ON RESEARCH Cultivar Trials KENTUCKY BLUEGRASS AND TURF-TYPE TALL FESCUE

Written by and photos provided by Dr. Sara Stricker, Communications & Outreach Coordinator, GTI. Research by John Watson and Dr. Eric Lyons.

There are two kinds of cultivar trials in progress at the Guelph Turfgrass Institute, both with the goal of improving turf performance in Canada.

The Turfgrass Water Conservation Alliance (TWCA) cultivar trials compare experimental cultivars against known drought tolerant standards to qualify drought tolerant turfgrasses for responsible use in the managed environment. This drought qualification trialing uses standardized methods across multiple years and locations to achieve a meaningful comparison of drought tolerance across a broad geographic range. The trial in Guelph, Ontario was one of nine locations across Canada and the United States of America which ran a trial on Kentucky bluegrass trials in 2018–2021.

The TWCA conducts trials using rainout shelters (see image) which limit the rainfall over the trial. The shelters are covered with clear plastic covering to allow light penetration, and they are open at the bottom and sides to allow for airflow. Data is collected using a lightbox and camera, and the photos are analyzed using Digital Image Analysis (DIA) technology developed by the University of Arkansas and NexGen.

Of the 59 entered cultivars (including known standards), 10 entries qualified unanimously having clearly met or exceeded drought tolerance at all locations (see table). Note that some of these cultivars are proprietary and have not been named yet, but you can also check for the TWCA seal on the product.

The second cultivar trial run at the Guelph Turfgrass Institute is the National Turfgrass Evaluation Project (NTEP) turf-type tall fescue evaluation. Not only is this trial using a different species of grass, there is an entirely different protocol in place. The NTEP trials do not use fungicides and only sparingly apply herbicides when needed. In addition, this trial is regularly irrigated.

NTEP is a non-profit program, sponsored by the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center and the National Turfgrass Federation, Inc. The data from tests can be used by extension specialists and others for making

231

267 recommendations, and turf managers can access the reports on the different turf species online to compare the performance of the cultivars in their geographic region.

The NTEP tall fescue trial in Guelph collected data on density, colour, spring greenup, snow mould damage, and leaf texture.

One of the biggest issues with using tall fescue in Canada is winter survival and snow mould resistance. We noticed some severe snow mould damage on many of the cultivars – and notably the older, wider-texture cultivar (with an undesirable lime green colour) exhibited decent resistance to snow mould damage (see image). This is a challenge to the turf breeders – can you please input those disease defence genes into the newer, finer-textured cultivars? Notably the cultivars Firecracker, Teacher, PPG-TF 231, and PPG-TF267 had less snow mould in spring of 2022. For the best overall performance, which includes summer colour and density, the cultivars listed in the table below averaged out with the best performance out of 132 cultivars tested.

T17-47

T14-35

K13-141

BEDAZZLED - BrettYoung

WATERWORKS - BrettYoung

MALLARD - Pennington Seed

Please note that the NTEP data is still preliminary, and we will be conducting two more years of data collection before the final report is issued.

For more information, visit the Turfgrass Water Conservation Association (TGWCA. org), the National Turfgrass Evaluation Project (NTEP.org), or the Guelph Turfgrass institute (GuelphTurfgrass.ca) website. ■

Written by Mike Banton, Diploma in Turfgrass Management, University of Guelph, Graduating 2024.

It was June 9th, 2001, another regular and beautiful Saturday afternoon at Westmount Golf & Country Club, or so we thought. 20-years old at the time, I was working the 2-close shift as an Assistant CPGA Professional in the proshop. That afternoon changed when the phone rang and on the other end was Rosemary Kirkpatrick, the loving wife of long time Superintendent, Hugh Kirkpatrick. “Hi Mike, it’s Rose calling. Have you seen Hughey? He’s usually home by now and I can’t seem to get ahold of him.” Hugh had played golf that morning and I remember him coming off the 18th hole headed down to his office. It was late afternoon and as I popped out of the proshop and looked down towards the maintenance shop, there was his Jeep parked in it’s regular spot like every other day. What came next was something I have never and will never forget. As I walked through his office door to find him, there he was slumped over in his office chair with a two-way radio clenched