Improved Cultivars of Low-Growing Fine Fescues.

Military land managers have a need for grasses that are low growing and have low maintenance requirements.  Such grasses are needed for training lands, drop zones, and maneuver sites.  In temperate areas, fine fescue (Festuca L.) species are ideal for these sites.  This fine-leafed group of grasses, which includes Chewings [F. rubra L. subsp. fallax (Thuill.) Nyman], hard (F. brevipila R. Tracey), strong creeping red (F. rubra L. subsp. rubra), and slender creeping red fescues (F. rubra L. var. littoralis Vasey ex Beal), are naturally low maintenance.  They are adapted to a wide range of soil conditions and have lower nitrogen and irrigation requirements than many other cool-season turfgrasses.  New fine fescue cultivars, including ‘Shademaster III’, ‘Little Bighorn’, ‘Aurora Gold’, ‘Treazure II’, ‘Bighorn GT’, PST-8000, and ‘Soil Guard’ have low growth habits and reduced mowing requirements.  Data presented from trials in North Carolina and Oregon show that improved fine fescues cultivars are widely adapted and exhibit such traits as drought tolerance, disease resistance, salt tolerance, and shade tolerance, as well as reduced vertical growth.