My research interests focus on the suppression of diseases on urban landscapes. Mounting social pressures against pesticide use have increased demands to develop alternatives to chemicals for controlling all types of plant diseases. This need is particularly important for urban landscapes where disease and pest damage on various types of unique plants is high. New types of disease and insect resistant plant materials are being sought through team research efforts at Dallas. The search for disease and pest resistance utilizes a large collection of plant materials for turfgrass species and native plant species collected from the Southwest. Combined disease and insect resistance has been observed in Zoysiagrass spp. and similar investigations are focused on other types of turfgrasses. During the last decade, we have been involved with the release of 12 improved turfgrass varieties including selections of bentgrass, Texas bluegrass hybrids, and zoysiagrasses with applications for sport and utility turf. The Texas native plant collections at Dallas are indigenous plant species adapted to growth in the arid Southwest. Biological assessments of these collections are providing good opportunities for developing disease and pest resistant plants that can thrive in dry climates.

The sprawling lawn care industry must deal with environmental issues that affect a multitude of urban dwellers. Residential lawns generate millions of tons of grass clippings and other types of yard waste that overburden urban landfills. Municipal turfgrass clipping recycling efforts were established in Texas by the development of the "Don't Bag It Lawn Care Program" in Dallas by Texas A&M turfgrass researchers and extension specialists. Today, this successful program has been adopted in over 200 cities in the United States. Current research is characterizing fungal-suppressive bacteria that can be used as biological controls against pathogens that attack turfgrasses. Some turfgrass pathogens initiate diseases in the absence of microbiological competition immediately after remoistening dry turf. Investigations on the disease-triggering effects of wetting and drying cycles have shown that some pathogens that initiate turf diseases including: Helminthosporium leaf spots, summer patch, take-all patch and Nigrospora stolon rot, operate in this fashion.