Lesson 04: Watching Grass Grow: Reproductivel
In the middle of May, you notice an unusually large number of seedheads in your Kentucky bluegrass lawn. While a few seedheads usually appear at this time of year, this year the lawn appears to be overrun with them. As you observe the turf over the next two weeks, you notice substantial thinning and a "stemmy" appearance developing. As May turns into June, this condition gradually changes and a dense stand of vegetative shoots replaces the seedheads that were so much in evidence earlier. You wonder: Was the dramatic recovery of the turf due to the germination of all the seeds produced on site? You recall when you established this lawn several years ago how the distribution of small bag of seed produced such a prolific stand of grass. The disappointingly sparce stand of seedlings emerging from this exercise gradually formed a dense turf that has persisted despite incidences of severe drought, several diseases, and at least one major bout with voracious insects.
As you reflect on these observations, consider the following questions:
What to do...
In this lesson you will review information on Inflorescence Development and Germination. Throughout this lesson you will be prompted to do self-checks. If are able to answer all the questions in the self check correctly, you will have the option to skip over some of the material presented in this lesson, of course you can review everything if you want.
When you are finished going through the lesson, access the Lesson 04 Quiz. You can take the quiz up to 5 times. Practice! The questions are just like those you will find on the exams.