WARM-SEASON Last year’s article reported on fourth-year
data from our latest warm-season trials: bermudagrass, zoysiagrass, and warm-season putting green established in 2019. Summaries of the five years of data from these trials, collected from 2019-2023, are discussed in this article and are now available online. In addition, first-year data of new St. Augustinegrass and seashore paspalum trials are now available and discussed in this article
Turfgrass quality data from fifteen standard trial
sites, collected over five years, were analyzed and summarized in a final report. Seeded and vegetative groups were compared separately as well as against each other. As with past trials, the best vegetative entries often outperformed the best seeded entries in turfgrass quality data. Analysis was conducted by LPI group and by
management schedule. Performance varied by LPI group for each year, however, data analyzed by management schedule (fairway/athletic field or home lawn turf ), showed TifTuf ™
,
Tahoma 31, Latitude 36, and FB 1628 as the only entries to finish in the top statistical group under each schedule. Ancillary trial testing was conducted from 2020-
2023, again delivering some interesting data. Drought tolerance was evaluated at College Station, TX, and Riverside, CA. Tese two sites utilized different methods to impose drought, with College Station eliminating irrigation for a block of time (‘acute’ tolerance) and Riverside managing using a reduced ETo
replacement
(‘chronic’ tolerance). Large statistical differences were noted among entries at Riverside, with only TifTuf ™
,
outperforming all entries by finishing in the top turf quality statistical group. In complete contrast, mean turf quality ratings from the College Station drought trial showed TifTuf, MSB-1042, Celebration Hybrid, and FB 1628 as some of the top entries, however with few statistical differences among entries. Traffic tolerance data was collected at Raleigh,
NC, and Knoxville, TN, for three or four years. No statistical differences were noted at Knoxville in three years of summarized data, but the Raleigh site saw good entry separation. Tere was performance variability based on year, but some of the best entries for highest quality or ground cover at the end of the eight-week fall traffic season include Celebration Hybrid, FB 1628, Latitude 36, MSB-1050, and Tahoma 31.
Greenhouse space is filling up with new entries in the 2025 NTEP warm- season grass trials.
Bermudagrass Te 2019 bermuda NTEP trial contains thirteen
(13) seeded entries and twenty-two (22) vegetative entries, established at twenty-one (21) locations across the southeast, Transition Zone, and southwest U.S. Many of these entries are experimental cultivars or new commercial cultivars. NTEP evaluates warm-season grasses by comparing seeded and vegetative entries, also by separately comparing seeded vs. seeded and vegetative vs. vegetative.
Comparing bermudagrass cultivars and experimentals in trials at Riverside, California.
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TPI Turf News July/August 2025
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