WinterTurf

This article was originally posted on the WinterTurf project blog.

By Eric Watkins

Perennial ryegrass finds its way into most turfgrass seed mixtures for home lawns, parks, and other types of mowed landscapes in Minnesota and most of the northern United States. Quick germination, rapid establishment, dark green color, and, most importantly, lower cost than other options, give this species an almost permanent place in the seed bag. This popularity belies the many weaknesses of this grass, including problems with winter, summer, heat, drought, disease, and shade.

The WinterTurf team has developed a novel, accurate winter damage detection framework to identify early signs of winter damage before it progresses to severe levels. Read more about it in our latest publication: Winter damage diagnostic modeling based on synthetic vegetation indices from UAV-based multispectral imaging. 

Note: If you are unable to access the article, please reach out to Ce Yang for a copy. 

Check out our team’s latest efforts in educating the public about our work! 

Listen to the February 13 episode of the Cornell Turf Show to hear Paige Boyle discuss the WinterTurf project. 

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.

This article was originally published on the WinterTurf project blog.

By Katrina Freund-Saxhaug

Learn more about our research! A new, open access article by Eric Watkins, Dominic P. Petrella, Trygve Aamlid, Dominic C. Christensen, Sigridur Dalmannsdottir, Andrew P. Hollman, and Gary Deters has been published in Crop Science. The authors tested five different turfgrasses for their ability to survive under ice. 

By Paige Boyle

This article was originally published on the WinterTurf project blog.

Thank you to all who came out to our 2025 WinterTurf Field Day at the University of Minnesota on April 15! Several WinterTurf researchers from around the country talked about aspects of our project (Figure 1). If you weren’t able to make it, or are looking for more information on some of the research topics we discussed, review the agenda, with links to additional information, below.

Check out our team’s latest efforts in educating the public about our work! See the April 2025 edition of MGCSA's Hole Notes for Hacking away at winterkill by Eric Watkins and Bryan Runck. 

Registration is open for our first UMN Turfgrass Field Day of 2025! The WinterTurf Field Day will be held Tuesday, April 15 from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. If you are a golf course superintendent or a turfgrass manager interested in mitigating winter stress, this field day is for you!

By Maicy Vossen

This article was originally published on the WinterTurf project blog.