Matilda Turf

Overview

Matilda is a Seedling derived from ‘Shademaster’ on a Hawkesbury turf farm west of Sydney (NSW), Matilda is protected by a PBR (Plant Breeders Rights) and cannot be grown or sold without a licence. This PBR was granted in 2005 and is valid for 20 years in its current form.

Matilda performed well is most of the testing conducted in the HAL project, and would be a good choice for someone looking for a all round lawn. the average Leaf Width is 6.42mm and has an average leaf length of 15.8mm.

During the HAL Project various tests were conducted for Quality, Colour and Thatch ratings. Matilda performed very well in these results. coming very close to first for Quality averaged across the test sites with a score of 71 from 100 gave Matilda 2nd overall (1st place score was 72). Scoring 66.3 from 100 in the colour testing overall also placed it 2nd for colour.

Matilda showed normal thatch levels when compared to other varieties, Matilda had less thatch in shaded environments. most of the buffalos showed similar levels of thatch. Matilda average thatch levels were only 4% more than Wintergreen couch. Thatching is a normal part of buffalo cultivars and if it becomes a problem for the consumer, usually a short mow in the spring will remove excess thatch and dead roots and keep a less spongy lawn for the rest of the year.

Matilda showed very high resistance to disease, almost unaffected by most common disease encountered during the testing. For more information, results and photos Click Here...

Individual Tests

Shade Test

Matilda Buffalo showed the most growth in 30% and 50% shade tests. With above average growth in all shade tests Matilda showed it was the one of best growing buffalos presented in the project for varying amounts of shade. Matilda ranked 5th in the growth for 70% shade but still maintained acceptable turf quality where other cultivars had higher growth and fell below acceptable to the overall quality of the turf under shade.

	Grams per m2	Ranking	Average of all cultivars
Full Sun	3.17	5	2.98
30% Shade	3.99	1	2.87
50% Shade	3.15	1	2.25
70% Shade	1.81	5	1.73

During the above tests, Matilda maintained acceptable turf quality ratings in all four environments.

Drought Tolerance

During the drought testing Matilda showed excellent results when compared to the other cultivars tested. Matilda was no affected by reducing the evaporated water by 50%, this cultivar produced around the same clippings as were produced by the control plots, Matilda also maintained the normal colour during this test holding a Hue angle of around 110-115 for the 98 days. Furthermore Matilda showed only a 28% drop in the clippings produced when 33% of the evaporated water was replaced, some discolouration was seen during this test after 50 days the hue angle dropped to around 92 but returned back to 105 by the end of the 98 day test. if water usage is of concern for your lawn Matilda would be the pick of the bunch.

(Hue Angles - 130=Green/blue 110=green 100=light green, 90= green/yellow, 80-yellow)

Wear Test

Matilda Buffalo showed the best wear tolerance from all the buffalo's, as can be seen from the table below Matilda was only damaged in week 8 of the test and this was due to heavy rainfall and then the wear simulator was applied to the wet ground. Matilda quickly recovered and in week 9 showed 0% bare ground whereas the other cultivars too much longer to recover.

Cultivar	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Week 8	Week 9	Week 11	Week 13
Matilda	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	1.2%	0%	0%	0%

Winter Colour

Matilda coming 2nd in this test, losing only 7% colour, Matilda has an average of 109 Hue angle in the winter, This hue would still look green to the naked eye and really no noticeable colour loss should be seen. Matilda would be an evergreen Buffalo when grown in most parts of Australia.