Responses of Compositional Mixes of Kentucky Bluegrass, Creeping Red Fescue, and Alkaligrass to Ice Melter.

Ice melter is widely used for safety reasons to the side walks and roads in cold regions. Most of the ice melters are mixtures of salts that eventually end up in lawns or storm drains.  The objective of this study was to test salinity tolerance of compositional mixes of Kentucky bluegrass, creeping fine fescue, and alkaligrass in a simplex lattice design.  The ultimate goal was to recommend ratios of those three species for use in salt prone areas, such as a boulevard.  The study was conducted in 2009 to 2010, and repeated in 2011 to 2012.  Kentucky bluegrass was ‘Park’ and ‘Dragon’ in 1 to 1 ratio, with PLS of 85% and 80%, respectively.  Akaligrass was ‘Salty’ with a PLS of 85%. Creeping red fescue was ‘Smirna’ with a PLS of 92%.  Each species was in a range of 0, 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100% in the final mix.  A total of 20 mixes and two industry standard entries were randomly assigned as subplots to whole plots of three levels of ice meter rates.  The subplot measured 1.5 by 2.5 m.  The whole plots were arranged in RCBD with three replicates. Ice meter was used in 0, 20, and 40 kg ha^-1 monthly from April to October.  The turf visual quality, normalized vegetation index (NDVI), and grass composition were evaluated during the growing season.  Our results showed that