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Turf breeding warms up

Part 2

By Todd Layt

In part two of this three part article we look at Couch all-rounders and warmer climate Couch all rounders that are vegetatively propagated. Last time we showcased the Putting green and specialised sports Couch types. There are so many new types of warm season turf being introduced it is essential for the turf professional to keep up to date. Queensland Blue Couch will likewise be examined in part 2, whilst in the next issue we examine the flurry of new and exciting Kikuyu breeding, as well as Zoysia, including the first all purpose Australian native turf.

All rounder Couch types

Most Couch types in this group are well suited to most geographic locations of Australia for a multitude of uses including high profile sporting venues, low input sporting fields and hack ovals, parks and amenity areas, large developments and golf courses. Many excel at being over-sown with cool season turf such as Rye grass. Their more open, less thatchy characteristics allow room for the Rye grass to develop correctly. The multipurpose aspect of these popular Couch types does not lessen their ability to excel as a sporting turf surface. Many high profile sporting venues swear by these varieties.

Wintergreen

Of the older varieties this is the most popular turf. Although it will brown off in winter it does go dormant later than quite a few other varieties. It can tend to get quite seedy at certain times of the year. Without irrigation and lack of fertiliser it has been shown to not perform as well as many of the newer types of Couch, but in general it has been one of the mainstays of our industry. Its internode is fractionally shorter than many of the new all rounder Couches, making it a poor choice for over-sowing, but its density is good particularly if it is well looked after. It does tend to scalp easy if not mown very regularly. For those who want a good all round Couch at a good price, Wintergreen is often the choice. The biggest problem with Wintergreen is that rarely these days do you get true Wintergreen Couch. Although sure there is no royalty to pay to a breeder, but there is likewise no one to check its purity. I recently had one grower say to me that Buffalo and Empire get infested with Couch and he has to work hard at keeping Couch out, where in his Wintergreen he has no such problem. That's because basically he is very happy for his Wintergreen to get contaminated with all sorts of common Couch because, one there is no checking, and two he gets away with selling a dogs breakfast Couch. The small royalty paid for Couches that have PBR (for the ones I have breed 5%) is easily offset by quality control. Still the breeder, Dr Peter McMaugh is owed a great deal of thanks for providing this variety to the industry. I would be very surprised if it is not the biggest selling Couch in Australia.

CT2

CT2 is now off patent and is a free Couch for anyone to grow. This grass was bred by Hue Whiting. It is well known to be a good Couch to over-sow, but is also has a poor tolerance to many herbicides we take for granted, particularly broad leaf herbicides. It is more open than Wintergreen, explaining why it is favourable for over sowing. Its winter colour is solid in coastal Queensland, but worse than Wintergreen in cooler climates. It is a quick growing grass, and if it was not for its ability to be over sown, it probably would not find itself in the warm all rounder category, as it generally performs much better in Queensland. It is commonly used in high profile sporting arenas in Melbourne and Sydney where it is over sown, but its weakness to herbicides really lets it down. It is also one of the worst when it comes to salt tolerance. It can likewise seed a lot at certain times of the year.

Legend (C1)

This grass is not actually a PBR grass, but the owners of the brand claim a royalty due to a trade mark. Under Australian law there is nothing wrong with the owners of the brand Legend doing this as they market the brand hard, and claim intellectual property rights via that branding, however it is important to know that C1 is the actual cultivar name and not Legend. The owners of the Legend brand do not hide this fact, and clearly have it written or their certificate of Authenticity. My thoughts are good luck to them, they work hard at branding, and provide excellent value added by having requirements of purity. If it was just C1 you would have the same problems of Wintergreen Couch which, these days is usually a mix of many different Couch types. To grow Legend the growers must have the purity of the turf checked, and certified. Legend Couch was chosen as the best performer from over 400 selections of couch grasses in a 4 year evaluation by the MCC & Agriculture Victoria. It has longer internodes than Wintergreen, and is often used for over-sowing. I have found it good with herbicides. Its winter colour is very reasonable, and the grass itself has become quite popular. It has good lateral growth, yet a good dense mat, without becoming thatchy. It's one of those true all rounders.

