Rooting Differences of Two Rhizomatous and Two Non-Rhizomatous Cultivars of Tall Fescue (Festuca arundinacea Shreb.) Under Two Fertilizer Rates.

A lysimeter experiment was undertaken in the Washington State University Plant Growth Facility in 2012. The purpose of the experiment was to determine if there were different responses to fertilizer among 4 turf type tall fescue cultivars. Two of the cultivars were rhizomatous, Titan Limited and JT-783, and two of the cultivars were non-rhizomatous, Greystone and Jaguar 4G. The study was conducted in two consecutive "years" within the greenhouse and consisted of a 4 week establishment period followed by a 4 week testing period. Under lower fertility all plants demonstrated increased root length, root surface area, average diameter, root volume, adjusted weight and root bulk density.