Dr. Earl Elsner Discusses Genetic Reproduction of Familiar Turfgrasses. By Dr. Earl Elsner
I see advertisements for buffalo seed on the internet but, I cannot buy Sir Walter seed at my local store. The local nursery tells me that buffalo does not produce seed. Why not? The short answers are that Sir Walter does not produce enough seed for commercial sales. However, if seeds are produced, the turf quality from those seeds will be inferior to Sir Walter. The internet advertised buffalo seed is a different genus and species than our traditional buffalo for home lawns.
Vegetative or clonal propagation is the commercial standard for elite instant turf as well as roses, apples, and many other perennial varieties. It is not that growers just want to grow and sell instant turf or rooted cuttings. Vegetative propagation is the commercial standard because consumers want their lawn, rose garden, or apple orchard to have uniform growth, color, drought/disease tolerance as well as other important characteristics. The only current reproductive method that maintains
varietal uniformity of these type plants is vegetative propagation. A more detailed answer to our question should examine the reproductive characteristics of buffalo, couch, and zoysia varieties. The answer should also focus on maintaining the elite genetics of Sir Walter, TifTuf, and Sir Grange. The emphases of the answer will be on morphological uniformity and vegetative (clonal) propagation.
DR EARL ELSNER ON GENETIC REPRODUCTIONďťż / 45 43
