New facility an upgrade for UGA Tifton’s strong turf program

Published 10:00 am Thursday, September 29, 2016

TIFTON – Already regarded globally as home to a top turfgrass breeding program, the University of Georgia Tifton Campus is undergoing facility improvements to further strengthen the program.

Part of a statewide turfgrass facilities enhancement project approved by the Georgia Legislature, construction of new turf facilities on the UGA Tifton Campus is being finalized. The project includes the addition of a new greenhouse, which is slated to be finished by the end of September. 

“We demolished the old turfgrass head house and a couple of the greenhouses, so we want to get those modernized,” said Joe West, assistant dean of UGA Tifton. “We have a world-class turfgrass program, and they need the kind of facility that can help further their efforts.”

UGA’s turf program has provided grass varieties that have been used at the World Cup stadiums, Augusta National Golf Club and many SEC football fields. Brian Schwartz, a turfgrass breeding expert at UGA Tifton, said the new greenhouse will make the program even stronger.

“By having the ability to keep our grasses warm during the winter, they will grow faster and will continue to expand so we can use them later. If we keep this material out in the field and have a frost or a freeze, then that could be all the material we get for the year,” Schwartz said. “It allows us to use more of the year for growing and propagating.”

The new greenhouse will feature many amenities that weren’t part of the previous greenhouse, including a heating system, concrete floors, traditional benches, irrigation, tempered glass and a new type of cooling system.

“A greenhouse in the summer in Tifton is too hot for plants, and they often die in there,” Schwartz said. “We’re going to have sides that roll up during the summer, which will help cool the greenhouse by airflow.”

Schwartz said the new floors will help with flooding after rain events or watering, as opposed to the former dirt floors. He also said the new floors, along with new glass and taller ceilings, will make the new greenhouse a safer space in which to work. The greenhouse will be used as soon as it’s ready. Much of the planting occurs in the fall.

“We use the greenhouses primarily during the late fall and winter months to grow out new hybrids,” Schwartz said. “We fill them up all fall and winter and early spring, and we empty them out in late spring and in the summer. Then we start all over again.”

West is excited for the turf program’s growing season to increase, and he said that even though the program is one of the best, there is always room to grow and do more research.

“The new greenhouse will let them continue their work in the winter,” West said. “It will extend their season, and they’ll have more control over the environment of those grasses. It gives them more resources for greater research opportunities and further expands an already excellent research program.”