Cover Story
Prepping s s ra g da u Berm r e int w / all f for al Winter Injury to Reduce Potenti
By Mike Goatley, Ph.D., Extension Turfgrass Specialist; Erik Ervin, Ph.D., Turfgrass Physiology; Shawn Askew, Ph.D., Turfgrass Weed Specialist; and David McCall, Turfgrass Pathologist, Virginia Tech
The
Virginia Tech turfgrass team has long been a strong proponent of bermudagrass for athletic fields and golf fairways because there simply is not another grass available to us that produces as much canopy density and recuperative potential as bermudagrass for heavily trafficked turfs. However, let’s consider what we hopefully have learned/observed from the challenges of these past few years that can apply to trafficked bermudagrass turf for this fall and beyond.
Looking back… what we’ve learned
There are no absolute guarantees of survival, but the genetics of the improved “cold-tolerant” bermudagrasses have come to the forefront in Virginia’s recent winters. Varieties such as Latitude 36, Northbridge and Patriot (all vegetative) and Riviera, Yukon and Sovereign (typically seeded) continue to demonstrate their cold tolerance. Has there been damage to these grasses? Yes. For the first time in memory, there was significant loss of
12 | Virginia Turfgrass Journal July/August 2015 www.vaturf.org
Patriot athletic fields in northern Virginia in winter 2013–2014, but the level of turf loss was not consistent statewide, and damage was not catastrophic in most locations (more on the possible contributing factors to turf losses below). The winter of 2014–15 saw damage mainly from Richmond to Tidewater, with the rest of the state generally coming through the winter in pretty good shape with their bermudagrass because there was significant snow cover during the coldest days of late February when many locations