The SCANGREEN project continues over 20 years of variety testing. In 2023-26, the 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 also includes a test site at UMN, Minnesota, USA, funded by the WINTER-TURF project. SCANGREEN 2023-26 covers seven of the most common species and 20 new varieties for comparison with references. Mixtures of fescue and bentgrass are also tested.
In contrast to winter 2023-24, winter 2024–2025 was much milder, but visual differences in winter damage were still evident among the sites, particularly for creeping bentgrasses in early spring 2025. Overall, colonial bentgrass and creeping bentgrass showed the best winter survival and turfgrass quality across all sites, despite some snow mold during winter and early spring. The colonial bentgrass ‘Saulsbury’ showed weaker winter survival and higher disease susceptibility. Creeping bentgrass ‘Oakley’ had more snow mold and in-season disease in the northern zone and at Smørum. Perennial ryegrass and Kentucky bluegrass were consistently weaker in winter performance. Kentucky bluegrass establishment was poor at several sites, contributing to low ratings, although ‘Limousine’ performed best in the southern zone and ‘Yellowstone’ matched it in the northern zone. Among perennial ryegrass, ‘Barhodium’ showed improved performance at Landvik. Smaller cat’s tail showed intermediate winter survival, performing best under a higher mowing height of 5 mm. It had little to no disease at southern sites but some snow mold in the north. Among Chewings fescues, ‘Barlineus’, ‘Bartico’, and ‘Euro Carina’ showed the best winter hardiness, particularly in the northern zone, while ‘Compass II’ had favorable winter color and low snow mold in the south. For slender creeping red fescue, winter survival varied greatly by variety and site; ‘LMG FRT-4631’ and ‘Sybille’ performed best in the north, while ‘Barnoustie’ performed best in the south. Dollar spot occurred only on Chewings and slender creeping red fescue at Smørum in 2024 (<1%). In 2025, it also appeared on creeping bentgrass but caused little damage; incidence remained highest on slender creeping red fescue. In Minnesota, dollar spot pressure was very high in the summer and fall of 2025 and was especially damaging to all tested creeping bentgrass cultivars. Some fine fescue cultivars, especially Chewings fescues, performed better than others under high dollar spot pressure. The winter of 2024-2025 was very damaging to the perennial ryegrasses, all of which had to be reseeded due to winter kill; the only other entry that needed to be reseeded due to winter damage was ‘Saulsbury’ colonial bentgrass.
