Water Use of Various Turfgrass Species and Lawn Mixes.

Urban water supply issues continue to be a growing concern. One way to conserve water is by reducing unnecessary lawn irrigation. Turf breeders continue to commercialize grasses that require less water and/or stay greener when subject to drought. However, the relative performance data among improved species and cultivars that are commercially available is lacking. A greenhouse study evaluated fourteen lawn grasses; consisting of five Kentucky bluegrasses (KBG), five tall fescues (TF), and four commercial lawn mixtures for their response to acute drought stress. Turf was grown from seed in cylinders (10 cm diam. x 20 cm deep) containing a sand+porous ceramic rootzone mixture. During the 14 day drought period, water loss ranged from 133 mm (9.507 mm d-1) to 151 mm (10.8 mm d-1) for ‘Midnight’ KBG and ‘Vigoro Lawn Mix’, respectively. For visual appearance or turf quality, the species ranked KBG>Mixtures>TF. Across all grasses tested, the highest quality was associated with ‘My Holiday Lawn’ KBG (7.8) and lowest ‘Vigoro Lawn Mix’ (4). Quality during rehydration was also evaluated and the greatest percentage improvement from drought conditions occurred for ‘Penn RK4’ TF, which improved 36% (visual rating 4.2 to 6.6). At the termination of the study, rootmass was determined and values ranged from 0.84 to 2.08 g for ‘Mallard’ KBG and ‘Shenandoah Elite’ TF, respectively. In summary, where low water use and high visual appearance are important lawn turf selection criteria, this short term study indicates that the lowest water use and best quality was generally associated with KBG. Further, this study emphasizes the importance of lawn turf species selection in urban water conservation efforts as the worst quality and highest water use was associated with a commercial lawn mixture.