007 Bentgrass
At Cutten Fields our greens are currently comprised of a mixed stand of Creeping Bentgrass and Annual Bluegrass (Poa annua). It has been Poa’s high vulnerability to winter injury which has had the largest impact on our club. Poa is a winter annual and can be found on every continent in the most harsh conditions. Golf Courses and turf managers around the world never seed with Poa, in fact, it is not even possible to purchase Poa seed commercially. All Poa present on golf course greens is a result of invasion from natural processes. Poa-based greens require frequent watering practices to maintain turf health. During the golf season while poa is in its reproductive phase, putting conditions are often bumpy and will appear yellow due to the presence of seed heads. Poa also requires additional pesticide applications as it is more susceptible to damage from diseases and insects than Creeping Bentgrass. For as long as golf has been played in North America creeping bentgrass has been the grass of choice on golf course putting greens. Creeping bentgrass arrived to North America from Western Europe during colonization and was introduced as South German bentgrass. Selections of this original Creeping Bentgrass have been isolated and manipulated since the late 19th century. It is suspected that in 1930 Cutten Fields was seeded with Seaside Creeping Bentgrass, the only commercially available bentgrass seed at the time. In recent years, intense breeding and selection work has resulted in a flood of new cultivars with widely varying characteristics and generally much improved surface quality. The Environmental Institute for Golf, along with other industry partners have been funding the development of new grasses for many years. The goal is to improve specific traits through breeding such as disease resistance, drought tolerance, winter hardiness, density, and colour retention. While early creeping bentgrass varieties quickly gave way to annual bluegrass (poa), newer cultivars are much more competitive and are much more persistent against the invasion of poa. Improvements in these traits have produced newer grasses that are much more reliable and require less time and money to maintain.
All of these traits and characteristics are evaluated at various locations across the United States and Canada by the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program (NTEP). NTEP is designed to coordinate uniform evaluation trails of turfgrass cultivars. Test results can be used by plant breeders, national companies, and end users to determine if a cultivar is well adapted to your area and for the intended use. After extensive research the cultivar selected for the new greens at Cutten Fields is called “007 Bentgrass”. 007 Bentgrass was developed at Rutgers University and came to market in 2007. Despite being on the market for over 10 years 007 bentgrass still is top of class in many of the NTEP trails. In addition knowing that this cultivar has been tried, tested and proven on many golf courses in the Northern US and Canada provides a sense of relief. Some of the traits of 007 Bentgrass that were appealing for Cutten Fields and our area included:
widely adaptable to both warm summers and harsh cold winters
provides excellent disease resistance, especially to dollar spot and brown patch
produce a fine leaf texture with greater density
very good salt tolerance for high salt irrigation water
very good with cool/cold weather colour retention and spring green-up
007 bentgrass to be among top varieties rated for drought tolerance
Considered a moderate thatch producer which will minimize disruptive maintenance practices
more genetically diverse than other bentgrass varieties, developed using 24 different parent plants
recommended for use on greens, tees and fairways, will adapt well for low mowing on greens and reduced fungicide use on fairways and tees
Did you Know -There are 6,500,000 seeds in a pound of Creeping Bentgrass seed -Native bentgrass are common in home lawns and are considered a weed -Creeping Bentgrass is a stoloniferous plant which means it spreads by stolons -Grasses used in southern climates are known as warm season grasses and cold season grasses are used in northern climates. -Bermuda grass is most commonly used on greens in southern climates -fescue makes an excellent fairway turf -Poa annua has been found on a remote island in Antarctica where only 7 species of plants exist
Comments