News / Blog (All)

Grad student James Wolfin in Star Tribune article

Graduate student James Wolfin was recently featured in a StarTribune article where he discusses how homeowners can have lawns, but still provide nectar resources for pollinators.

Bee lawn article in Washington Post

Graduate student James Wolfin was recently featured in an article in the Washington Post. It has highlights from his research on bee lawns, a joint project from The University of Minnesota Turfgrass Science team and the University of Minnesota Bee Lab.

University of Minnesota Turfgrass team in the media 5/23/19

Check out our team’s latest efforts in educating the public about our work!  We have two articles and an upcoming talk at a meeting.

Drought tolerance of consumer-available seed mixtures

By Florence Sessoms

The presence of lawns in urban environments is sometimes viewed negatively: too many chemical inputs that result in environmental pollution. I also have observed a popular misconception about irrigation on home lawns: irrigation is compared to the Danaides’ barrel, a bottomless pit where water is forever added and lost.

Save the date - Flowering Bee Lawn Field Day

If you are a turf manager, save the date to see an established bee lawn and learn about installation, maintenance, bee diversity, and park visitor support of this effort.

University of Minnesota Turfgrass team in the media 5/9/19

Check out our team’s latest efforts in educating the public about our work!  We have a research article, a research report, and an upcoming talk at a meeting.

Buffering capacity of snow on soil temperatures

By Dominic Christensen

This winter provided some fascinating differences in soil temperatures among our roadside turfgrass mixture testing locations. Each site is equipped with a weather station that is collecting precipitation, air temperature, soil moisture, soil temperature, and electrical conductivity

Chemical de-icer safety on putting greens

By Andrew Hollman

Minnesota experiences winter weather that can vary dramatically from year to year. The 2018 to 2019 winter started early and offered us ice, extremely cold temperatures, and record snowfall for the month of February. The impact that this has on turfgrass won’t be evident until the snow melts and the grass begins to grow.  The melt of the snow and regrowth of our research putting greens in the spring of 2011 presented us with grim view.  

Did my lawn survive the winter?

By Jon Trappe

Many people associate harsh winters with heavy snowfalls.  From a plant’s perspective, snow can actually protect the plant from extreme low temperatures by acting as a form of insulation.  Despite the recent winter storm in April and record snowfall in February, the majority of winter 2018-19 was below average precipitation, with much of the state having below average to no snow cover for most of December and January. 

GPS athlete performance tracking devices for...sports field management?

By Chase Straw

Athlete performance tracking devices are becoming prevalent in team sports at the professional and collegiate levels. An individual device is small (~3 x 1.5 inches) and usually inserted into a vest that holds it to an athlete’s upper back. They measure several variables regarding athlete performance during competition while on a sports field, such as distance covered, top speed, sprint count, acceleration, and deceleration.

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