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Tag: cultivar

Zoysiagrass Cultivars to Consider in Kansas

Posted on by Jack Fry

Options for sod producers, golf courses, and lawns

K-State has been closely involved with Texas A&M University on release of zoysiagrass cultivars over many years.  Sod producers in Kansas can consider these cultivars for grow-in and release to the industry.

Vegetative Zoysiagrass

Meyer Zoysia

Meyer (Z. japonica) is the cultivar that has been widely used in Kansas and was released in 1951 from the USDA, Beltsville, MD, and the USGA, Far Hills, NJ. It has been widely used over many areas since it was released in the 1950s.  Breeding efforts have been continuing to develop cultivars that are well suited for the Midwest – more below.

Innovation Zoysia

K-State has worked closely with Texas A&M since 2004 in development and release of new zoysiagrass cultivars that have good cold tolerance.Innovation was released from Texas A&M and K-State in 2015, and is the first zoysiagrass for our region that has a fine texture, high quality, and cold tolerance equivalent to Meyer. It was a breeding release that involved a cross between Z. japonica and Z. matrella. Z. japonica has the cold tolerance and Z. matrella has fine leaf texture. This is a unique cultivar with a finer texture than Meyer but also has cold tolerance. It is presently provided by Sod Solutions to sod producers.

More details here

Innovation zoysiagrass in Olathe Kansas.

Chisholm Zoysia

Chisholm (Z. japonica) was released in 2012 from Texas A&M and K-State. It has a coarser leaf texture, but is deep-rooted, has good drought tolerance, and would perform well in southern Kansas. More details here

Chisholm zoysia at John C. Pair Horticultural Center near Wichita, KS.

DALZ 1701 Zoysia – Vegetative

In 2022, after 10 years of research evaluation across multiple states in the transition zone, a new zoysiagrass cultivar (experimental name DALZ 1701) was released by Texas A&M, K-State, and Purdue.  A standard cultivar name for this will soon be available; it will likely be provided by sod producers in the next couple of years.  Highlights of DALZ 1701: • Freezing tolerance of DALZ 1701 is similar to Meyer and Innovation • Exhibits superior heat tolerance than Meyer and has performed well in Dallas, TX • Drought tolerance is better than Meyer  • Has dark green genetic color and better fall color retention than Meyer • Exhibits superior tolerance to large patch, take-all patch, mites and hunting billbugs than Meyer. More details here

DALZ 1701 (larger area above) and Meyer (small plot area below) after 30 days with only 1 inch of rainfall and no irrigation in Olathe, KS.  Meyer is showing significant drought stress, but DALZ 1701 is not.

Seeded Zoysiagrass

Zenith Zoysia – Seeded

Zenith (Z. japonica) is a seeded cultivar that was released in 1993 and has performed well in Kansas and is available through purchase online. It has been well established on several golf courses in the state and has performed very well. More details here 

LEARN MORE ABOUT ZOYSIA IN THIS RECENTLY UPDATED EXTENSION DOCUMENT:  Zoysiagrass in Kansas

 

The Art of Knowing Your Seed Label

Posted on by jahoyle

(By Evan Alderman, KSU Turfgrass MS Student; Ross Braun, KSU Turfgrass PhD Student; and Jared Hoyle, KSU Turfgrass Research and Extension)

Do you enjoy having a nice green lawn, but didn’t have time to get your fall seeding done? Don’t fret, there is still time. Although the optimal time of year to seed cool season grass species is during the fall months, there is still time for you to get a great looking lawn for this summer. Now before you go to your local garden supply store and pick up some seed, there are several things you should take into account before making your purchase. The art of knowing your seed label begins now.

Turfgrass Species and Cultivar

seedSo you walk into your local garden supply store and you look at all of your options for potential seed you can use and you say to yourself “I really want a lush green lawn fast”. So you pick up a bag that says something along the lines of “quick establishment”, since that is what you want. Although this bag of seed sounds like a great option, you probably should check out the seed label before making this purchase. In the image is a picture of a seed bag with those claims. As you can see this bag contains 90.50% annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) and only 5.97% perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne). Now as a turfgrass scientist I can assure you that you may have a great looking lawn temporarily, but annual ryegrass should not be a long term solution. Which is why Rule #1 for the art of knowing your seed label is know what turfgrass species performs best in your area. For much of the state of Kansas, tall fescue (Lolium arundinacea) is the predominant species in most home lawns. Tall fescue is able to handle most of the drought conditions that Kansas likely endures.

Rule #2 for the art of knowing your seed labels is also knowing which species cultivars grow best in your area of the country. One of the best options for knowing which turfgrass cultivars perform best in your area is the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program (www.ntep.org). On their website, there is data available for homeowners to look at from many different university studies involving different turfgrass species and cultivars. This information will help you make an informed decision on what turfgrass species and cultivar will work best for you, this is a step in the right direction for achieving that lush green lawn you are wanting.

Other Seed Label Information

Although some of the most important information on the seed label is the turfgrass species and variety, there are several other pieces of information on the label that can be helpful. Rule #3, look at the percent germination for all turfgrass species on the seed label. Just because that type of seed is on the label doesn’t mean all of it will germinate. Thus it is important to look at the germination rate, and chose a bag of seed that has a high germination percentage. Rule #4, although the bag of turf seed you are going to by mostly contains grass seed, bags of seed can also can weed seed. It is very important to look at the percentage of weed seed in your bag of seed, if that percentage is high, I would probably pass on that bag and look for another one with a lower percent of weed seed. If a seed label has 0.5% weed seed then that equals approximately 12 to 16 weeds being planted per square foot. A seed label with <0.01 weed seed is good but 0% is best. This also applies to the “other crop” section of the label. Lastly, Rule #5, consider the seed testing date on the seed label. As with anything, turfgrass seed can get old, this will highly effect the germination percentage from that bag of seed. It is recommended to use newer seed and avoid anything over one year past the testing date.

Utilizing these five rules will help you make an informed decision for planting a lush green lawn this spring.

Always remember to READ THE LABEL for the correct rate, turfgrass tolerance, and specific instructions before application!!!

***Mention of trade names or commercial products in this article is solely for identification purposes and does not imply recommendation or endorsement, nor is criticism implied of similar products not mentioned by Kansas State University.***

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