SOUTH KINGSTOWN - Homeowners have dozens of grass seed varieties and countless mixes to choose from, yet at Exeter’s Allen’s Seed Store they repeatedly ask for the same blend: Improved URI Number 2.

That’s in part because people choose grass seed much the same way they do beer or jeans, says Erik Hagenstein, Allen’s general manager. They stick with what they know.

“It has quite a bit of bluegrass and is a great full-sun type of mix,” Hagenstein said. “There’s a lot of brand recognition with it [because] it’s been here close to 40 years.”

Another reason the blend is popular locally is that it is often recommended by the cooperative extension at the University of Rhode Island, which operates one of New England’s pre-eminent turf research programs on the Kingston campus. The blend, known for its low maintenance and tolerance to wear, was developed by researchers at the university.

Companies that legally use the name are required to pay royalties to the university.

But people looking for that mix or other blends developed by the university should be aware that not all packages carrying the URI name are patented formulas. Two once-popular seed mixes sometimes still found locally on store shelves, URI Number 1 and URI Number 2, typically have no connection to the university.

The names were among the first seed blends developed by the university’s turf researchers, in the 1950s.

“There weren’t any patents, just a gentleman’s agreement with seed companies that if they used [the formula], they would give the university a small royalty,” said Noel Jackson, a retired URI professor of plant pathology and turf grass management.

Some paid royalties and others didn’t, Jackson said. Since the names weren’t patented, seed companies were free to use the names and specifications as they pleased.
URI researchers solved that problem by developing improved formulas for the two blends. By the mid-1980s the names of the new blends were being licensed through the University of Rhode Island Foundation.

The university has also developed and patented several of its own grass varieties, that include various bentgrass and fescue. And there are a couple more that should be on the market within a year, says Nathaniel Mitkowski, assistant professor of plant pathology at the university.

Royalties paid for the use of these seed formulas are small, but they help pay for the turf farm’s operation, Mitkowski said.

The university recently hired a new plant breeder and is eager to step up development of new grass varieties. But the 13-acre turf farm remains committed to serving as a public resource through research, including studying the effects of chemicals on plant growth and disease management.

Golf course superintendents throughout the region are among those who work regularly with turf farm researchers.

One of the many plant trials now under way at the turf farm is studying the durability of finely textured velvet bentgrass developed by URI for golf course greens.

“We’re trying to show the public what you can do with velvet bentgrass,” Mitkowski said.

Gardening program

The turf farm also works with homeowners through a master gardening program run by the cooperation extension.

Volunteers are trained to help answer a toll-free (in state) hotline, (800) 448-1011, Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. The hotline gets about 6,000 calls a year, says Rosanne Sherry, the program’s state coordinator.

“People ask a lot of basic questions, like how to start a lawn, get a soil test or prune something,” she said. Others have spotted a weird-looking insect and want to know how to deal with it.

This time of year many people are seeding lawns.

Sherry says the URI improved blends are often recommended because they are suited to the soil and weather in this area.

“They have kind of been there forever,” she said, though the blends often are only carried by full-service seed stores and gardening centers.

“It doesn’t have to say Improved URI Number 2” to be good for your lawn, she said. “What we try to encourage is that people get a mix” of grasses.

mmello@projo.com / (401) 277-7355