BEFORE AND AFTER: Please pass your mouse over the image. Paspalum vaginatum grow-in 23 September 1999 compared with 10 September 1999.

Paspalum vaginatum is a warm season turfgrass that has been overlooked for far too long. It has been around, but has yet to gain it's place in the turfgrass industry. New research led by several universities and the increasing use of Paspalum vaginatum will bring this grass to a place of prominence.

Paspalum vaginatum is also referred to as Seashore Paspalum, Siltgrass, Sheathed Paspalum, Salt Jointgrass, Seaside Millet, Sand Knotgrass, and Saltwater Couch. It is native to East Central South America, from Argentina through Uruguay and into Brazil. Today, Paspalum grows in tropical areas throughout the world.  Paspalum is being maintained on golf courses in Asia, South Africa, South America, Hawaii, the Caribbean Islands, and in the United States.  Right now, Paspalum has sort of filled a niche in America.  Only courses close to the oceans, where saltwater and saltspray is a problem have utilized this grass.

Seashore Paspalum is a warm season perennial grass.  It does not produce highly viable seed, and therefore must be propagated vegetatively.  Propagation can be achieved by using stolons, rhizomes, verticuttings, or sprigs.  Paspalum is great for wet boggy areas where drainage is a problem. It has been known to survive being underwater for several days and still survive.  According to Dr. Duncan, of the University of Georgia, it grows on golf courses that receive rainfall for 250 days of the year. Dr Ronnie Duncan is one of the leading researchers in Paspalum vaginatum and will be referred to often though-out this paper.

Siltgrass can be watered with ocean water. It has the highest salt tolerance of all turfgrasses. There are golf courses throughout the world that use saltwater as their source of irrigation. Although it is beneficial to be able to water with freshwater from time to time in order to alleviate the buildup of salts in the soil.

Research conducted at the University of Guam, by Andree-Anne Couillard and Greg Wiecke has indicated that seawater could be used as a selected herbicide. Since Paspalum has a higher salt tolerance than some weeds, why not? The research conducted at the University of Guam was done using Mimosa and Crabgrass as the weeds to be affected.  I have also heard of a golf course in the Dominican Republic that has experimented with using seawater as an alternative to herbicides.

Paspalum will also tolerate reclaimed or recycled water, sometimes referred to as "gray water" or effluent.  This is one of the reasons Dr. Duncan sees Paspalum as a grass of the future.  Each day, more and more golf courses are forced to find a new source of water. In some parts of the country local governments are forcing golf courses to take on effluent water, and at high costs.  Some coursed have no choice but to use this water.  After a period of time, Bermudagrass cannot handle recycled water and begins to suffer. Where the Bermuda suffers, the Paspalum will continue to thrive.  The same goes for golf courses that have desalinization plants.  This water can still have a higher content of salt that can be damaging to Bermudagrass. 

Siltgrass has high shoot densities and as a result is much more competitive against weeds than other grasses.  This competitiveness will undoubtedly keep the use of herbicides to a minimum. If for some reason there is a need for weed control, one could use saltwater.  There are almost no known pests to deal with. Pesticides in general will not be necessary like they are for other turfgrasses.

Paspalum requires much less Nitrogen than other warm season grasses.  Dr. Duncan recommends no more than 5 pounds of Nitrogen per year.  That comes out to about a half to a third of a pound of Nitrogen per month. Much less than other warm season grasses.  Paspalum can handle a larger range of pH than other grasses.  The range of pH that Paspalum can grow in is 4 to almost 10.

Seashore Paspalum is shade and drought tolerant. Once established it has shown to be equal to Centipedegrass in terms of drought tolerance.  It is compatible with cool season grasses used to overseed on golf courses, and can be mown at heights as low as an 1/8 of an inch.  This grass also loves to be verticut.

The amount of verticutting depends on the amount of play and the type of surface one desires. Paspalum responds well to regularly scheduled verticuttings and will tighten up. All these reasons make Paspalum vaginatum an excellent choice for the golf industry, as well as the recreational sports industry. Siltgrass can also be used for environmental purposes.  It is an excellent deterrent against beach erosion. Since it is native to sand dunes throughout the world, it thrives in coastal areas.

