What is Bentgrass?
If you are looking to grow a green lawn on your property, you are probably learning about your choices in grass varieties and making a selection about what to plant based upon your climate, altitude, and water availability. Bentgrass is a popular species of grass of the grass family Poaceae. Bentgrass is known by its scientific name Agrostis, and its primary use is for lawn grass. Golf courses often use Bentgrass in tees, fairways, and greens.
What is Bentgrass?
Bentgrass is a particularly advantageous variety of grass since it is extremely durable. The variety can be mowed to a very short length without the grass becoming damaged. It is also possible to use bentgrass in areas where there is a lot of foot traffic because it is extremely durable. Bentgrass is unique since it has a shallow root system that is thick, which means it can grow very easily. The color of bentgrass is a deep green and the grass is very aesthetically pleasing. A further advantage is that, because of its shallow root structure, the grass grows laterally, make planting, growing, and maintaining the grass very simple.
The most popular species of bentgrass are called creeping bent, velvet bent, and common bent:
- Creeping bent is the most commonly used species of Agrostis, and used to be called the Orchestron long grass, named after a village on Salisbury Blain. Now it is used on putting greens on golf courses. This species has a unique feature of running stolons along the soil’s surface. Stolons are horizontal stems that forms dense stands that consistently out-compete broadleaf weeds and bunch-type grasses.
- Common bent is another variety brought from Europe to America, and it was the species historically used on most fancy estates. It is very tall with a fine texture, yet it grows very densely and is very easy to grow. It is best suited for lawns but does not require very much maintenance.
- Velvet bent is named for its soft, supple aesthetic appearance, but nowadays it is regarded as impractical because it is more difficult to maintain than other types of bentgrasses, and darker color grasses are usually preferred to velvet bent’s yellower, lighter color.
While you can plant bentgrass yourself, it is probably best to contact a professional about growing seed in your lawn. Bentgrass can be grown from seeds and from sod. Bentgrass requires very little maintenance on the part of its owner, so it is a good choice for golf courses and for home lawns.