Augustinegrass and seashore paspalum in the marketplace. Tese new cultivars will have improved drought and salt tolerance, as well as other improvements. To evaluate some of those new experimental grasses, NTEP initiated new trials of St. Augustinegrass and seashore paspalum in the summer of 2016. Tose trials are complete and the final summary from all data from those trials is now available and is discussed below. New trials of both St. Augustinegrass and seashore paspalum were established in summer 2023 with the first data available in spring 2025.
St. Augustinegrass St. Augustinegrass is a species where several older
cultivars are still competitive in the marketplace. Floratam, developed by the University of Florida and Texas A&M and released in 1973, Raleigh, a cold tolerant cultivar and newer releases Mercedes and Palmetto still compete in the U.S. market. In some areas, sod producers grow and market their own local selections while there are still common-type cultivars, like Texas Common sold extensively in some
markets.New releases such as TamStar and CitraBlue are making their way into the marketplace, which means more, and better cultivar choices will soon be available for sod growers and homeowners alike. Our 2016 trial was completed and posted in 2022. A
new trial was started in 2023 that includes nineteen entries at eleven locations, with 2024 data now available. Turfgrass quality data from 2024 was divided into two groups, with DALSA 1914 at the top of Group 1 and FSA 1617 tops in Group 2.
Ancillary trials of various traits are included in
the latest St. Augustinegrass trial. Sod strength, measured twice at Jackson Springs, NC, showed Cobalt and FSA 2026 with the highest tensile strength. Drought was induced, and entry response was measured at Dallas, TX, with DALSA 2301, DALSA 1910, and FSA 1907 the best performance in three quality ratings during drought dry- down. At Gainesville, FL, shade tolerance was measured under shade cloth. XSA 11513, FSA 2026, Cobalt, and XSA 11026 showed the highest quality and finished in the top statistical group.
Establishment was measured at several locations
in 2023 and 2024, however entries varied considerably by location. Gray leaf spot (Pyricularia grisea), an important disease on St. Augustinegrass was noted at two locations, Raleigh, NC, and College Station, TX, with XSA 11026, XSA 11513, and FSA 2026 as the highest rated entries. Finally, winter injury was experienced at Dallas, TX, and Stillwater, OK. At Stillwater, the only entry with less than 90 percent kill was Raleigh (84.0 percent). At Dallas, Raleigh also showed low winter injury (23.3 percent), matched by Palmetto (23.3 percent), and bested by FSA 2301 (18.3 percent).
TPI Turf News July/August 2025
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