Performance of Winter Overseeded and Colorant-treated ‘Tifway’ Bermudagrass Receiving Weekly Irrigation and Simulated Traffic

Abstract

<jats:p>Municipal water restrictions across the southern and southwestern United States have created additional challenges for maintaining safe playing surfaces on recreational turf facilities. In recent years, many cities within these regions have begun to impose irrigation restrictions during winter months. Although winter overseeding has been regularly practiced in these areas, interest and use of colorants as an alternative to overseeding has grown due to decreasing water availability and budget concerns. Data on relative performance of colorant-treated vs. overseeded dormant turf would be of interest to turf managers, because colorants may be more cost-effective and require less water than winter overseeding. The objectives of this 2-year field study were to evaluate effects of winter treatments on performance (green cover, surface hardness, and soil moisture attributes), turfgrass injury resulting from simulated traffic, and spring transition of ‘Tifway’ bermudagrass (<jats:italic>Cynodon dactylon</jats:italic> L. × <jats:italic>Cynodon transvaalensis</jats:italic> Burtt-Davy) under a 1-day per week irrigation schedule. Treatments included 1) untreated bermudagrass, 2) fall colorant-treated bermudagrass, 3) perennial ryegrass (<jats:italic>Lolium perenne</jats:italic> L.) overseeded bermudagrass, and 4) turf-type annual ryegrass (<jats:italic>Lolium multiflorum</jats:italic> Lam.) overseeded bermudagrass. In both years, treatment differences were detected for percent green cover, soil volumetric water content (VWC), percent visual turfgrass injury, surface hardness, and percent bermudagrass transition. Percent green cover and visual turfgrass injury levels were similar between annual and perennial ryegrass in year 1, whereas loss of green cover and greater turfgrass injury were noted in annual ryegrass during the spring of year 2. Residual benefits of fall colorant applications extended into February of year 1, but dissipated by late December of year 2, likely due to higher rainfall and warmer temperatures, which prevented full bermudagrass shoot dormancy. Overseeding reduced bermudagrass spring transition by up to 50% compared with untreated and colorant-treated plots. Fall colorant treatments did not accelerate bermudagrass transition compared with untreated plots. Results of the study demonstrate that environmental differences from season to season can impact the relative benefits derived from colorant applications, as well as the performance of annual and perennial ryegrass.</jats:p>

Winter golf cart traffic, colorants, and overseeding influence winter green cover and spring recovery of buffalograss

“…Winter golf cart traffic did not have a detrimental effect on nontreated buffalograss survival and spring recovery in our study (Table 1 and Table 2), which suggests that it is safe for golf courses to allow low to moderate levels of cart use during winter dormancy. These results are in agreement with past traffic research on other dormant warm‐season turf (Hargey et al., 2016). The results also demonstrated that using turf colorants to provide winter GC during buffalograss dormancy may be a better option than overseeding buffalograss in the transition zone because of the negative impact overseeding had on the spring recovery of buffalograss in both years.…”

“…Overseeded perennial ryegrass was a top‐peforming treatment during both years (Table 1 and Table 2). However, the spring transition and recovery back to warm‐season turf can be challenging (Fontanier & Steinke, 2017; Hargey, Wherley, Reynolds, White, & Parker, 2016). This was also observed in our study as a result of the slow growth rate of buffalograss in combination with competition from perennial ryegrass prior to the flazasulfuron application.…”

Durability and concentration of organic colorant in the visual quality of Discovery TM bermudagrass

“…They concluded that the lawn presented color permanence for up to 197 days in the autumn/winter, but with significant loss in color at approximately 60 days. Hargey et al (2016) affirm that it is necessary to increase the number of applications to maintain the color during the winter months, which is dependent on several factors, including cultivated species and conditions of application (Figures 4 to 6). Figure 4.…”

“…Over the last decade, the practice of using colorants has increased in popularity, which according to Hargey et al (2016), may be related to water conservation efforts, as well as the reduced operating costs when compared to the cost of winter overseeding (a practice widely used on golf courses and football fields in the winter). In Brazil, bermudagrass (Cynodon spp.)…”

Cool-season Grasses for Overseeding Sport Turfs: Germination and Performance under Limiting Environmental Conditions

“…also have been developed in recent years. These annual ryegrasses facilitate easier spring transition compared with perennial ryegrass and possess finer texture and improved color compared with previous annual ryegrass cultivars (Hargey et al, 2016). Performance and quality of recent cultivars of annual ryegrass have been compared with diploid perennial ryegrass cultivars, and the results showed that transition of turf-type annual ryegrasses occurred %1 month earlier that diploid perennial ryegrass (Fontanier and Steinke, 2017;Nelson et al, 2005).…”