Eric Watkins
New research publication from our team - 7/11/22
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.
University of Minnesota Turfgrass team in the media – 5/12/22
Check out our team’s latest efforts in educating the public about our work. Eric Watkins was featured in a WCCO news segment: What’s The Purpose Of The ‘No Mow May’ Movement?
University of Minnesota Turfgrass team in the media – 4/18/22
Check out our team’s latest efforts in educating the public about our work. An article from the UMN Turfgrass Science team was featured in the latest edition of the MGCSA's Hole Notes publication.
New research publication from our team - 4/4/22
Learn more about our research! A new article from our group has been published in Crop Science. This research examined the effects of different levels of nitrogen fertilizer and the inclusion of clover on the establishment of fine fescues.
Braun, R.C., E.T. Braithwaite, A.R. Kowalewski, E. Watkins, A.B. Hollman, and A.J. Patton. 2022. Nitrogen fertilizer and clover inclusion effects on the establishment of fine fescue taxa. Crop Science 62(2):947-957. https://doi.org/10.1002/csc2.20704 [Open Access]
New research publication from our team - 3/30/22
Learn more about our research! A new article from our group has been published in Plant Methods. This research found that layering photoselective filters results in more accurate simulations of foliar shade and offer advantages over neutral density shade cloth in research.
Petrella, D.P., Breuillin-Sessoms, F. & Watkins, E. Layering contrasting photoselective filters improves the simulation of foliar shade. Plant Methods 18, 16 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13007-022-00844-8
University of Minnesota Turfgrass team in the media – 3/17/22
Check out our team’s latest efforts in educating the public about our work. Articles about the UMN Turfgrass Science team were featured in the last several editions of the MGCSA's Hole Notes publication.
Another belated goodbye: Dominic Petrella
Just before the 2016 annual meeting of the Crop Science Society of America, I was contacted by a graduate student from Ohio State University named Dominic Petrella who was interested in joining our group. We met for breakfast, and after talking about some AL Central baseball (Dominic is a rabid Cleveland fan), we started talking about the ways a plant physiologist could support turfgrass breeding and genetics--early in our conversation it became quite clear to me that he would be a great fit in Minnesota.