Tuesday, November 14, 2006
171-6

Bentgrass Establishment in Sand-based Rootzones Using Subsurface Drip Irrigation.

Justin Weeaks, Michael Maurer, Richard Zartman, and James Surles. Texas Tech University, Plant and Soil Science, Lubbock, TX 79409

Greenhouse studies were performed to evaluate the feasibility of establishing seeded bentgrass in sand-based root zones using subsurface drip irrigation (SDI).  Several commercially available products were investigated.  Products were mixed at several percentages by volume.  Percentages by volume were 10, 20, 30, and 40.  Study investigated the use of SDI with tubing buried at 15 cm.  All treatments contained one tube per container.  Each study was conducted for six weeks and percentage coverage, soil moisture content, root length and plant biomass data were collected.  Data analysis confirms that seeded bentgrass can be established using SDI.  Many of the treatments retained consistent moisture content for the duration of the study at various soil depths.  Some treatments with higher percentages of additives had greater biomass and higher percentage coverage.  However, this trend did not follow for all additives.  Root length followed a similar trend.  Establishment of seeded bentgrass in sand-based root zones is possible using SDI but results seen may not be suitable for professional turfgrass managers.  Follow-up studies were conducted and germination was not successful.  Due to the variations in results, recommendations cannot be made until more research is conducted.