Most people still cringe when someone mentions Astroturf, the plastic grass from the 1970s.
Wade Petrini, however, winces when he sees vast housing developments with big lawns of real grass.
Ask him about Astroturf, and he smiles.
“Astroturf was the mother concept,” he said. “There were water restrictions then, and they saw the need for a lawn substitute that didn’t need water.”
Astroturf had largely commercial applications, such as in sports stadiums. At the time, homeowners turned up their noses at the idea of a fake-looking “lawn.”
But artificial lawns have changed, said Petrini, a landscape contractor and owner of Artificial Lawns Direct of Scotts Valley (Calif.), which installs Pregra artificial grass.
Because of technological advances, an artificial lawn can be so real-looking that it fools the casual observer, Petrini said.
Now made of mostly recycled polyethylene — tested and found “safe” by the Synthetic Turf Council — it has other advantages, too, he said.
An artificial lawn saves on water, lawn-mower gas, insecticides and weed killers, as well as discouraging gophers and being kid friendly and durable enough to be used in dog runs, he said.
Grass stains become a thing of the past, as well, he said.
Petrini said increased demand has knocked down the cost.
“Five years ago, we charged about $13 a square foot,” he said. “I’ve become a factory-direct dealer, and now I charge $7 to $7.50 a square foot.”
He said business has quadrupled in the past two years, a jump he attributes to the cut in water use and the product’s low maintenance level.
Typically, he said, his crew will replace a damaged lawn with artificial grass and install a drip watering system for remaining plantings in a yard. In a recent project, a garden’s water demand dropped from 2,000 gallons a month to 85, he said.
(The Press Banner is located in San Lorenzo Valley, Calif.)