b'S T R A T E G YThey had vegetative pas- as it rains, everybody sud-palum at the time. I told themdenly has a green lawn. ThatWATER CONSERVATION AND CONSUMERSthey did not have to water itis another sign that if you can so much. Then they came toget by with a month or two ofWater conservation is the responsibility of every citizen, not just in areas with drought a golf course meeting in thedry turf, the rest of the year theor low moisture conditions. Drought-resistant grass is an option, but there is no truly United States and met withgrass looks great. It is realign-turf management experts.ing expectations for some ofdrought-tolerant grass for lawns. Tighter water restrictions in moisture deficient And sure enough, they wereour turfgrasses and then find- municipalities have made using drought-tolerant lawn grass or alternatives to turf able to save a ton of money bying the ones that extend thatlawns a priority. Fortunately, breeding and technology have come to our rescue. You reducing their water bill.green period. It is exciting forcan now install a lawn that requires less than one-quarter of the water traditional turf That experience ledus to come together with othergrass needs.researchers at the TWCA tobreeders and put our varietiesBonnie L. Grant, Certified Urban Agriculturistlook for more ways to usetogether in trials where we can grasses for erosion control,test them and see where we for home lawns and sportscan push the limits. We can see turf in such a way that doeshow long we can go between not use excessive resources.watering and how much waterobjective data how one of ourThat is what we are Even more than conservingdo they really need? When wevarieties had both salt andtrying to do with this water resources, they were lookingstart doing this with every spe- drought tolerance, he thoughtqualification, Fricker says. for solutions that protect andcies, we learn a lot about thehe would give it a whirl. EveryWe are getting real traction benefit our environment bydifferences in water use in turfsummer, he would plant tallwith municipalities and areas using not only less water butgrasses.fescue and salt would stuntwhere water is precious as also poor quality water. Grassit. It would take over a yearin Colorado, California and breeders have been work- Reliable Data forfor him to grow it into sod.Utah. ing on saltwater for manyEveryones Benefit Then he planted salt-tolerantEverybody likes to believe years. That melds well withReliable data helps growersvarieties. At a time when thethat grass just sucks water out improving water use efficiencybecause the drought-tolerantsalt and heat usually reachof the ground and gives no because some varieties arevariety is much easier to growtheir peak, the new varietiesbenefits. In reality, there are salt tolerant as well as beingand produce seed as long asare growing, are healthy andmany plants that use more drought tolerant.it makes seed heads. There isthey look beautiful. On top ofwater than grass, produce We have always lookedalso an added value for seedthat, they do not get diseases.less oxygen, do not protect at water as a huge resourcedistributors. Objective dataThey save us tons of moneythe whole soil structure, do that turfgrass could work wellprovides distributors a storyon my fungicide bill becausenot reduce the temperature with if we just understandthat they can tell. Growersthey are also disease resistant.around the home or provide how much water it actuallycan use a different tall fescueThat is our goal. We are tryingany of the other benefits that needs and how little we needthat uses the water with saltto find grasses that have moregrass provides. Consumers to apply, Fricker reports.Intolerance.solutions to problems for theneed varieties that say to the summer, if a grass goesWe told that story toend-user.them: It is still okay to plant dormant, there is a point wherea sod farmer in southernThese new varieties aregrass.As the seed industry is you should realize that youCalifornia, Fricker explains.starting to impact everyone. Aable to identify the right grass really dont need to water. ItHe later called to tell melandscaper or home buildingand the right species for each becomes a low-maintenancethat he never believed thecontractor who wants to putenvironment, everyone in the turf. Look at the prolongedstories and the sales pitchesin sod for the home can haveentire supply chain, from the drought in Portland wherethat salespeople gave him.the story that it uses half theseed growers to end-users, people didnt water. As soonWhen we showed him withwater. benefits. SWENDORSED BY 48/ SEEDWORLD.COMOCTOBER 2020'