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People frequently ask turf grass specialists to provide the best selection of turf grass species and cultivars for a variety of situations. “What variety do I plant?” is probably the number one question we hear. To answer this question, you must first consider its intended use (home, golf course, athletic field, etc.) and the maintenance (frequency and height of mowing, fertility, irrigation, etc.) it will receive. However, the most common misconception is that one species and cultivar will solve all their problems. This usually leads to questions about turf grass mixes and blends and why a monoculture is not the answer.
Why use Mixes and Blends of Turf Grasses?
A mixture is a selection of two or more species of turf grass that are morphologically, culturally and aesthetically compatible. A blend contains two or more cultivars or varieties of a single species. The desirability of a mix vs. a blend usually depends on what the client finds pleasing to the eye. Many people prefer blends, which often are more uniform in texture and color. However, people may need disease resistance, wear tolerance or a certain desirable texture or colour. Such needs often require a mix.
Many turf managers are not aware of the enormous selection of cultivars available for each species of cool-season grass.
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With so many cultivars and so much information about them, you might think that an ideal variety exists for every situation.
Why is it suggested to Use Mixes and Blends of Turf grasses?
It’s simple. A blend of several cultivars - we usually recommend three or more - allows the strengths of the many to mask the weaknesses of one or two. For example, Kentucky-Blue-grass cultivars have varying levels of dollar-spot resistance. If you were selecting components of a blend of Kentucky Bluegrass for an athletic field based on quality and wear tolerance, it’s possible that some of the cultivars in the blend might have low resistance to dollar spot. Therefore, you would rely on the more-resistant components of the blend to help hide the susceptibility of the cultivars with the lowest resistance.
The same holds true for mixes. When an entire species is widely susceptible to a particular disease, such as Tall Fescue to brown patch, a mix with other, less-susceptible species will help cover these weaknesses. While a Tall Fescue blend would work well in a non-irrigated athletic field, a mix that also included a blend of Kentucky-Bluegrasses would help provide a more speedy recovery from wear. Kentucky Bluegrasses have a rhizomatous root system and tillers that allow it to recover better than Tall Fescue. By contrast, Tall Fescue recovers slowly, by tillers alone. In highly trafficked situations, this is not adequate to counter the wear that the turf receives.
Notice that when I talk about mixes, I suggest that each species includes a blend of two or more cultivars. Monocultures or mixes with species represented by a single cultivar may be disastrous. If that particular cultivar shows poor quality, has a differing leaf texture, is highly susceptible to a disease or has some other strikingly different characteristic, the aesthetic value or function of the turf grass may decrease.
