Eric Watkins
University of Minnesota Turfgrass team in the media – 2/21/25
Check out our team’s latest efforts in educating the public about our work! See the latest edition of Green Section Record for Selecting grasses for golf courses in cold climates by Karin J. Hesselsøe, Anne F. Borchert, Trygve S. Aamlid, Tatsiana Espevig, Michelle DaCosta, Eric Watkins, Andrew Hollman, and Pia Heltoft.
New research publication from our team - 1/9/25
Learn more about our research! A new, open access article by Michael Barnes, Joshua Friell, Bryan Runck, Douglas Soldat, Eric Watkins, and Chengyan Yue has been published in Crop Science. The authors propose the adoption of a new framework – social–ecological–technological systems (SETS) – for turfgrass to improve research collaboration.
University of Minnesota Turfgrass team in the media – 1/3/25
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 Waiting and Preparing by Eric Watkins.
New research publication from our team - 12/16/24
Learn more about our research! A new, open access article by Florence Sessoms, Dominic Petrella, Gary Deters, Jillian Turberville and Eric Watkins has been published in Crop Science. Their study examined turfgrass mixtures and how the mixtures performed after short drought and recovery periods.
Breuillin-Sessoms, F., Petrella, D., Deters, G., Turberville, J., & Watkins, E. (2025). Response of cool-season turfgrass monocultures and two-way mixtures to sequential acute drought periods. Crop Science, 65, e21385. doi.org/10.1002/csc2.21385
Turfgrass Science team at the 2024 ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meetings
New research publication from our team - 9/10/24
Learn more about our research! A new, open access article by Garett Heineck, Nancy Ehlke, and Eric Watkins has been published in Geosciences & Environment. Their study found that perennial ryegrass grown for turfgrass or seed in the Upper US Midwest will likely not face many tradeoffs when breeding for both aesthetics and seed yield.
New research publication from our team - 7/10/24
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.
University of Minnesota Turfgrass team in the media – 5/20/24
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!
New research publication from our team - 4/29/24
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.
Barnes, M. R., & Watkins, E. (2024). Sports field users in Minnesota support herbicide use for weed-free recreation. Crop, Forage & Turfgrass Management, 10(1), e20276.
Dr. Eric Watkins given Minnesota Crop Improvement Association award
Dr. Eric Watkins has been awarded the Honorary Premier Seed Grower Award by the Minnesota Crop Improvement Association.