b'The farm moved to its new 10-acre location in 2019. About half is dryland and the other half is irrigated. The plots share space with a building that houses customized equipment, workshops, and storage space for the farm.The university has taught turfgrass classes since 1955, the first such courses in the western United States. Since then, research has shifted to investigate drought- and wear-resistant hybrids and mixes.One thorny problem is milder winters that affect vernalizationthe necessary flowering triggered in cold weather. Neff and the other researchers examine grass vernalization genes, and the application of plant hormones to trigger them, so farmers can get ready for winters thatResearch team members Xin Xin, Jon Schnore, and Anna are less cold. Hulbert at WSUs grass breeding farm use specialized tools, like Kentucky bluegrass, as a perennial, is a useful crop forthis steel-studded traffic simulator, to test blends of grasses for soil health. If it doesnt flower and have a high enough yieldheavy wear. (WSU Insider)because of the mild winter, then it wont pencil out and the farmers will lose money, Neff says.While plant hormones stimulate seed production in place of vernalization, the long-term fix is to breed Kentucky bluegrass that has a lower vernalization requirement.Neff says the cool season Kentucky bluegrass can also be blended with Bermuda grass, a warm season grass usually found in southern areas like California, Arizona, and Florida. In the heat of the summer you have the green from Bermuda and in the cooler spring and fall, the green from the Kentucky bluegrass, he says.Neff says he is always looking out for grasses that canThe WSU Perennial Grass Breeding and Ecology Farm imaged withstand heat and temperature extremes. Last summer,in NDVI (a ratio of near-infrared and red). NDVI shows health he and his wife drove over 1,400 miles around the Pacificof plants as they photosynthesize under stress, with red Northwest as Neff looked for grass thriving in the heat. photosynthesizing the most, green less, and blue/black not at Well drive along the highway in the middle of the summerall. (Drone image courtesy John Hadish)and the only green on the side of the road are warm season grasses, Neff says. We pull off and it goes into a giant coolerresearchers dubbed Frankenstein, which simulates feet in in the truck. Then we come back and plant it here. cleats running on a field.For example, he found Bermuda grass in north-centralHigh-wear turf trials will test varieties across the state Washington, a cold environment for warm weather grass.at WSUs Puyallup research extension center, Mount Vernon Neff says that grass likely came from cattle drives in the 1860sresearch extension center, and eventually Prosser and during the Cariboo Gold Rush in British Columbia, and thenWenatchee locations.adapted to Washingtons climate. Nathan Cox of Desert Green Turf, who manages the sod for One use for the tough grasses is to replace artificialthe Seattle Mariners field and the practice fields for the Seattle surfaces on football fields, soccer pitches, and other playingSeahawks, is donating all the sod and installing it for those fields. Artificial surfaces can heat up to unsafe temperatures andtrials this spring.often have chemicals from rubber and plastic that could harmWe are trying to work on replacing artificial turf with real the environment. turf when appropriate, Neff says. As we face climate change Neff and others are funded by the Washington stateand heat, theres a huge need for this kind of research.legislature to grow and test high-wear turf and see if it recovers(This article previously appeared in the Washington State quickly from damage. One tool is a bulky machine that theMagazine. Used here by permission.)32 PACIFIC NORTHWEST GOLFER| SEPT 2024'