Warm-Season Turfgrass Establishment From Seed When Seeded Dormant and Irrigated Though Subsurface Drip Irrigation.

The need for water conservation in urban landscapes drives research to investigate alternative irrigation methods that are more efficient than overhead sprinkler systems. One of the main arguments against the use of subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) for turf is the challenge of establishment from seed. Although historically the suggested period to seed warm-season species has been the late spring or early summer, late seeding would leave limited time for establishment. A study was conducted in 2009 at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, and was repeated in 2013 at the University of California, Riverside to compare the establishment of bermudagrass ‘Princess-77’ [Cynodon dactylon (L.)] and seashore paspalum [Paspalum vaginatum (Sw.)] seeded on either15 Apr. or 15 May and irrigated at 100% reference evapotranspiration through either an overhead sprinkler or SDI system. Results from New Mexico revealed that establishment was successful (>88% ground cover by the end of warm-season grass growing season) for all combinations of irrigation system, grass species and date of seeding, with the exception of seashore paspalum irrigated with SDI and seeded in May. Preliminary results from California suggest that both species can be seeded in April with no particular concern for delayed seed germination, or for seedling death due to late frosts. Our findings show that seeding early in the season would be preferable, especially for SDI plots, to allow warm-season turf to establish completely before winter.