Eric Watkins

University of Minnesota Turfgrass team in the media – 3/1/24

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! 


University of Minnesota Turfgrass team in the media – 1/16/24

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! 


New research publication from our team - 12/7/23

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] 


Join the Turfgrass Science team at Northern Green 2024

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:


Dr. Eric Watkins awarded 2023 CSSA Fellowship

a man in a suit smiling

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


New research publication from our team - 10/17/23

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 Agricultural and Applied Economics. The researchers surveyed golf course superintendents and looked at how their attitudes affected their adoption of precision irrigation technologies.


New research publication from our team - 9/19/23

Learn more about our research! A new, open access article by Ross Braun, Eric Watkins, Andrew Hollman, Aaron Patton has been published in the journal Crop Science. This research demonstrates that fine fescues are truly low-input as they require less fertilizer and pesticides, while maintaining turf quality, compared to traditional turfgrass species.

Braun, R. C., Watkins, E., Hollman, A. B., and Patton, A. J. 2023. Assessing the fertilizer and pesticide input needs of cool-season turfgrass species. Crop Science, 63:3079–3095. https://doi.org/10.1002/csc2.21046 [Open Access]


New research publication from our team - 9/18/23

Learn more about our research! A new, open access article by Florence Breuillin-Sessoms, Dominic Petrella, Nancy Ehlke, Donn Vellekson and Eric Watkins has been published in the journal Crop Science. This article discusses the research in which several cultivars of Chewings, hard and strong creeping red fescue were interseeded with spring wheat to examine the potential of this method for seed production in northern Minnesota. Unfortunately, this cropping system did not seem optimal for fine fescue seed production so more research is needed. 


Are low-input turfgrasses really low input?

By Eric Watkins


University of Minnesota Turfgrass team in the media – 8/15/23

Check out our team’s latest efforts in educating the public about our work. Eric Watkins was interviewed for an article in Better Homes & Gardens. Read What Is a Bee Lawn? Plus How to Plant One by Anne Readel to learn about planting and maintaining a bee lawn.