Greens Height Cool Season Turfgrass Survival Under Ice Encasement By: Andrew Hollman, University of Minnesota
The variability in temperatures and precipitation during our winters has led to more golf courses in Minnesota experiencing accumulation of ice on their golf greens for longer durations. In other parts of the country and world, turfgrass managers deal with this predicament yearly. The University of Minnesota is working in collaboration with other researchers in the United States and from the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO) to investigate differences among species used for golf greens in surviving a long period of ice encasement. Plots for the ICEBREAKER trial were seeded July 13, 2021, at the Turfgrass Research Outreach and Education (TROE) Center on the St. Paul campus, on a USGA specified putting green. The cultivars ‘Radar’ Chewings fescue ( Festuca ru46
bra ssp. commutata), ‘Cezanne’ slender creeping red fescue (Festuca rubra ssp. litoralis), ‘Luminary’ creeping bentgrass ( Agrostis stolonifera), ‘Nordlys’ velvet bentgrass (Agrostis canina), and ‘Two Putt’ annual bluegrass (Poa annua var. reptans), were seeded at 1.5 lbs./1000 ft. A border of ‘S1’ creeping bentgrass was seeded to provide a turf surrounding the repetitions. Frequent fertilization, irrigation and topdressing allowed the plots to fill in and grow at a mowing height of 0.140 inches by the fall of 2021. Once growth slowed and mowing was no longer needed in fall 2021, the plot was marked out to allow for the placement of aluminum edging around each of the four replications. Although each
