Paspalum

This is something that has never made sense to me. Actually, it seems ridiculous. Zoysia greens are not renowned for being especially fast. But zoysia has especially high silica content in the leaves.

Does adding more potassium improve drought resistance? This article by Rowland et al. takes an in-depth look at that important question. They looked at bermudagrass (Tifeagle and Tifdwarf), seashore paspalum (SeaDwarf), and zoysia (PristineFlora) grown in a USGA sand rootzone.

On the eve of the 2014 World Cup, I had three quick things to share about football/soccer. Kashima Soccer Stadium, March 2014 I’d been to two matches at the Kashima Soccer Stadium (this was a venue for World Cup games in 2002) in the past year, one at the end of summer, and one at the beginning of spring.

The par 3 twelfth hole at Keya GC in the summer of 2013. I’ve written about perceived divot problems on manilagrass (Zoysia matrella) tees. To summarize, I’ve heard many objections (in theory) to the use of manilagrass on tees in Southeast Asia, the thought being that manilagrass grows slowly and divot recovery may be too slow for this grass to be suitable on tees.

After a month of research and writing in southern Japan—my 2012 summer sabbatical—I returned to Thailand, got my mail, and in that accumulated stack of papers I found (and promptly read) the July 2012 issue of Golf Course Architecture.

In 2006, ATC conducted a survey of the grass types on golf courses in Thailand. Surveys were sent to the more than 200 courses in Thailand, and 41 of the surveys were completed and returned.

One of the most interesting articles you can read about seashore paspalum and weeds in the climate of East and Southeast Asia is Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of the Weed Community in a Seashore Paspalum Turf by Xie et al.

Sea Spray seashore paspalum seed really is grown in Oregon. Gordon Zielinski sent me the above photo from his Sea Spray seed field near Brooks. This is at sunrise with Mt.

Where would you think Sea Spray seashore paspalum seed is produced? Certainly somewhere where warm-season grasses thrive, right? Perhaps in Arizona, or Georgia, or Mexico, or Hawaii, or Texas? Would you believe that Sea Spray seashore paspalum seed is produced in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, where lawns and golf courses are covered with cool-season grasses such as perennial ryegrass, creeping bentgrass, and fine fescue?

Another article about sodium chloride applications as a method of weed control in seashore paspalum has been published in Weed Technology. This research was done in Hawaii by Dr. Jim Brosnan, and I did some additional testing in Thailand and helped with the paper entitled Sodium Chloride Salt Applications Provide Effective Control of Sourgrass (Paspalum conjugatum) in Seashore Paspalum Turf.