Lawn Care & Maintenance

Finding the Best Grass

Posted in Lawn Care & Maintenance on Thursday, 02 June 2011

From Queensland to Melbourne via Sydney and Canberra there is no perfect grass, but HAL (Horticulture Australia Limited) set out to find a good one, including research carried out in WA.

According to recent research done by the Queensland Primary Industries and Fisheries Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation (HAL project TU04013), available at http://era.deedi.qld.gov.au/1764/ * they found Sir Walter was a good one.

13 buffalo (Stenotaphrum secundatum) cultivars were tested at 7 locations for their colour, turf quality and thatch development. The tables below is a summary of the results for 4 of those cultivars. (0=worst, 9=best)

Cultivar	Total of colour scores	Average colour	% diff from control
Palmetto	64	5.8	4
Sapphire	62.9	5.7	2
Sir Walter	66.7	6.1	9
Shademaster	61.1	5.6	control

 

Cultivar	Total of quality scores	Average quality	% diff from control
Palmetto	61.8	6.2	-2
Sapphire	60.7	6.1	-3
Sir Walter	64.8	6.5	+3
Shademaster	63.1	6.3	control

((0=bare ground (no thatch) 9=heaviest thatch))

Cultivar	Total of thatch scores	Average Thatch	% diff from control
Palmetto	36.3	4	-13
Sapphire	39.3	4.4	-5
Sir Walter	40.1	4.5	-2
Shademaster	41.6	4.6	Control

* When we combine these scores with the thatch score as a negative to give a true overall figure, we get:

Cultivar	Colour+quality-thatch	% difference from control
Palmetto	89.5	8
Sapphire	84.3	2
Sir Walter	91.4	10
Shademaster	82.6	control

* Sir Walter, according to this research is a good one, that's why it is the most popular and biggest buffalo in Oz (data available from TPA research).
Following are some other interesting statistics from the same recent research highlighting Sir Walter's characteristics.

Sward height
Turf sward height (mm) on irrigated swards of 4 buffalos grown under shade at Redlands Research Station Qld. Oct 07-May 09

Cultivar	Total height	Av. Over 9 measurements	% difference from control
Palmetto	525.1	58.3	+1
Sapphire	546.8	60.7	+5
Sir Walter	536.6	59.6	+3
Shademaster	518.8	57.6	Control

* All varieties grew to about the same height with Sapphire needing slightly more mowing to look acceptable.
NB, These results differ greatly from other non-independent research posted elsewhere on the web.

Wear
Percentages of bare ground determined visually for 4 buffalos that have undergone wear treatments in Aug 08 at Redlands Research Station Qld

Cultivar	% bare over 14 wks,10 readings	Acceptable level achieved at wk	% difference from control
Palmetto	26.2	13	+209
Sapphire	51.9	13	+415
Sir Walter	16.3	9	+130
Shademaster	12.5	9	control

*Sir Walter & Shademaster had about half the wear of Palmetto whereas Sapphire wore twice as much. Palmetto & Sapphire took 4 weeks longer to reach an acceptable level after being worn than Sir Walter.

Drought tolerance
Total clippings produced (g/m²) by 4 buffalo grass genotypes irrigated at 80%, 50% or 33% replacement of net evaporation, for 98 days in plots at Shenton Park WA (summer of 07/08). Plots were mown weekly at 25mm.

Cultivar	Clippings @ 80% replacement (control) g/dry mass/m2	Clippings @ 50% replacement (% of control)	Clippings @ 33% replacement (% of control)
Palmetto	148	82	17
Sapphire	149	82	47
Sir Walter	203	91	54
Shademaster	145	104	45

 

*Sir Walter produced more clippings under extreme drought than Palmetto or Sapphire meaning it is more drought tolerant.

Root mass
Total root mass (kg dry mass /m3) of 4 buffalo grass genotypes. Samples taken at – 12mths (Nov 06) and -24mths (Dec 07) after planting from irrigated plots irrigated at 80% replacement of net evaporation at Shenton Park WA

cultivar	Increase kg/m3	% increase	% increase over control
Palmetto	5.51	177	-21
Saphire	5.78	193	-13
Sir Walter	8.3	230	+24
Shademaster	6.68	225	Control

*In the 2nd year of your lawns life, Sir Walter will increase its root structure 51% more than Palmetto and 44% more than Sapphire.

Root depth
Root distribution 12mths after planting (21/11/06)

cultivar	Root depth
Palmetto	<50cm
Sapphire	<50cm
Sir Walter	50-100cm
Shademaster	50-100cm

*After only 12 months, Sir Walters roots exceed 50cm in depth

Leaf water content
Leaf water content of 4 buffalo grass genotypes irrigated at 50% or 33% replacement of net evaporation for 56 days during summer of 06/07.Shenton Park WA.

cultivar	@50% replacement of net evaporation. ml/g dry mass	@33% replacement of net evaporation. ml/g dry mass
Palmetto	<2.5	<2
Sapphire	<2.5	<2
Sir Walter	>2.5	>2
Shademaster	<2.5	<2

* Sir Walter loses the least amount of moisture from the leaf in extreme dry conditions.

Shade
Subjective turf quality rating (0=dead, 6=acceptable and 10=excellent) at end of 10wk trial (11/5/09) Qld

Cultivar	0%	30%	50%	70%	90%
Palmetto	5.3	4.7	3.7	3.7	1.0
Sapphire	7.7	6.3	5.0	4.0	1.7
Sir Walter	6	5.0	4.3	4.0	1.7
Shademaster	7.3	5.3	5.0	3.7	0.7

* Sapphire & Sir Walter have similar shade tolerances at high levels of shade. Palmetto & Sir Walter may have scored better if the initial (0%) turf quality was better.

Winter growth
Comparison of winter growth of 4 buffalo grass genotypes, samples taken winter July 07 at Wembley Golf Course WA

Cultivar	Winter Clippings g/m2/wk	% Difference from control
Palmetto	.22	-21
Sapphire	.35	25
Sir Walter	.76	271
Shademaster	.28	control

*Sir Walter grew right through winter, producing 3.5 times the growth of Palmetto & over twice that of Sapphire, making it a true winter active lawn being more capable to handle the wear and tear of the average Aussie back yard.

Winter colour
Comparison of summer vs. winter colour of 4 buffalo grass genotypes. Measurements taken Feb 07 & Jul 07 at Wembley Golf Course WA

Cultivar	Summer Hue angle	Winter Hue angle	Change indicating Winter decline
Palmetto	114	101	-13.2
Sapphire	118	111	-7
Sir Walter	114	106	-8.5
Shademaster	112	98	-14.8

*Sir Walter & Sapphire had the least loss of colour in winter, whereas Palmetto nearly lost as much colour as Shademaster.
NB, These results differ greatly from other non-independent research posted elsewhere on the web.

 

* Denotes editor's comments.

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