Eric Watkins

Check out our team’s latest efforts in educating the public about our work. An article features the UMN Turfgrass Science team in the latest edition of the MGCSA's Hole Notes publication.

See the December 2022 Edition of Hole Notes on page 52 for "Determining Irrigation Thresholds Using Plant Available Water"

https://issuu.com/mgcsa/docs/december_2022/52 by Ryan Schwab, Josh Friell, Eric Watkins and Gabe Olson-Jensen.

Learn more about our research! A new, open access article by Chase Straw, Connor Bolton, Joseph Young, Reagan Hejl, Joshua Friell, and Eric Watkins has been published in the journal Agrosystems, Geosciences & Environment. This article discusses a case study that examined soil moisture variability findings from nine golf courses in eight different states in the U.S.

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 10-12, 2023
Minneapolis Convention Center

Register for this event 

The Turfgrass Science team from the University of Minnesota was well-represented at this year’s ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting held on November 6-9, 2022 in Baltimore, MD. 

Below is a listing of the abstracts from the meeting:

By Eric Watkins

UMN Extension now has new materials on everything you need to know to establish and maintain a fine fescue lawn! Are you interested in a lawn that needs less maintenance? Fine fescues might be what you're looking for. Not only do fine fescues have lower maintenance requirements, they have better tolerance for shade and are adapted to most growing conditions in Minnesota.

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Learn more about our research! A new, open access article by Yiqun Xie, Majid Farhadloo, Ning Guo, Shashi Shekhar, Eric Watkins, Len Kne, Han Bao, Aaron Patton, and Kevin Morris has been published in the International Turfgrass Society Research Journal. This journal article discusses the design and creation of a relational database to store data from the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program and to support efficient queries on turfgrass cultivars and experimental selections. To try the database out, please visit the Turfgrass Trial Explorer webpage.

Learn more about our research! A new, open access article by Ross Braun, Eric Watkins, Andrew Hollman, Nicole Mihelich, and Aaron Patton has been published in Agronomy Journal. This journal article summarizes research on using different cool-season turfgrasses for sod and found that fine fescue sod with strong creeping red fescue may be a promising option for sod producers.