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Low Maintenance Performance of Five Festuca Species in Monostands and Mixtures
Author(s) -
Dernoeden P. H.,
Fidanza M. A.,
Krouse J. M.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
crop science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.76
H-Index - 147
eISSN - 1435-0653
pISSN - 0011-183X
DOI - 10.2135/cropsci1998.0011183x003800020027x
Subject(s) - festuca rubra , festuca arundinacea , festuca , biology , agronomy , horticulture , poaceae
A 3‐yr field study evaluated the performance of monostands and mixtures of ‘Flyer’ creeping red fescue ( Festuca rubra L. ssp. rubra), ‘Jamestown II’ Chewings fescue ( Festuca rubra L. ssp. commutata Gaud.), ‘Bighorn’ blue sheep fescue ( Festuca ovina L. ssp. glauca) [Lam.] W.DJ. Koch), ‘Reliant’ hard fescue ( Festuca longifolia Thuill.), and ‘Rebel II’ tall fescue ( Festuca arundinacea Schreb.). The rescues were grown without supplemental irrigation or fertilizer after seedlings emerged. The turf was managed under two mowing regimes: Regime I, mowing as needed to a height of 6.5 cm and Regime It, mowing monthly to a height of 9.0 em. Spring turf quality was higher with Regime I, whereas, fall quality was generally higher in turf maintained in Regime II. There was no difference in summer or winter quality between mowing regimes in any year. Flyer and Jamestown II monostands generally had quality inferior to mixtures containing these cultivars with other Festuca species. The Rebel II monostand and Rebel It + Flyer mixture had best summer quality in 1993 and 1995 in Regime I. Reliant, Bighorn, and Rebel II monostands and Reliant + Flyer and Rebel II + Flyer mixtures generally exhibited similar summer quality in all years in Regime II. There was no apparent advantage to including Flyer or Jamestown lI in mixes with other Festuca species. Mowing Regime II (average seven mowings per year) resulted in a 40% reduction in mowing frequency compared with Regime I (average 13 mowings per year). Smooth crabgrass [ Digitaria ischaemum (Schreber) Schrebcr ex. Muhlenb.] became invasive in Regime I plots in the second year, but crabgrass cover remained low (≤2%) in all plots maintained in Regime I1 in all years.