Establishing seeded tall fescue with covers and drip irrigation methods

The use of covers may improve the establishment of seeded turfgrass but their use in combination with drip irrigation techniques has not been evaluated. In this study, repeated twice in the spring of 2020 near Manhattan, KS, we investigated the effects of two cover types and three irrigation methods on the establishment of seeded tall fescue turfgrass [Schedonorus arundinaceus (Schreb.) Dumort.]. Turfgrass cover types included (a) polyester mesh, (b) a straw blanket, and (c) no cover as a control. Irrigation treatments were (a) subsurface drip irrigation, (b) aboveground drip irrigation, and (c) overhead sprinkler irrigation (control). Measurements of green cover, ground and drone-based normalized difference vegetation indices, and visual turfgrass quality ratings indicated that establishment was improved with both cover types compared with uncovered plots, in the order polyester > straw > uncovered in both trials, but polyester and straw became similar over time. The soil surface temperature averaged higher in polyester (14 °C) than in straw (9.5 °C) and uncovered (8.6 °C) plots during the first 12 d after seeding when the covers were installed. The results indicate that covers improved the spring establishment of seeded, cool-season turfgrass in a fine-textured soil and in a U.S. transition zone climate by mitigating low temperature extremes and reducing erosion during rainfall. Establishment was similar between drip (subsurface and aboveground) and sprinkler-irrigated treatments, but the use of protective covers is recommended when establishing turfgrass from seed.