SITEONE LANDSCAPE SUPPLY
Provided by Debra Barnes, Senior Category Manager, Seed (Turf & Natives) & Wildflowers
SOD PRODUCTION SERVICES Provided by Chad Adcock, Vice President of Business
Yet the sun did come out “tomorrow,” clearing the stage for the many promising 2023 cultivar introductions, including SiteOne Landscape Supplies’ Endgame Tall Fescue pictured here.
Weather Dry fall paired with a cold spring—very few fields “look good.” Yield decreases are expected to be high as crucial plant development stages are being impacted. Despite a poor yield, industry carryover is great enough that demand for new crop will be low.
Trends
Consumer purchasing habits have changed due to inventory availability and are only purchasing as needed. Retail and Professional markets are still showing slight declines in consumption, while international markets have slowed drastically with the lack of movement to China.
Production Yields in Pacific Northwest markets will be below average due to the lack of rain in the Fall of 2022, but it remains to be seen how much. Conditions during June will give us a better perspective. Other production areas look average. Quality challenges will continue with the 2023 crop due to application timing in competition with weather conditions in the Fall and Spring. Quality seed will be limited.
Anticipated Pricing Pricing has been very volatile in 2022 due to negotiation cancelation by the DOJ in Oregon. Much work has been done to bring everyone back to the table this year, but softening of pricing has occurred.
All the input provided by the seed and vegetative stock suppliers is aimed at helping sod producers achieve their goal of providing quality sod to their customers. Tis photo shows Sod Production Services’ Tahoma 31 Bermudagrass on the LA Dodger’s field for Major League Baseball’s All- Star Game.
Development
Weather A big portion of the United States from Texas up through Oklahoma, and along the East Coast into New Jersey, experienced a horrible cold snap at the end of December 2022. So, much bermudagrass was lost due to winterkill. Tere was winterkill all the way down into Alabama. All of the bermudagrass varieties were impacted. I’ve heard reports of some sod farms producing Tifway 419 being completely wiped out. Even the most cold-tolerant bermuda, Tahoma 31, was impacted but to a significantly lesser degree. Tis has stressed the sod farmers and created a shortage of bermudagrass. Te sod farmers had to go out and replace impacted sod for recent customers who lost grass. Te farms themselves lost a lot of grass, especially on acreage that was harvested in the fall. As a result, bermudagrass acreage numbers and availability are extremely low this year. Fortunately, most growers of Tahoma 31 saw only minor challenges and are ready to meet the demand.
Trends As a result of low inventory, coupled with increased demand, bermudagrass prices are rising. Right now, we are seeing low bermudagrass inventory levels because of that cold snap last December that caused winterkill issues on most bermudagrass varieties.
But the shortage is not only due to the winterkill issue. Tere is also a high demand from the golf industry for bermudagrass. It’s different this year than it has been in past years. Ever since Covid, golf has been on a rebound. After 20 years of a depressed golf market (I can attest to
44 TPI Turf News July/August 2023
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