Rileys Super Sports

 The late Rod Riley bred this turf prior to breeding Conquest. Personally I think this is a very good all round Couch, and it should have done really well here. I believe it is better than Conquest, but that's just my opinion not backed up by any data. No matter how good a turf is, it can fail if brought to the market in the wrong way. This grass is a perfect example. In the USA it has been an amazing success being sold as Celebration. It has performed well in many research programs, and is sold widely across southern USA. In Australia when released into the market place by the main grower, it was marketed as an excellent shade grass, often saying it was as good as Buffalo. Well Don Bourke was also told this so he put it in shade areas at his place. When it failed miserably, Don told people how badly it performed. Don did people a favour as the company here was still selling it as a shade grass. All this bad publicity meant a loss of confidence in the grass from grower to customer. Now in the USA in stark contrast, the grass was also marketed as good in shade, but it was clearly stated that only compared to other Couch types. The brochures clearly stated that grasses like Buffalo were much better in shade. In fact research showed this grass was better than other Couch types in light shade, making it better for enclosed stadiums. Nowadays in the USA it is very popular. The lessons learnt from this are; tell the truth, the whole truth in marketing a grass, and when saying a grass is appropriate for a type of use, make sure it is. If the grass fails often, the market place will speak loudly.

Conquest

This Couch has been widely used in sporting facilities. Under good maintenance and suitable conditions it can perform really well. However, if the PH is wrong, or it is not regularly fertilised it may struggle to keep a good colour, and growth performance, particularly in Queensland. In Sydney growers seem to like it, and state that it appears to need one fertilise per crop more than say Wintergreen. Its biggest benefits are its less thatch build up, and good harvest-ability. The grass is sold by a comprehensive grower network. Based on conversations with growers, it is probably a better sports Couch than it is an amenity Couch, given its special needs. If a lighter green colour under lower  fertiliser regimes is not a problem for you, than it's much lower thatch build up may convince you to use it for amenity areas. Rod Riley before he passed away often told me this was his favourite grass of all the Couch types he had bred. He did know how to look after turf, so I am sure he did amazing things with it.

Cynomax

Leg13A is a variety of Couch that is marketed under the brand name of Cynomax. As the breeder of this grass I am probably a little bias, but I will try to define its characteristics as forthrightly as possible. In breeding Cynomax, my first aim was to breed an all rounder Couch with little seed head. This was achieved, and Cynomax produces less seed head than any other all rounder. The other aim was to develop a Couch that grew fast across the ground, without high thatch build up. Cynomax was breed from C1, however it is slightly less dense than C1 making it ideal for over-sowing. We are still testing its speed of coverage compared to C1 and other grasses in test plots. The growers who are growing this turf however, keep telling me it is the quickest establishing Couch they have ever seen. Due to its less seed head, it seems to actually need slightly less mowing than many other couch types. This has surprised a few people.

I see Cynomax working well on golf courses, and warmer climate hack oval type sporting facilities, as well as amenity areas. In Victoria I consider it will better used on sporting venues where it is over-sown. For a standalone high profile sporting venue Couch in Victoria and probably even Sydney and Queensland, that is not over-sown, maybe other more dense Couch types would be better. However for hack ovals this may be just the shot, as it grows fast laterally, but can go longer between mows and still keep form. The big market for this grass Australia wide, as I see it, is the amenity sector, hack ovals and as a developers Couch. Its performance in early trials has been quite superior to Wintergreen and Greenlees Park Couch. Our aim with this grass is to make it a replacement for those. It will be sold at a similar price to the common varieties. This will give golf courses, sporting facilities, developers, and councils on a tight budget access to an improved turf grass. If over-sown, it will naturally be a little more expensive. In general other PBR varieties are a lot more expensive than the commodity turf varieties. Cynomax will have quality control procedures, giving the client confidence of purity. These days I doubt there would be many farms with more than 50%-70% pure Wintergreen, and Greenlees Park Couch.

