Raising Temperature on collars and tees

As you may have noticed, the collars have a light coating of black sand.  This black sand draws in more heat, and this helps warm the crown of the plant giving us a little head start on spring.  We have also painted the tees in an effort to increase the surface temperature.  Some of the reasoning behind this is; dark colors absorb more light, which increases the temperature -while light colors reflect more light.  We have done this in the past with favorable results.  The following images show the difference a little black sand can make. These readings were taken three feet apart

Here is infrared thermometer of grass without black sand

Here is infrared thermometer of grass with the black sand