Te perennial ryegrass control entry that is included in the trial was one of the lowest, or the lowest performing entry at each site, with the exception of Fort Collins, CO. In the first Fort Collins dataset, an interesting and different effect from the ET regimes was noticed. Under every ET regime, both for Kentucky bluegrass and tall fescue, the perennial ryegrass control entry was the top entry, in some cases statistically better than all entries. At the very least, the perennial ryegrass entry was statistically better than most tall fescue and bluegrass entries.
Besides the perennial ryegrass performance, ‘PST-K13-141’ and ‘PST-K11-118’ Kentucky bluegrass were consistently good at all three ET levels. For tall fescue, ‘PST-5SDS’ was the top entry under 40 percent ETo
were also among the best performing entries under the three irrigation regimes.
Te fifth reduced irrigation site, St. Paul, MN, utilized a modified ETo
schedule of 0, 25 and 75 percent
replacement. Moderate statistical significance was noted under the three irrigation regimes, with tall fescue scoring higher overall than Kentucky bluegrass. Under the 0 percent and 25 percent regimes, no bluegrass entry finished with an acceptable lawn turf quality rating (6.0). Consistently rating near the top under all three levels, include bluegrasses ‘Blue Note’, ‘Blue Devil’ and ‘PST-K3-141’. Conversely, almost every tall fescue entry finished with an acceptable turf quality rating under all regimes at St. Paul. Some of the best tall fescues under each ET level include ‘Nonet’, ‘DLFPS-321/3678’ and ‘PST-5SDS’.
Data from 2017 can be found at:
http://www.ntep.org/ reports/cs16w/
cs16w_18-2.htm. As of this writing, data from 2018 will be available on the NTEP website soon. 2019 data is being collected now and will be available in the spring of 2020.
Te warm-season water use trial, consisting of ten bermudagrass, five zoysiagrass, and two buffalograss entries was planted at ten total locations in the summer of 2018. Five locations were planted in the wetter eastern U.S. under a rain exclusion shelter, while five locations were planted in the drier western U.S., to manage using deficit ETo
irrigation. Each location has managed the
trial to encourage full establishment and coverage before initiating drought treatments. A few locations (i.e. Fresno, CA, Stillwater, OK, Las Cruces, NM) have seen slow establishment from some entries and have been advised to wait for full coverage of all entries before initiating treatments. Terefore, some locations may not initiate treatments until next year. Locations with full establishment have recently initiated drought treatments. (See Research location map on page 19.)
16
Environmental Impacts and Runoff Dynamics Associated with Turfgrass Removal and Urban Landscapes
, while ‘Catalyst’, ‘DLFPS-321/3678’ and ‘PST-R511’
($30,000, 2018-19) As rapid population growth continues to occur in urban areas, water conservation has become a key priority for many municipalities. While homeowners have traditionally installed and appreciated landscapes comprised predominantly of turfgrass; in recent years many municipalities have begun to offer rebate programs which incentivize removal of turfgrass areas and conversion to alternative ‘water-efficient’ landscapes with the goal of reducing outdoor water use. As a component of these programs, homeowners are often encouraged or required to adopt specific landscape designs and planting materials, presumably with adaptation to the region. However, the long-term environmental impacts and consequences for ecosystem services resulting from these landscape changes following lawn removal are rarely considered. Turfgrass lawns have been shown to provide an array of benefits both to the environment and to humans, including production of oxygen, carbon sequestration, improved surface and groundwater quality, heat dissipation, and temperature moderation. Te objectives of this research are to examine runoff flow, volume, and chemistry dynamics associated with urban landscape conversions. Te project will also seek to document differences in reflective temperatures, maintenance requirements, and overall landscape health/ performance over the course of the study.
Tis study is being conducted at the Urban Landscape Runoff Facility located at the Texas A&M University Soil and Crop Sciences Field Research Laboratory, College Station, TX. Until the initiation of the project in summer 2019, the facility had consisted of 24 individually irrigated 13-foot x 27-foot plots established with 6-year-old ‘Raleigh’ St. Augustinegrass. Each plot is equipped with irrigation control and a runoff collection system composed of an ISCO flow meter and auto-sampler providing full documentation of the runoff dynamics including flow patterns and runoff water volumes from irrigation and rainfall events, and also collects samples from these events for subsequent chemical analysis. Landscape conversions were made during summer 2018. Within all plots except ‘St. Augustinegrass Lawn’ plots, sod was removed to a 1-inch depth using a sod cutter prior to alternative landscape installation. For both ‘Xeriscaping’ and ‘Artificial Turf ’ treatments, an additional 3-inches of soil were excavated in order to create adequate depth for infill of decomposed granite base.
TPI Turf News September/October 2019
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