Selecting Turfgrasses - Which Ones Are Best for Me?

A quality lawn containing the recommended mixtures of species or blends of turfgrass varieties can be the result of a difficult decision. Selecting a specie of turfgrass is dependent on how you manage your lawn and what you expect of your lawn. Managing a lawn involves frequency of mowing, how often you fertilize, whether you water your lawn and whether you use crabgrass preventers and/or products to control turfgrass diseases and insects. Once you know the answers to these questions, then you can decide which specie or mixture of species you wish to establish.

Blends of Kentucky bluegrasses look very rich with dark blue-green colors and have pretty good resistance to brown patch disease; however, they do require more inputs of fertilizer and water to maintain that rich cover through the summer months. They are also more susceptible to dollar spot, leaf spot and summer patch diseases. Selecting bluegrass varieties that offer some resistance to some of these diseases is a practical first step in lawn establishment. Bluegrasses do develop tillers and small rhizomes, which allow bluegrasses to recover from thinning or other problems.

Blends of turf-type tall fescues can give deep emerald green appearances with a slightly coarser texture than the bluegrass. They tend to be a deeper rooting plant and, therefore, require less water than the bluegrasses. They are not as susceptible to dollar spot and summer patch, but generally will require fungicides for the control of brown patch. There are several varieties of turf-type tall fescues that offer better resistance to brown patch than other varieties; therefore, selecting the more resistant varieties will improve turf quality. Tall fescues will tiller to help with recovery, but tend to be clumpy with severe thinning.

Mixtures, such as turf-type tall fescues with bluegrasses (90% fescue, 10% bluegrass), combine the advantages of each species to mask the weaknesses of each. Mixtures with perennial ryegrass should not exceed 20% perennial ryegrass as it is very susceptible to most of the diseases listed above. Ryegrass is not very heat or drought tolerant and does not recover from thinning of cover.

So which varieties do you select once you decide on a blend or mixture? There are many resources available that list turfgrass varieties for Missouri. State turfgrass specialist, MU guide sheets, garden centers, and other lawn care experts are good sources for information about turfgrass selections and varieties. The difficulty for most individuals is trying to find the varieties suggested. Lowe’s, Home Depot, hardware stores and other garden centers cannot carry all of the premium varieties. Sometimes, the easiest approach is to list what they have and then cross reference to the varieties listed for our area. MU’s guide sheet, Cool-Season Grass Cultivars For Athletic Fields, has excellent, good, and fair listings for Kentucky bluegrasses, tall fescues and perennial ryegrasses. While the guide sheet is written for athletic fields, the listings are excellent for home lawns as well. Seed suppliers, such as Williams Lawn Seed (Maryville, MO), Pennington Seeds (Greenfield, MO) or Simplot Seed and Fertlizers (St. Louis, MO), can also provide information for selecting varieties as well as provide seed. Information for selecting varieties can also be found through the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program (NTEP) web site: http://ntep.org for those who are comfortable searching the web. NTEP provides data tables for all turfgrass species for a number of different characteristics (quality, density, color, disease resistance, wear resistance, etc) from best to worst, averaged nationally and by location. Therefore, selecting varieties that will grow best in Missouri can be determined through a number of reliable resources.

Another source for seed is a new web site for purchasing seed called, "Seed Super Store." The address for this site is http://seedsuperstore.com. They carry many of the premium varieties for Missouri and will sell as little as ten pounds delivered to your door, a convenience to consider.

The key to a quality lawn is to select turfgrass species and varieties that will grow best in Missouri. Finding those varieties that will offer good quality, color, density, and disease resistance will make your task of lawn care a little easier. Hopefully, the selection process will become less difficult as you search the shelves of your local garden centers and nurseries.

Brad Fresenburg, UMC Extension/Research Associate, Turfgrass Research Center, (573) 443-4893