Will My Turf Match If I Order 2 Different Times?

Published April 16, 2024

It’s possible, but probably not.   We’ve had a number of customers buy a roll of turf, and then call back months later to purchase more of the exact same turf.

When purchasing the “same” turf months apart, it’s important to understand why it might not be the “exact” same color.

Artificial Turf, like many textiles, is difficult to replicate in the exact same shade of green over and over.   In short, plastic pellets get melted into a larger hopper and then the yarn is extruded from it.   Without getting too scientific here, a number of variables such as temperature, go into this process which can affect the exact shade of green in different dye lots.   

Similarly, wedding planners often recommend that bride’s maids order their dresses all at the same time.  If Bride’s maid 1 orders her “Rose Pink” dress in April and Bride’s maid 2, orders her “Rose Pink” dress in June, there’s a good chance they will be 2 slightly different shades of “Rose Pink.”  It’s a common challenge in all textiles, not specific to artificial turf.

So if you order a roll of turf, and then a month later want two more rolls, and we happen to have the same run in stock, then you can get more exact matching rolls.  If you return months or a year later, it’s highly unlikely that we, or any other turf company, will have turf the exact same shade of green.   

If you need 2 more rolls to match exactly to the first roll, you may be better off purchasing 3 new rolls to guarantee they match, and find another home for the original roll, or sell it to a neighbor on Craigslist.

The other thing to consider is that if the original roll has been installed for 6 months and received wear and sunlight, it’s unlikely that 2 new rolls of the exact same turf, from the same lot, will ever “catch up” to the wear of the initial roll, and will always look slightly different anyway.

A common trick in the athletic field turf installation business, is to take a leftover rolls from the new football field, unroll it on the roof of a school building, so that when a patch is needed 5 years from the installation, the same dye lot turf with the same sun exposure is available to match the field because otherwise, it’s nearly impossible to finding a piece that matches the field’s current shade of green.