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Written by Administrator
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Wednesday, 18 October 2006 |
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Bent grass or Bentgrass is a cool seasonal grass. Bent grass is a desirable grass for golf course tees, fairways and greens and high traffic lawns. Cool season grasses start growth at 41 °F, and grow at their fastest rate when temperatures are between 50-77 °F, in climates that have relatively mild/cool summers, with two periods of rapid growth in the spring and fall. They retain their color well in extreme cold and typicaly grow very dense, carpetlike lawns with relatively little thatch. 
Colonial Bentgrass, a relatively low maintenance turf grass.
Bentgrass is used in turf applications for its numerous advantages: it can be mowed to a very short length without damage, it can handle a great amount of foot traffic, it has a shallow root system that is thick and dense allowing it to be seeded and grow rather easily, and it has a pleasing, deep green appearance.
Creeping Bentgrass is the most commonly used species of Agrostis. It is cultivated almost exclusively on golf courses, especially on putting greens. Creeping Bentgrass aggressively produces horizontal stems, called stolons, that run along the soil's surface. These stolons allow creeping bentgrass to form dense stands under conducive conditions and out-compete bunch-type grass and broadleaf weeds. As such, if infested in a home lawn, it can become a troublesome weed problem. The leaves of the bentgrass are long and slender.
Colonial Bentgrass (Agrostis tenuis) was brought to America from Europe. This was the type of grass that was used on the lawns of most estates. It is the tallest of the bents with very fine texture and like most bent grasses grows very dense. Although this bent grass has been used on golf courses and sporting fields it is better suited for lawns. Colonial Bentgrass is fairly easy to grow from seeds and fertilization of the lawn is not as intense. This grass also takes longer to establish than the Creeping variety. However it does not require the intense maintenance.
Velvet Bentgrass gets it name for the velvet appearance that this grass produces. It has the finest texture of all the bent grasses. This grass was used in Europe for estate lawns and golf courses because it could be cut so short. This bent grass does require more upkeep and maintenance that the Creeping variety and because of this has been overlooked as a practical turf for current golf courses. This variety also has a lighter color than the two other varieties. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 18 October 2006 )
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