The only negative aspect that I can see, is cold tolerance.  Paspalum will not go dormant in tropical areas during the cooler months, like here in Florida.  But, it will go dormant at 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

There are several varieties of Paspalum vaginatum. Some have wide blades like St. Augustinegrass, while others are more similar to Common Bermudagrass. Some of the dwarf varieties have even finer leaf blades. Adalayd is probably the oldest and most known. Another cultivar Salaam is newer and much more suitable for the turfgrass industry. Dr. Duncan has developed a variety called AP-10. It has just been released this year, and is the best cultivar to date. When planting Paspalum it is recommended that sprigging rates be 200-600 bushels per acre.  The initial mowing should be around a 1/2 an inch at about 5-6 weeks after planting.  Young Paspalum can be sensitive to salt, but will grow-in and establish itself much quicker than Bermudagrass.

With all of this in mind, it is no wonder that Dr. Duncan believes that "Paspalum vaginatum has the potential to be the most environmentally sound turfgrass available for recreational turfgrass use."

Gulf Stream Golf Club in Gulfstream, Florida is fortunate to have seen some success with Paspalum vaginatum. The golf course is built on a barrier island. One hole is along the ocean, while the other exist on the leeward side of the island.  Salt spray is not a problem, salt quantities in the groundwater is. The leeward side of the island is made up of dredged material and sometimes is below the level of high tide. It is this part of the golf course where the Paspalum grows. Eight of the fairways have a mixture of Bermudagrass and Siltgrass. The Bermuda outdoes the Paspalum in the summer months, while the situation reverses in the winter. This original stand of Paspalum originally came from Sea Island, Georgia. A gentleman by the name of Mr. O.J. Noer(one of the producers of Milorganite fertilizer) saw this grass in Georgia and realized it's potential.  Mr. Noer brought the grass to Vero Beach, Florida. Some of this grass made it's way to Hawaii and the experimental plots of Dr.G.C. Horne, Ornamental Horticulture Department of the University of Florida at Gainesville. Around this time planting material was also provided to Mr. Ralph White.

Mr. Otto Schmeisser, the greens superintendent at Gulf Stream Golf Club also managed to get some of this grass. Around 1961-2 the remaining grass of Mr. Noer was verticut and sold as sprigs, roots, stems and blades.  Mr Schmeisser paid $5 a bushel for the remaining 240 bushels of shredded grass. It is Otto Schmeisser and Mr. Stanley Carr(superintendent for thirty years at Gulf Stream Golf Club)who are responsible for the mix of Bermudagrass and Paspalum vaginatum fairways.

With the newer cultivars on the market, current superintendent Mark Henderson has decided to experiment with Paspalum.  A small putting green was planted with Salaam to see how it would respond to mowing and fertilizing. It is currently being mowed at 5/32 of an inch and is looking great. Several tees have also been planted with Paspalum vaginatum.  Six all together, some of them were planted with Salaam and some with AP-10.  Two tees were planted side by side with both cultivars so comparison can be made. Both types of Paspalum vaginatum have grown in quickly, and surpassed our expectations.

With the increasing pressures of environmental concern being placed upon golf courses, Paspalum vaginatum is a logical choice. Some work still needs to be done as far as putting surfaces, but for tees, fairways and roughs it is an easy choice.  Paspalum requires less water, fertilizer and pesticides than other warm season turfgrasses. Golf courses are always under pressure about their water usage. Golf courses do use a lot of water, but it is used most efficiently.  If golf courses could convert to Paspalum vaginatum all the complaints about water usage would be silenced.

Bibliography

"A Saline Solution: Seawater as A Selective Herbicide" Andree-Anne Couillard, Ph.D., and Greg Wiecke, Ph.D. Golf Course Management, May 1998, Volume 66, Number 5.

"Establishment and Grow-In of Paspalum Golf Course Turf" R.R. Duncan, Ph.D., and R.N. Carrow, Ph.D. Golf Course Management, May 1999, Volume 67, Number 5.

"Keys to Success with Paspalum vaginatum on Golf Courses" R.R. Duncan, Ph.D. Golf Course Management, February 1998, Volume 66, Number 2.

"Origins of Turfgrass Species" James B. Beard, Ph.D. Golf Course Management, March 1998, Volume 66, Number 3.

"Salt Tolerant Silt Grass (Paspalum vaginatum SW)" Julia F. Morton Morton Collectanea, University of Miami, Coral Gables. Florida State Horticultural Society, 1973

"Seashore Paspalum: The Next-Generation Turf for Golf Courses" R.R. Duncan, Ph.D. Golf Course Management, April 1996, Volume 64, Number 4.

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