a better understanding of each and their effect on both our environment and our home.

What is Artificial Grass?

Artificial grass is manufactured from synthetic fibers to produce a surface that resembles real turf. Additionally, third generation turf uses sand or rubber infill to keep grass fibers upright a provide a more realistic movement that simulates natural grass. This infill is also used to increase shock absorbency to reduce impact while maintaining its realistic appearing surface.

Popularized in the 1960s, artificial grass made its first appearance in the Astrodome and has been widely used throughout sports field across the US ever since. This synthetic grass boasts low maintenance costs and the ability to withstand subzero temperatures without freezing, so it’s no wonder that sports clubs and owners love to use it. Many sports professionals on the other hand have found that this type of grass, while easy to install, is much more difficult to play on.

What are the Benefits of Natural Turf?

In relation to its performance on sports fields, there’s no comparison. Natural turf is preferred by 88 percent of NFL players and 96 percent believe that artificial turf contributes to more injuries. That’s because the hardness of the field can result in serious athletic injuries and the abrasive surface can result in difficult to heal injuries such as “turf burn.”

Another major benefit of natural tufgrass: it stays cool during the summer. On a hot summer day, a natural sod lawn will be about 25 degrees cooler than artificial grass, 30 degrees cooler than asphalt and 15 degrees cooler than bare soil. How cool is that?

Create a beautiful lawn that adds immediate value when you install sod. Within a few hours, sod transforms bare soil into a lush area of grass. After installing, sod roots into the ground in just 10 short days and is immediately ready for use. It’s also been said to increase your home’s value buy up to 15 percent! The best part is that you can install sod at any time and unlike seeding you won’t have to wait for anything to grow.

The Environmental Impact of Turf Grass

If you’re thinking about going synthetic to save the environment, think again. Natural turfgrass is much more beneficial to the environment than artificial grass. It creates a healthy environment by helping to clean the air and recharge our groundwater supply. As one of nature’s finest and least expensive filters, natural turf grass is helping mother nature a whole lot more than its synthetic counterpart.

Additionally, the ground rubber tires used in some artificial fields are considered toxic and are prohibited from being disposed of in dumps or landfills, but are used widely throughout the surface of this field. That then raises the question of what will happen to these materials once the field needs to be replaced? Field sanitation is also an issue when it comes to keeping the field clean of hazardous waste and toxic materials.

These benefits along with the environmental impact of synthetic grass is why all of us at West Coast Turf are advocates for thinking green and keeping it real. To learn more about our Keep It Real Campaign, visit twitter and search for #keepitreal. Then, use the hashtag to tell us why you choose to use natural turf instead of artificial grass.