# Mazama KBG Parental Line



## fusebox7 (Jul 27, 2017)

For those of you that have planted, want to plant or are interested in Mazama (formerly A04-74 in NTEP trials), I chatted with the turf breeding scientist at Rutgers where it was developed since I was interested in the parental line and how they got such a genetically dark America-classified cultivar. I bet you can guess... Unique x MIDNIGHT. Unique topped the mid 90s trials in overall quality and is a very fine variety with good disease resistance (what America types are best known for). Midnight... well, you know about midnight. I'd say that Mazama is likely to match up most similarly to Prosperity since both of their parental lines consist of Midnight and Unique as well and it seems they chose to pick the same desired attributes from select plants to breed what eventually became Mazama.

Thought I'd share for those that happen to be curious :thumbup:


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## j4c11 (Apr 30, 2017)

Great info, thank you. It seems to do pretty well in the transition zone in NTEP tests. So does Midnight. Nice to have options.


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## zeus201 (Aug 30, 2017)

Thx for the info. Has anyone tried a mono stand with Mazama? If I can get the wife on aboard with a reno, for sure going to be using Mazama.


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## fusebox7 (Jul 27, 2017)

No problem. Glad people find it useful information 

I have a 30-40% makeup of it in my KBG blend but no monostand (not interested). I planted in June and managed to keep it alive through summer and fall and it's starting to get ready for winter hibernation. I do have separate pots of Award, Bewitched and Mazama that I am going to plant in a bare area of my yard so that I can monitor progress over the coming year or two. I doubt I'll renovate again because of my challenging slopes but I'm still interested in seeing if I can see the difference between the three cultivars. So far, Bewitched is the thickest but lightest blue/green. I've read numerous reports from others that in the next 1-2 years Bewitched will significantly darken. Mazama is certainly the darkest thus far but Award is right there with it. I'll report back next year as it overwinters and has a full year of growth ahead of it.

My main concern that led to my Rutgers inquiry was that it's classified as an America type (which typically grow faster, are more vigorous, wake up earlier in spring, are somewhat lighter green...) but Mazama was marketed as extremely dark (and proved it in NTEP trials) so I wondered how. I had my suspicions and they were true - but I was curious what it was crossed with. Thus far it has shown the same compact/slow vertical growth as the other two cultivars I have so I seem to have chosen the blend correctly for my purposes. Time will tell!


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## jha4aamu (Oct 16, 2017)

i overseeded this past year w/ Mazama and it is has performed suprising well in my yard (i live in st. louis) definitely would recommend it for anyone in the transition zone if you can get your hands on some. it took a few hours on the phone before i could find a distributor who would sell to a homeowner.


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## vnephologist (Aug 4, 2017)

jha4aamu said:


> i overseeded this past year w/ Mazama and it is has performed suprising well in my yard (i live in st. louis) definitely would recommend it for anyone in the transition zone if you can get your hands on some. it took a few hours on the phone before i could find a distributor who would sell to a homeowner.


Curious where you ended up finding? The only place I could find was Long Island Cauliflower. I notice you also list Barvette in your signature. Did you find a source for just Barvette rather than the Turf Blue mix? If so, I want to find some Barserati. ;-)


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## jha4aamu (Oct 16, 2017)

vnephologist said:


> jha4aamu said:
> 
> 
> > i overseeded this past year w/ Mazama and it is has performed suprising well in my yard (i live in st. louis) definitely would recommend it for anyone in the transition zone if you can get your hands on some. it took a few hours on the phone before i could find a distributor who would sell to a homeowner.
> ...


i got my first bag of the Mazama KBG from Vista seed. Since then they have just supplied my local seed house with it and i pick it up from there (saved me alot on shipping). I have not found a straight Barvette HGT seed. its always been w/ the turf blue blend. You may be able to call Barenbrug and get a bag from them? I have done that with other seed suppliers (Vista, mountview) if i only wanted a specific variety that generally only comes in blends.


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