The story of artificial grass goes back more than 50 years. Since the first attempt at creating a synthetic turf surface, artificial grass technology has changed dramatically. Perhaps the most significant advancements have been in the techniques for creating radical new varieties of synthetic grass yarn.

Like modern carpet fibers that have incredible texture, durability and resistance to stains, textile technology has helped Purchase Green create some amazing yarns for artificial grass. Here at Purchase Green, our favorite thing to do is help educate our customers so they get the right grass to suit their specific needs. As such, we decided to post a blog series covering the various yarn types used in Purchase Green products.

In Part 1 of this series, we introduced you to the Flat yarn. This time we take a look at the Stem yarn. The Stem yarn is a more advanced version of the Flat yarn, with several key features that make it incredibly popular with customers.

Stem Yarn

You’ll see a lot of grasses out there that have stems down the center of each blade. In most of these cases, that stem is there to help support the erect position of all the blades in a roll of artificial grass and it’s placed there during the extrusion process. Generally speaking, the stems are present in most grasses to improve memory and performance.

At Purchase Green we offer two grasses in with Thiolon yarns. Thiolon is a brand of stem yarn that has been around for decades – and has long been recognized as the best yarn in the world when it comes to performance and memory. Thiolon yarns have a fibrous stem that responds to heat by stiffening. Unroll a factory wrapped Nature’s Sod Premier and you can literally watch the blades begin to stand up as the fibers absorb heat from the sun and stiffen.

Thiolon was originally produced as a sports turf by a yarn extrusion company called Tencate. It was produced it to be safer and softer for sporting activity like football or soccer. That’s why you’ll see a touch of shine on the Thiolon yarn. Aesthetically, it looks like a beautiful coat of morning dew shine. Functionally it reduces friction from things like falling or sliding. There are number of reasons homeowners go with grasses that have Thiolon yarns.

Thiolon yields a warm, emerald-green color. Grasses made with it look great when contrasted against beige, tan, or other earth-tone stucco or wood siding because of the brownish/orange hues picked up by the visible thatch. It also looks beautiful against off-whites or Spanish style stuccos. You could bring out some great shades against brick.

With Thiolon yarns, especially in lower face-weights, you’ll get hybrid colors of a Kentucky Blue Grass and Bent Grass. Of course, we’ve mixed in a little Purchase Green style using a slightly staggered manicure to improve the posture of each blade, resulting in a full-looking grass with just a hint of messiness.

As for performance, well, Thiolon is designed to be the best at what it does. Higher face weight grasses that feature Thiolon yarn are some of the toughest around. Yet like many strong types, Thiolon also has a very appealing soft side. These grasses are best appreciated in person.

Grasses featuring the Thiolon stem-shape: Nature’s Sod Premier, Nature’s Sod 90, Nature’s Sod Light, Southwestern Sod, Spring Rye, Spring Rye Pro, Southwestern Sod Sport

In our next post, we’ll take a look the V-Shaped yarn.

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