drought

Help with lawn water conservation

By Gary Deters

Thu, 01/19/2023 - 08:39


UMN Grounds and Parks Field Day - Register now!

drone view of the turfgrass research plots

Registration is open for our UMN Turfgrass Grounds and Parks Field Day!

Thu, 06/02/2022 - 15:24


New research publication from our team - 10/26/21

Learn more about our research! A research article from our group has been published in the August 2021 issue of HortTechnology. Read about the results of examining the drought performance of locally available retail lawn seed products.

Tue, 10/26/2021 - 14:25


National award for water conservation collaboration

For the past several years, we have partnered with the Metropolitan Council on the Twin Cities Lawn Irrigation Efficiency Study. Recently, the Metropolitan Council earned a national award for water conservation collaborations from the U.S.

Wed, 10/13/2021 - 14:35


University of Minnesota Turfgrass team in the media – 7/21/21

Check out our team’s latest efforts in educating the public about our work. Eric Watkins was featured in a Kare 11 news segment, Maggie Reiter was interviewed in the Star Tribune, and Shane Evans was featured in a Fox 9 news segment!

Wed, 07/21/2021 - 15:59


July = Smart irrigation month, but how can these “smart” irrigation technologies help us in a drought?

By Shane Evans

For those of you who don't know, the Irrigation Association has deemed July as Smart Irrigation Month. According to their website, “Smart Irrigation Month is an Irrigation Association initiative celebrated throughout July to promote the social, economic and environmental benefits of efficient irrigation technologies, products and services in landscape, turf and agricultural irrigation” (Irrigation Association, 2020).

Tue, 07/20/2021 - 21:58


Allow some browning in lawns to conserve water

In Yard and Garden News, Maggie Reiter, Extension turfgrass educator, Shane Evans, lawn water conservation educator, and Florence Breuillin-Sessoms, turfgrass scientist, have written a very timely article. If you are wondering about your brown lawn, make sure to read Allow some browning in lawns to conserve water for tips on handling this hot and dry weather.

Fri, 06/18/2021 - 13:00


Drought in the land of 10,000 lakes

By Shane Evans

Wed, 06/09/2021 - 11:34


Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi: AMF and their interactions with turfgrass species

By Florence Sessoms

In the first part of this series, I described what arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are and how they can benefit plants. In this post, I will discuss how AMF might benefit turfgrasses. Cool-season and warm-season grasses are both able to be infected with mycorrhizal fungi. A quick literature review showed that several benefits of AMF were observed with turfgrasses such as improved biomass, nutrient content, decrease in weed incidence and disease severity (Table 1). 

Mon, 06/08/2020 - 09:26