SEAISLE 1 introduction

Overview - "The Environmental Turfgrass"
Sea Isle paspalum will be the most environmentally friendly warm-season turfgrass in the 21st century. This grass can tolerate a wide range of water resources, including potable water and seawater as well as variable quality of recycled (alternative, grey, effluent, nonpotable, wastewater, brackish) water. The grass requires only minimal pesticides and judicious applications of fertilisers. It is very efficient in the uptake and utilisation of critical fertiliser nutrients. Thus, Seashore Paspalum can be easily managed to comply with local, state, federal, and global regulations dealing with environmental concerns on water quality/quantity and environmental stewardship issues.

Seashore paspalum will have multiple uses in the turf industry. It has the leaf texture, quality, and traffic tolerance for use on golf course greens, tees, fairways, and roughs; on sports fields including soccer, baseball, and football; in home lawn and business landscape areas; in municipal parks, and; on roadsides, especially low drainage ways. It can be used to clean up polluted or contaminated waters or soils (bioremediation). It can be effectively used to transition into wetland sites or other environmentally sensitive areas to minimise the potential for point and non-point source pollution or contamination from industrial sites or other problem areas.

Some of the stresses for which SeaIsle1 exhibits a wide range of tolerance include:
- Excellent tolerance to saline or recycled water (to ocean salt water levels)
- Good drought tolerance under proper management
- Produces a high quality turfgrass with reduced nitrogen requirements
- Tolerates a wide range of soil pHs (from 4-9)
- Minimal pesticide requirements
- Excellent wear tolerance
- Tolerates extended periods of low light intensity, such as from prolonged   cloudy or rainy periods
- Root growth and functionality still maintained in 40-55F soil temp. range
- Low tree shade tolerance (similar to bermuda)
- Good insect and disease resistance
- Tolerance to flooding or extended wet periods

Characteristics of Paspalum that make it favorable for lawn or landscape
- Prostrate growth habit reduces mowing needs and provides for dense, fast-
  growing cover
- minimal weed problems under proper management
- Exhibits fine leaf texture similar to hybrid bermudagrass
- Produces a dense root system in sand or clay soil
- Goes off-color and into winter dormancy later than other warm-season   grasses

Disadvantages
- Produces moderate amounts of thatch during periods of active growth
- Emerges from winter dormancy and greens-up slightly later than other
  warm-season grasses