Dominic Petrella

By Dominic Petrella

It is a common misconception that turfgrasses respond the same to neutral and foliar shade conditions. However, this is not true, and even some of the best turfgrasses for shady areas exhibit contrasting growth under these different types of shade. Let’s define the two types of shade:

Check out our team’s latest efforts in educating the public about our work!  We have a video, an upcoming Minnesota legislature address and three articles.

Water Irrigation Audit - a video from the city of Woodbury, MN features Dan Sandor demonstrating how to conduct an irrigation audit on a home lawn.

Chase Straw will be addressing members of the Minnesota legislature on October 17, 2019 advocating for benefits to golf course superintendents who implement water conservation strategies.

By Dominic Petrella

By Dominic Petrella

Shade can be stressful for turfgrasses due to decreasing photosynthesis, causing turfgrass to produce leaves that are more susceptible to traffic damage and disease incidence.  Turfgrasses grown in shade may not perform very well due to decreased density.  While we understand that shade is stressful, it’s commonly forgotten that there are two different types of shade, qualitative shade and quantitative shade (both having different properties) that can lead to these detrimental changes in turfgrass growth.  To better understand how qualitative shade and quantitative shade can effect turfgrasses, we first need to discuss how light is measured and evaluated. 

Several members of our team will be giving talks at Northern Green, a trade show and conference dedicated to green industry professionals.  Register now for this worthwhile event!

Northern Green
January 15–17, 2019
Minneapolis Convention Center
REGISTRATION

This year’s presentations from our team include:

University of Minnesota Turf Research Update

By Brian Horgan and Eric Watkins
16 January, 7:30 AM

The Turfgrass Science team at the University of Minnesota was well-represented at this year’s ASA and CSSA Annual Meeting held on November 4-7, 2018 in Baltimore, MD. Read on for a summary of the wide variety of topics covered by our researchers and be sure to check out the links with the full poster content.

A novel inoculation technique for integrating the endophyte Epichloe festucae into perennial ryegrass

By Garett Heineck, Brooke Ashbrenner, Michael Miller and Eric Watkins

By Eric Watkins

I often get asked what I’d recommend for a good fine fescue mixture for Minnesota. I usually recommend a mixture of the three fine fescue species that are most readily available: hard, Chewings, and strong creeping red. The tricky part is determining the final components of a fine fescue mixture that will result in a high-performing turf.

The TURF & GROUNDS FIELD DAY is back on the St. Paul campus this year as the University of Minnesota once again partners with the Minnesota Turf and Grounds Foundation to produce this popular event at TROE Center and UFore Nursery.

MAKE PLANS TO JOIN US ON THURS., AUG. 9 for outdoor education presented by University of Minnesota faculty and staff working in turfgrass science, horticulture and forestry. The Field Day will run from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., with presentation topics ranging from turfgrass species for natural areas to disease management in turf and trees. 

What are our former graduate students, postdocs and researchers doing now?

Sam Bauer received an M.Sc. in Applied Plant Sciences in 2011. His thesis work focused on late fall nitrogen fertilization and methods for increasing creeping bentgrass in golf course fairways. Later, he joined UMN Extension as Extension Educator for turfgrass, a position he held until 2018. He is now the executive director of the North Central Turfgrass Association and a consultant, working on a number of turf-related projects in Minnesota and the surrounding states.