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Selecting Kentucky Bluegrass Varieties
By Dave Minner, Extension Turfgrass Specialist, Horticulture Department, Iowa State University
There are many good Kentucky bluegrass varieties to select from when choosing cool season grasses. Your decision should involve a consideration of the strong and weak points of a particular variety and how you intend to care for the turfgrass areas. For example, aggressive and traffic-tolerant bluegrass varieties sound good for sports turf, but they may not be the best choice on non-irrigated fields. A better choice for this site would be a low maintenance drought tolerant variety.
The following five categories will help you select the right grass for your specific needs. Another good source of information for grass selection is the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program [http://www.ntep.org]. NTEP specifically ranks grass variety performance in several areas including traffic tolerance, turf quality, color, summer performance, spring green-up, disease resistance, and sod strength.
HIGH MAINTENANCE - Have the highest level of performance when provided with frequent mowing, irrigation to prevent wilt, and good fertility (minimum 3 lbs N/1000 sq ft/yr).
LOW MAINTENANCE – Turfgrasses with open, upright growth habit and narrow leaves. Best adapted to moderate fertilization schemes (1-2 lbs N/1000 sq ft/yr) and high cutting heights (2.5 inches or greater) in regions with cool nights, bright sun, and low humidity. To be used on turf sites with limited watering or summer dormancy. Because of their susceptibility to leaf spot they often fade when disease pressure occurs.
AGGRESSIVE TYPES - Varieties produce dense growth and recover quickly from traffic, but produce more thatch than other bluegrass varieties and will require a routine core aerification program. Use aggressive types in high traffic areas of football and soccer fields during initial establishment or when overseeding.
COMPACT TYPES - Varieties with a low, compact growth habit and good resistance to leafspot. With proper care and attention to watering these varieties can be routinely mowed at 0.75 inches with occasional tournament mowing at 0.5 inches, as required for close-cut baseball infields. There are two subgroups within the compact types. Midnight types are very dark green with long winter dormancy, late spring green up, and good turf quality and heat tolerance. America types have finer leaf texture and higher density with moderate winter dormancy and recovery from summer stress.
SPRING AND WINTER TYPES - Varieties with medium density and growth habit that have good cool weather vigor, green-up earlier in the spring, and maintain good winter color. Especially useful for late winter/early spring sports such as college baseball and high school soccer. They have medium density and growth habit. Seed head formation causes the Bellevue Types to become stemmy in late spring or early summer. The CELA Types (Challenger, Eclipse, Liberty, Adelphi types) are less stemmy than the Bellevue types.
| Selecting Kentucky Bluegrass Varieties for Athletic Fields | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High/Medium Maintenance |
Low Maintenance |
Aggressive Types |
Compact Types |
Spring/Winter Types |
| A-34*, Abbey, America*, Allure*, Apollo, Arcadia, Absolute, Award*, Banff, Baron, Blacksburg*, Blackstone, Brilliant, Challenger, Chateau, Chicago, Champagne*, Coventry*, Cynthia, Eclipse*, Explorer, Freedom II, Geronimo, Glade*, Impact, Indigo, Jefferson, Julia, Liberator, Limousine*, Merit, Midnight, Moonlight, Nassau*, North Star, NuGlade, Nugget, Odyssey*, Optigreen, Parade, Pick 8, Preakness, Princeton 105*, Quantum Leap, Ram I, Rambo*, Rita, Rugby II*, Serene*, SR2000, Showcase, Total Eclipse, Touchdown, Unique*, Wildwood | Alene, Argyle, Barblue, Barmax, Baron, Bartitia, Baritone, Bariris, Bronco, Caliber, Canterbury, Cynthia, Haga, Harmony, Monopoly, North Star, Ram I, SR2000, Unique, Washington Common Types |
Limousine*, North Star, Princeton 104*, Touchdown | Amazon*, Alpine, Blackstone, Blacksburg, Conni, Glade*, Indigo, Moonlight,
Nugget, Plantini, Princeton P105*, RamI, SR2100, Wildwood
Midnight Types America Types |
Bellevue Type Classic*, Freedom, Haga, Suffolk
CELA Type |