This article was originally posted on the WinterTurf project blog.
By Paige Boyle, University of Minnesota
With the close of the year, we are taking a moment to reflect on the significant strides the WinterTurf project has made toward solving the challenge of winterkill. Join us for a detailed look back at the past year's accomplishments and learn how those successes are shaping our research strategy for the coming year.
What was accomplished over the 2024-2025 season?
Our superintendent collaborators installed 76 sensor nodes across the northern U.S., Canada, and Europe. We have begun layering the data from these sensors with WinterTurf survey responses and satellite imagery data to better model winter damage; we are working to improve and refine this approach.
On a more plant-specific level, studies were conducted to learn more about how ice encasement impacts annual bluegrass metabolism and damage. Additional tests were run to determine the importance of acclimation for perennial ryegrass freeze tolerance, analyze the effects of soil moisture on freezing tolerance in perennial ryegrass, and assess the important interaction of temperature and light on cool-season grasses.
The final year of testing on alternative snow mold control products and tree leaf mulching impacts on snow mold were also completed, and additional snow mold trials – including a field trial of snow mold and Microdochium patch models – were continued. Topdressing trials were also completed, with mixed results.
Creeping bentgrass improvement efforts continued to focus on identifying creeping bentgrass cultivars with improved wear tolerance during winter months, and tolerant populations were selected and will be intercrossed to produce new experimental selections in 2026. A better cold acclimation experimental design was also developed, which we are now using to identify perennial ryegrasses with superior winter hardiness.
Looking forward to the 2025-2026 season
This winter, we have 70 sensors deployed on golf courses throughout the world. The data collected from these sensors, as well as survey data, will continue to inform our damage detection model, and we hope to develop a dashboard to provide this data in near-realtime to golf course superintendents. We plan to continue screening and development of creeping bentgrass and perennial ryegrass populations. We will continue to investigate the long-term influence of fertility on snow mold, and will continue to test our disease prediction models.
Many exciting things ahead for the 2025-2026 WinterTurf season! Thank you to all our collaborators and to the superintendents who are collecting data on their courses for this winter season. With your help we are making progress toward our goal of reducing the harmful effects of winter stresses on golf courses.