DNA markers

By Eric Watkins and Yinjie Qiu

This article was originally published on the Low Input Turf Using Fine Fescues blog.

Fine fescue research has progressed rapidly in recent years, spurred by greater interest in low-input turf and the availability of funding for improving these grasses. While giving talks to various groups about lawn grasses for Minnesota, we often follow the introduction of fine fescues with a refrain similar to “they all look very similar”: translation “don’t ask me how to tell the fine fescues apart!”.

By Yinjie Qiu

The fine fescue species, which include Chewings fescue, hard fescue, sheep fescue, strong creeping red fescue, and slender creeping red fescue, have been shown to perform well as turfgrasses in low-input environments in temperate climates such as in Minnesota.  Fine fescues grow well in the shade or sun, have reduced mowing requirements, and possess good drought tolerance.