Paspalum for the north?

[Ben Cowan-Dewar]

Has anyone ever come across a grass like paspalum, that can survive or thrive in cooler climates?

BCD

[A_Clay_Man]

Ben, Hopefully, Slagbert of the north will see this thread. He has only one more quarter before he's fully qualified former student of superintendancy.

In Monterey the aggresive kikuyu grass seems to handle the winters and salt spray.

[B. Mogg]

Weve used it as far north as Shanghai (not sure the US equivilent) which is in the transistion zone for grasses - hot humid summers and cold winters (sometimes snow). Approximately same range as bermuda I would assume. I don't believe there is a cold climate paspalum as yet.

[Ben Cowan-Dewar]

Thanks Brett,
Great to see your post. I remember Shanghai as being right around freezing when I was there in January, so it is certainly not tropical.

I hope all is well.

[Forrest Richardson]

There really is no grass like paspalum. It is an odd lot. Cool season grasses are not typically salt tolerant. There are some newer kikuyugrasses that will do well in cool periods, but they still need the warm weather season.

What are you trying to accomplish? Salty soils, water...low water...what?

[S. Huffstutler]

Has anyone ever come across a grass like paspalum, that can survive or thrive in cooler climates?

BCD

Ummmm.......Bentgrass?

Steve

[Joe Hancock]

Has anyone ever come across a grass like paspalum, that can survive or thrive in cooler climates?

BCD

Ummmm.......Bentgrass?

Steve

Steve,

When I think of paspalum, I think salt tolerance. When I think of bentgrass, I think of salt intolerance.

Joe

[Ben Cowan-Dewar]

Joe,
I was looking for a salt resistant cool weather grass, you are correct.

[Forrest Richardson]

Fescues.

[Joe Hancock]

Ben,

Are you looking for salt resistant grass for putting greens? Fairways? Everything?

Forrest is correct that fescues can tolerate some salts in the irrigation water....as can bluegrass, bentgrass to a lessor extent. In the past year of witnessing bent, blue and fescue being grown with horrible water in Michigan, I think the soil type has a factor in the salt issue as well. In sandier soil, the salts seem to affect the bentgrass noticeably. In heavier soils, the blues and fescues seem to be ok for now. However, the sandier soils afford the ability to be flushed easier when rainfall occurs.

Give us a little more detail concerning the application. Perhaps there is a turf/soil/management combo that will you get you your answer.

Joe

p.s. Once this gets real technical, watch me bail out of the discussion and rely on guys like Mahaffey and Galea. I'm pretty smart that way!

[Peter Galea]

Years ago we cut in some "alkaligrass" to the 6th and 7th fairways (both below sealevel and salt affected) at Palo Alto Muni, California.
Do a seach for: Puccinellia distans/Fults

[S. Huffstutler]

Joe: OK, I get it. The original post wasn't clear about what it was he was trying to do.

steve

[Mike Vegis @ Kiawah]

As far as I know, The Ocean Course if the furtherest North course that has Paspalum.  We get around 12-24 "Frost Delay" days a winter here generally.  We do not overseed the greens at The Ocean Course (although we do on our other courses which have TifDwarf and TifEagle).  Dormant Paspalum has a bit of a purple tone to it making them great visual targets in the winter.  The Ocean Course coordinates are N 32.36.721 W 80.01.144 (actually those are the coordinates of the helicopter landing zone between the clubhouse and the Ocean).

[Brent Hutto]

I played a round at the Ocean Course last December 27 which was a "frost delay" morning. I believe it was a little before 10:00AM when they let us tee off and there was still a skim of ice in a water hazard in shady spots. The greens were absolutely immaculate (as they had been the day before).

I've not played there in the summer but I watched a couple rounds of the PGA CPC in very hot conditions. Given our South Carolina climate, any grass that makes that perfect a surface winter and summer is like an eighth wonder of the modern world. And I agree with Mike, the purple-gold color in the cool months is gorgeous.

[Don_Mahaffey]

Ben,
Sounds like a water quality issue?
The nice thing about the north is it does rain and you have a winter. So, if your water quality is poor, hopefully mother nature will supply you with enough water to keep your soils flushed of bad salts. There are supts in the Southwest who grow very good bent greens with very poor water quality. If it can be done there it can be done in the north also.