Turfgrass may experience significant salt stress due to poor water quality, insufficient leaching, or exposure to environmental contaminants. Establishment of salt‐tolerant turfgrass cultivars is one possible method of mitigating the effects of salts in irrigation water or the soil environment. The objective of this research was to evaluate the relative salt tolerance of cool‐season turfgrasses in a controlled environment using digital image analysis. Six replications of 74 cool‐season turfgrasses were established using recommended seeding rates in 10.16‐cm by 10.16‐cm pots of silica sand for 12 wk, and suspended in two 760‐L tubs of half‐strength Hoagland solution. Following an adaptation period, all pots were exposed to salinity levels of 4, 14, and 24 dS m−1 successively, each for 2 wk. Digital images were collected after each exposure level using a custom light box, and analyzed for percent green tissue. Cultivars of tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) were found to be most salt tolerant, with ‘Wolfpack II’ and ‘Jaguar 4G’ performing best after the 14 and 24 dS m−1 exposure levels, respectively. Many fine fescue entries performed well, including slender creeping red fescues (Festuca rubra L. ssp. litoralis) ‘Sealink’, ‘Seabreeze GT’, and ‘Shoreline’. Trial entries found to have consistent salt tolerance at all levels may be used to guide recommendations for turfgrass managers and breeders and have potential for use in salt‐tolerant mixtures.

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Core Ideas Turfgrass seed mixtures containing fine fescue species can produce sod that achieves equal or greater strength than those containing large amounts of Kentucky bluegrass when harvested 22 mo after establishment. Change in proportion of fine fescues from each initial seed mixture to the resulting final plant community was negatively correlated with sod strength characteristics. Thatch development was only weakly correlated with either maximum tensile load or work required to tear sod. Mixtures with different seed compositions, but resulting in similar or identical final species compositions, often possessed very different mechanical properties. Successful establishment of turfgrass on roadsides often necessitates using species mixtures not typically used for sod production. Evaluating mechanical characteristics of sod produced using such mixtures is necessary to determine if they possess sufficient strength for harvest and handling. The objective of this work was to evaluate tensile strength and work required to tear sod of mixtures of nine cool‐season turfgrass species previously determined to perform well on Minnesota roadsides. Three replications of 51 mixtures were established in a randomized complete block design at St. Paul and Rosemount, MN. Plots were seeded during September 2012 and harvested in July 2014. Tensile testing revealed that plots seeded with 40% strong creeping red fescue (Festuca rubra ssp. rubra Gaudin), 40% Chewings fescue [F. rubra ssp. fallax (Thuill.) Nyman], and 20% alkaligrass [Puccinellia distans (L.) Parl.] resulted in a final plant community comprising 99% fine fescues (Festuca spp.) and produced sod with the highest maximum tensile load to tear of 507.7 Newtons. At St. Paul, maximum work required to tear sod was 16.57 Nm for a final plant community comprising 98% fine fescues and 2% Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.). At Rosemount, maximum work required to tear sod was 38.86 Nm for a final plant community comprising 90% fine fescue, 9% creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera L.), and 1% weed cover. Mixtures currently used on Minnesota roadsides containing high Kentucky bluegrass content were consistently among the weakest in the trial and sod comprising alternative species can match or improve the strength of those mixtures.

Smart irrigation controllers have demonstrated potential for turfgrass water conservation in humid and temperate environments but have not been comprehensively tested in arid environments. The objective of this study was to determine the accuracy of a wireless capacitance sensor over a wide soil moisture range and to ascertain if smart irrigation controllers resulted in water savings without reducing quality of tall fescue [Schedonorus arundinaceus (Schreb.) Dumort.] and bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon L.). A two-yr study was conducted to compare turfgrass quality, root morphology, and water use of plots irrigated with a constant run time to plots for which irrigation was scheduled using soil moisture sensors (SMS), evapotranspiration (ET) [Climate Logic (CL)] controllers, or 80% of historic ET (ET80) for tall fescue and 60% (ET60) for bermudagrass. Sensors accurately tracked soil moisture up to salinity levels of 4 dS m −1. Turf performance and root morphology were not affected by irrigation treatments for either grass. Compared to tall fescue plots irrigated with constant run time, plots irrigated using ET80 and CL required 38% less water, and SMS plots used 44% less than tall fescue. Scheduling bermudagrass irrigation by ET60, CL, and SMS resulted in a 29, 42, and 39% reduction in water applied compared to constant run time. The majority of water savings was in spring and fall. Water requirement for bermudagrass during the summer did not differ between the scheduling treatments. Our study confirms that smart irrigation controllers can be used as an effective measure to conserve water in an arid environment.