Autonomous lawn mowers have been gaining traction in recent years as a cost- and time-saving strategy to combat labor shortages and improve sustainability in the turfgrass industry. They can also make this timely chore easier for homeowners.
Tessa Hospod ‘24 (CLAS) ‘26 (CAHNR) is investigating how autonomous mowers impact the agronomic aspects of turfgrass management, including turfgrass quality, mowing quality, and disease incidence for her master’s thesis. Hospod is working under Jason Henderson, professor of turfgrass and soil sciences in the Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture.
In one early project, Hospod is studying if using autonomous mowers reduces the need to apply fertilizer to turfgrass. Fertilizer inputs are a significant economic and environmental cost for the turfgrass industry.
Already, Hospod has found that for tall fescue grass mowed with autonomous mowers, fertilizer applications last longer than those mowed with conventional machines. The fertilizer they apply in May keeps the grass looking green and healthy well into July or August, which is not observed with conventional mowing.
These preliminary results were published in New England Blade – The New England Sports Turf Managers Association Magazine.
Read the full article by Anna Zarra Aldrich on UConn Today.