Projects
Growing pride.
Nothing makes us prouder than seeing how we’re helping change things for the better. By funding important projects, we’re helping Virginia Tech’s Turfgrass Research Centers put their research into action. These real-world applications of turfgrass research and development lead to practical solutions.
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​Strategies for Infesting Turf with White Grubs for Evaluating Insecticides
Turfgrass is a valuable industry to Virginia. A survey conducted in 2014 confirmed that white grubs are by far the most important turfgrass pests in Virginia turf (Laub et al. 2016). Preventive or curative insecticide applications are the primary control strategies for these pests. Because EPA regulations on current insecticide products can change at any time, and because a pest population’s susceptibility to insecticides also can change as resistance mechanisms develop, we must continually evaluate new insecticides for their efficacy.
Unfortunately, insecticide efficacy evaluations on white grubs can be frustrating because of the patchiness and unpredictability of these subterranean pests. Too often, field trials are set up and pest densities end up not being high enough or uniform enough across the experiment, resulting in insufficient data. Strategies to infest turf plots with egg-laying beetles in order to increase pest densities of white grubs would help alleviate this problem while also enable researchers to conduct the experiments in locations that are most practical.
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Expanding Sod Marketing Options with Native and Pollinator Plants
Evaluating the Potential of Perennial Two-Grass Turf Management Systems utilizing Kentucky bluegrass established and maintained in combination with seeded and vegetatively established Bermuda grass.
Improving Soil Assessment across Turfgrass Systems Utilizing Field and Aerial Radiometry
Strategies for Infesting Turf with White Grubs for evaluating insecticides
Evaluating Effects of Humid Acid-Based Biostimulants on rooting and drought tolerance of creeping bentgrass putting green turf and Kentucky bluegrass sod.
Management of Spreading Troublesome Weeds in Bermuda grass and tall fescue
Evaluating Effects of Humid Acid-Based Biostimulants on rooting and drought tolerance of creeping bentgrass putting green turf and Kentucky bluegrass sod.
Management of Spreading Troublesome Weeds in Bermuda grass and tall fescue
Ongoing featured project
At Independence Golf Course in Midlothian, the Virginia Tech Turfgrass Research Team is learning how different types of grass react to real-world conditions. A different variety of turfgrass is used on each hole of the nine-hole course and its performance is carefully measured and studied.