Eric Watkins

Learn more about our research! A new, open access article by Yang Wang, Chengyan Yue, Eric Watkins and Chase Straw has been published in the Journal of Environmental Horticulture. They discovered three main driving forces and three main barriers of precision irrigation technology adoption by U.S. golf course superintendents. 

Check out our team’s latest efforts in educating the public about our work. See the April 2024 Edition of MGCSA's Hole Notes for photos from our WinterTurf field day, an article by Jon Trappe called Thinking about soil nitrogen and fertilizer practices, and an article by Eric Watkins called Thank you for your Rounds Fore Research support! 

Learn more about our research! A new, open access article by Michael Barnes and Eric Watkins has been published in Crop, Forage & Turfgrass Management. The authors found that sports field users preferred weed-free fields and more effective herbicide use for weed control, despite acknowledging potential harms. 

Dr. Eric Watkins has been awarded the Honorary Premier Seed Grower Award by the Minnesota Crop Improvement Association.

Learn more about our research! A new, open access article by Michael Barnes, Ileana Campagna, Becky Haddad, and Eric Watkins has been published in Natural Sciences Education. The article describes the scarcity of managed urban landscape curricula in undergraduate programs in Minnesota, with only about 1% of courses reviewed containing these topics. The authors found there are opportunities to integrate this content into existing courses across various departments and institutions.

Check out our team’s latest efforts in educating the public about our work. See the February 2024 Edition of MGCSA's Hole Notes for What's up with WinterTurf by Eric Watkins! 

Check out our team’s latest efforts in educating the public about our work. See the December 2024 Edition of MGCSA's Hole Notes for two articles by UMN Turfgrass team members! 

• Determining plant available water irrigation thresholds by Ryan Schwab, Josh Friell, Gabe Olson-Jensen, and Eric Watkins
• Roll it forward by UMN Turfgrass instructor and former UMN Extension Educator Sam Bauer

Learn more about our research! A new, open access article by Joan Barreto Ortiz, Candice Hirsch, Nancy Jo Ehlke and Eric Watkins has been published in Plant Methods. This paper describes a method to quantify turfgrass inflorescence properties using computer imaging to provide a faster and less subjective way to phenotype, which can aid in plant breeding.

Barreto Ortiz, J., Hirsch, C.N., Ehlke, N.J. and Watkins, E. 2023. SpykProps: an imaging pipeline to quantify architecture in unilateral grass inflorescences. Plant Methods 19:125. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13007-023-01104-z [Open Access] 

Members of our team will be giving talks at Northern Green, a trade show and conference dedicated to green industry professionals. Consider attending this worthwhile event!

Northern Green
January 23-25, 2024
Saint Paul RiverCentre

Register for this event 

This year’s presentations from our team include:

Eric Watkins and Jon Trappe
Turfgrass Research Update
January 23, 2024
8:30 am – 10:00 am

Dr. Eric Watkins has been awarded a 2023 CSSA Fellowship by the Crop Science Society of America.