Gary Deters

By Gary Deters

Updated technology products for saving water in home lawn irrigation systems have been available for many years. These products include Wi-Fi-enabled irrigation controllers, rain sensors, soil sensors, smart sprinkler heads, and smart hose timers. The benefit of the Wi-Fi-enabled controllers or weather-based products is they automatically adjust watering schedules based on current or future weather conditions. This helps homeowners avoid over-watering or under-watering, and conserves water. It also helps provide peace of mind, as homeowners don’t have to worry about adjusting sprinklers when weather changes or when they are not home to monitor conditions.

Learn more about our research! A new, open access article by Florence Sessoms, Dominic Petrella, Gary Deters, Jillian Turberville and Eric Watkins has been published in Crop Science. Their study examined turfgrass mixtures and how the mixtures performed after short drought and recovery periods.

Breuillin-Sessoms, F., Petrella, D., Deters, G., Turberville, J., & Watkins, E. (2025). Response of cool-season turfgrass monocultures and two-way mixtures to sequential acute drought periods. Crop Science, 65, e21385. doi.org/10.1002/csc2.21385

By Gary Deters

The summers of 2021-2023 presented significant challenges for those managing lawns or turfgrass with drought conditions, extreme temperatures, and a lack of rainfall. Many homeowners likely relied heavily on underground irrigation systems to maintain healthy grass or to follow municipal odd/even watering restrictions. Even smart irrigation systems with rain sensors, soil sensors, or weather-based controllers allowed irrigation based on weather and soil conditions due to the lack of rain.

By Gary Deters

In 2023, with help from the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, we redesigned our Minnesota State Fair exhibit space in the Agriculture Horticulture Building. This redesign required a lot of thought and planning to update the display’s function to better educate fairgoers on lawn care and water use (Figure 1). Although the State Fair is months away, we have already begun planning for our annual exhibit in late August.

By Gary Deters

By Gary Deters

Overseeding into an existing yard can be very difficult because there are many different scenarios, challenges, and questions that go into the decision. What to do? What kind of seed? Where to buy seed? How much seed do I use? Do I need to prep the area? How much water is required to get the seed to germinate? What do I do after the seeds germinate?

By Gary Deters

Establishing lawns from seed can sometimes be difficult even under ideal growing conditions, and there are many considerations when putting seed on the ground for small repairs as well. Spring is a time when successful lawn seeding is possible, but soil temperatures in early spring are cold which can prohibit rapid germination and establishment. We have now entered the beginning of summer when growing turfgrass from seed becomes even more difficult and we do not normally recommend seeding your lawn this time of the year. 

The UMN Turfgrass Science team will be at Eagan Market Fest, located at the Eagan Festival Grounds (1501 Central Parkway, Eagan, MN), on Wednesday, June 21, 2023 from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m.

The UMN Turfgrass Science team will be at three Summer in the City Neighborhood Meetings in Coon Rapids parks this summer. The events will be: