Turfgrass cultivar evaluation results for 2015 are now available!

By Sam Bauer

The 2015 Cultivar Evaluation Results are now available and published online.  To view these results, click the “Cultivar Evaluation Results” tab under the Research section on the left of this webpage.  Clicking this link will initially bring you to the 2015 data page, but you can view archived data from 2007-2013 as well.  Study labels are preceded by the date in which that study was planted.  For example, “2011 NTEP Kentucky bluegrass” was established in 2011, but you will be viewing the most recent data if you are in the 2015 tab.

How to use the results:

Some trials may have 100 or more entries.  Generally, named cultivars (ex: ‘Beacon’ hard fescue) will be commercially available through big box stores, garden centers, seed distributors, or professional suppliers.  Numbered entries are experimental and not available for purchase (ex: ASR172 slender creeping red fescue).  The main rating of concern when looking to purchase a particular cultivar will be turfgrass quality, which is a 1 to 9 scale rating where 1 = worst turf quality or dead turf, 6 = minimum quality acceptable, and 9 = best possible quality.  The LSD (least significant difference) at the bottom of each table is a statistical value that can be useful for determining if one cultivar is different from another.  A LSD value of 0.7 would mean that statistically a rating of 6.6 is not different than 6.0, but a rating of 5.9 would be.