His Whole World Is Grass
Lawn guru Reed Funk speaks to the tough little cultivar inside us all
Funk does not bother to fight back. "We are working on cultivars that will require less water and fewer chemicals," he says mildly. He repeats the lawn industry's mantra: "Turf prevents erosion and beautifies our lives." When pressed further, he cites the fact that each year's top offerings of new grass cultivars--varieties with names like Monarch and Monopoly, Virtue and Touchdown--are superior to those of previous years. He cannot imagine a world without grass: The idea leaves him speechless. He likes to quote the 19th-century writer J.J. Ingalls: "Grass is the forgiveness of nature. ... Forests decay, harvests perish, flowers vanish, but grass is immortal."
Still, the search for perfection is a risky business. Robert Peterson, a veteran of the seed business in Oregon's Willamette Valley, where most of the nation's grass seeds are harvested, opines--only partly in jest--that "the breeder who comes up with the perfect cultivar should be shot and the plant destroyed." Funk is philosophical. "It won't come to that," he chuckles. "New pests and new races of old pests continue to develop. None of us will ever receive credit for the perfect grass cultivar. Looking for it is a never-ending search that guarantees job security for us turf-grass breeders. Forever."
The embattled blade of grass Fungi and rusts are major enemies of grass plants. But insects and animals snack on them, to. While most of the pests pictured here chew on the stem and the blades, moles and gophers chomp away at the roots.
[Illustration labels]: Gopher; Mole; Grasshopper; Slug; Billbug; Grass webworm (moth state); Cutworm (larva state); June beetle; European chafer
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