THE
CREEPING BENTGRASS STORY
has become the grass of choice for most new golf course
In Ireland, creeping bentgrass
developments or for renovation projects in recent years.
management can produce first- class golfing surfaces. But
surfaces that are frustrating to golfers. The decision to use
Successful creeping bentgrass
mismanagement, as with any grass type, can lead to poor
detailed knowledge rather than blind hope.
creeping bentgrass, and which variety (cultivar) to choose, needs to be based on a
discuss the origins of the newer varieties, and hope to dispel
44
Carolina State University, and the STRI’s Ian Clements,
Here, Art Bruneau, of North
some of the myths associated with their management
Why creeping bentgrass?
Creeping bent became the most common turfgrass for American putting greens because the browntops and velvet bents did not perform as well. Browntops in the US are less tolerant of close mowing, and more susceptible to disease and cold weather. In addition, they are less tolerant of traffic, slower to recover from injury, and less competitive to annual meadow-grass. Velvet bent, on the other hand, can withstand low cutting heights and produce a beautiful putting green but only where it is best adapted, which seems to be limited to certain parts of New England. Velvet produces more thatch than creeping, often requiring more frequent topdressing because of its severe thatching tendency. It is also slow to recover from disease and is fairly disease susceptible.
In the last US NTEP (National
Turfgrass Evaluation Programme) bentgrass putting green trial, no browntops were entered and the velvets that were entered were the poorest performers.
The early years
The earliest improved bentgrasses were selections taken from old putting greens that had been originally seeded with ‘South German’ bentgrass or a seeded variety known as Seaside. Seaside was harvested from creeping bentgrass areas indigenous to the coast of Washington and Oregon. South German bent was a mixture of numerous velvet, colonial and creeping bent strains. Over time, through natural selection, certain strains would dominate the Seaside or South German bent greens resulting in a very patchy, unsightly turf. It is in these old greens that breeders would select stolons from the best looking patches. The material would be further tested under varying conditions and management regimes. The better performers received names such as Cohansey, Arlington and Toronto and were vegetatively increased and released. Even though they produced seed, the selections had to be vegetatively planted to ensure uniformity. This involved the broadcasting and frequent topdressing of stolons and was common until the 1960s.
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