This project is a continuation of the SCANGREEN variety testing that has been going on for more than 20 years. Varieties are assessed on sand-based greens at NIBIO-Landvik, Norway and Smørum GC, Denmark in the southern zone and at NIBIO-Apelsvoll, Norway and Reykjavik GC, Iceland in the northern zone. The project includes an additional test site at UMN, Minnesota, USA, which is funded by the WINTER-TURF-project. 2024 was the second year in the on-going test round, in which greens were established in 2023.
SCANGREEN 2023-2026 comprises 7 species (Chewings and slender creeping fescue, colonial and creeping bentgrass, perennial ryegrass, Kentucky bluegrass and smaller cats tail) with 20 new varieties for comparison with the references. Mixtures of fescue and bentgrass are also tested. Experimental plots are evaluated monthly and varieties ranked for turf quality, winter tolerance, diseases and the invasion of moss and annual bluegrass. The scanturf.org and in greenkeeper magazines.
Winter survival was fine in the southern zone (Smørum and Landvik) and at UMN, with only a small number of plots to be reseeded. At Smørum, big differences in the coverage of diseases were seen from February-April. Challenges with in establishment of some of the plots of Kentucky bluegrass were still an issue at this site, and some plots were reseeded more than once in May. At Landvik, a 30 cm thick layer of snow had covered the experiment since early January but had melted by the end of February, and none of the plots had to be reseeded. At UMN, three plots of fescue were reseeded.
In the northern zone (Apelsvoll and Reykjavik), more winter damage was seen as expected. At Apelsvoll, the green was free from snow in mid April, but all plots except the row with colonial bentgrass were brown.
From May, most plots started to green-up, but at the end of June, all varieties of creeping bentgrass and Kentucky bluegrass, plus some varieties of red fescue (most of the slender creeping fescue), were reseeded.
At Reykjavik, the green was ice-covered from February-March and remained brownish through April. On 10th May, only the perennial ryegrasses were still brown and dead, and they were reseeded in early June. Leaf spot infection (Drechslera poae) was observed in Kentucky bluegrass in early August due to the low temperatures in July (the average temperature in Reykjavik in July was 11 oC). At Landvik, some disease observed in perennial ryegrass was later diagnosed to be take-allpatch.