Warmer climate Couch all rounders

Greenlees Park Couch

I have put this in a different category, as GLP does well in the warmer climate areas, yet it performs poorly in the cooler climate areas like Melbourne. It is rarely used there. Greenlees Park couch was the birth of Australian turf breeding. Rod Riley became well known through the development of this grass. This is a fairly open grass, but many, particularly in Queensland and Sydney still swear by it. As an ex-turf farmer, I know how hard it is to keep GLP pure. It looks very much like common seeded couch, so in reality I doubt you will find pure GLP anywhere in Australia. When other Couches germinate from seed in this grass on the farm, you have no chance of identifying it as different. But it is sold at a very good price, and that is what sells it. It's also easy to grow in NSW and QLD.

Green Couch (QLD)

Queensland has its own terms when it comes to Couch. With Couch, they call common Couch, Green Couch. It’s the common Couch that has basically naturalised in the local farms area. It's different from one farm to the next, so you never know what you are getting. It's usually a mixture of many different types of Couch, making it a totally unknown blend. This term developed due to all the Queensland Blue Couch sold in Queensland. So they have Blue Couch and Green Couch.

WGP3

This couch is not yet on the market, but is approaching its last years of trials. In breeding this I wanted a turf that was dense enough for sports fields, yet without thatch problems. It had to have very very little seed head production. After selecting the variety, I did not know which climates it would be suited to. So we tested it in many. The result is that in warmer areas, from Sydney to Mid Queensland it performed brilliantly. In Melbourne it was simply too slow until it warmed up. This shows the need to test grasses before throwing them out there. We still have 12 more months of testing before we release it to growers for production. We have not even named it yet, but it does love those warmer climate areas, and I see it as a solution for high profile sporting venues from Sydney North to Rockhampton. Further testing is needed for North Queensland. If anyone is interested in testing it as a sporting surface, or growing or trialling it please call me on 02 4577 2977.

Queensland Blue Couch

This used to be very popular in Queensland, but due to its awkwardness to grow for the turf farmer, it has become less common. The main problem is keeping weeds out of it. There are few herbicides that work with it. In amenity areas it is not uncommon to see it regularly invaded by weed. It's rarely used as a sports turf, but it does find its way into amenity projects. It is quite drought tolerant and does need a lot less mowing than Green Couch. As for purity, each farm has slightly different stock, and usually it will have quite a few strains in it. Common Queensland Blue has poor shade tolerance. For home lawns a lot of Queenslanders like this turf, as it has only above ground runners, making it easier to keep out of the garden. It's also available in WA.

Aussie Blue

This PBR variety of Qld Blue Couch exhibits a slightly paler leaf colour than common Qld Blue Couch. Growth is faster resulting in quick recovery from damage. It appears to be more resistant to dollar spot. It’s best suited to domestic situations or for amenity areas that receive low to moderate wear. Its leaf also seems a little wider than the common form. Due to its denser characteristics, it seems more able to out compete weeds than the common form.

Tropica

An improved cultivar of Qld Blue Couch, very similar in growth and characteristics to Aussie Blue Couch, although it has a more deep blue-green colouring to the leaf. Like Aussie Blue it also tends to be a little more shade and drought tolerant than common Qld Blue Couch. It is faster growing than the common form making it easier for the turf farmer to grow. It also is better at out competing weeds. Neither of these new varieties are tolerant of DSMA and MSMA which is probably why Green Couches are more popular.

The choice of turf is important, but often it will be the choice of soils, preparation methods and maintenance that will have a greater impact on success or failure. For example why does the same turf work on one field in the same region and not another? Some varieties have better tolerance to poor conditions, but for sports turf situations in particular, these factors are paramount. These improved turf varieties however give uniformity, which often makes maintenance easier. The common forms may be cheaper, but ask yourself why. It’s because no work goes into the aspects of quality control and purity. No turf works in all aspects of the market place, and I for one am happy to tell people where my turf works and where it does not. It would be nice if all people became more realistic, rather than trying to claim their turf is the best for everything. In the next issue, part 3, we look at Buffalo turf and Zoysia turf, including the first all purpose Australian Native Turf, as well as a specialist wetland turf, and other salt tolerant varieties.