Low Input Turf Using Fine Fescues

How much nitrogen fertilizer do fine fescues need during establishment?

By Ross Braun and Aaron Patton, Purdue University

a closeup of soil with fine fescue seedling emerging

A team of scientists at Purdue University, Oregon State University, and University of Minnesota investigated establishment differences among the fine fescue taxa and at the same time investigated the influences of different levels of nitrogen fertilizer and including clover. The objectives were to investigate differences among fine fescue taxa and determine optimal N fertility or clover-inclusion programs for fine fescue taxa during establishment for future low-input sites.


Open-field burning in Oregon fine fescue seed production

By Nicole P. Anderson and Brian C. Donovan, Oregon State University

A field with burned vegetation

Since the late 1940s, open-field burning has been used as a widespread practice in grass seed production in the Pacific Northwest. Post-harvest residue management is an important factor in several fine fescues, including creeping red fescue and Chewings fescue, and Kentucky bluegrass seed crops.


Six new fine fescue extension publications now available!

By Ross Braun and Aaron Patton, Purdue University

a close up of a lawn with fine fescue turfgrasses

One component of the multi-state USDA-SCRI fine fescue initiative was to create effective educational materials that cover the benefits of fine fescues and information learned in our first project as well as in the current projects with objectives that focus on overcoming establishment and management barriers relevant to different consumers and turf practitioners.


Evaluating fine fescues for golf greens in cold climates

By Gary Deters and Eric Watkins, University of Minnesota

A roller with tines attached to a golf cart

For a golf course superintendent, managing creeping bentgrass/annual bluegrass putting greens on a daily, monthly, and yearly basis is always a challenge. The goal, regardless of turfgrass species, is to manage the turf to be as healthy as possible while the greens are subjected to daily play from golfers. Cultural practices, nutrition, and water management are important to the success of the golf course playability and overall health of the turf.


A reference genome library

By Shaun Bushman, USDA-ARS

Grass plants evenly spaced in research plots

Much like a library contains books of different types and tons of information, a ‘reference genome’ is a library of all the sequences in that genome.  In plant genomes, there are tens of thousands of expressed genes, sequence motifs that pinpoint telomeres and centromeres, large swaths of repeat regions, and other pieces of DNA that do not code proteins but tend to affect gene function.  The recent improvements in DNA sequencing have allowed us to sequence the genome of hard fescue (Festuca brevipila).


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