al. reported in later work at Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with ap-
proximately double the population pressure, that FLoraTeXTM
suffered moderate damage from tropical sod webworm larvae,
and it had high adult emergence values in caged studies (Table
8). Additional experimentation is required to fully understand
response of FLoraTeXTM to tropical sod webworm.

Mole Cricket
 Studies in confined cages at Fort Lauderdale, Fla., showed
that adult tawny mole crickets, Scapteriscus vicinus Scudder,
caused 13 to 25% damage to FLoraTeXTM and 16 to 32% dam-
age to Tifway bermudagrass (Table 9). Resistance scores of
71 to 72 for FLoraTeXTM and 62 to 81 for Tifway were re-
ported. Additionally, Arizona Common, FLoraTeXTM, and
Ormond were least damaged by the short-winged mole cricket,
S. abbreviatus Scudder, another very damaging species (18).
Tifway and Tifgreen cultivars were severely injured by short-
winged mole crickets in a same study.

Dollar Spot
 In a field study at Gainesville, Fla., Arizona Common,
FLoraTeXTM, and Tiflawn cultivars were least affected by dol-
lar spot, Sclerotinia homoeocarpa F.T. Bennett, while Tifway
was seriously infected when grown under a very low nitrogen
fertilization program (9). Researchers at two locations in the
NTEP study reported FLoraTeXTM as having best average score
for no dollar spot, but MS-Express, Tifway, and Tufcote were
also included in a same grouping (14).


Table 8. Foliage damage and emergence of tropical sod
 webworm adults as affected by differing larvae
 pressures on selected bermudagrass cultivars
 (17, 19).

Cultivar Foliage damage Adult emergence'
 Experiment #1
Arizona Common 2.5 a 10.4 ab
FLoraTeXTM 3.2 a 10.4 ab
Ormond 4.5 ab 15.8 b
Tifway 7.5 b 14.9 b

 Experiment #2
Tiflawn 1.5 a 18.0 a
Everglades 1.6 a 18.2 a
Tifway 2.1 a 21.6 a
FLoraTeXTM 5.3 b 17.8 a
Texturf 10 7.5 b 22.0 a
t Visual damage for grass in pots were rated 1 to 10 where
 1 = little or no sod webworm injury and 10 = extensive,
 nearly complete defoliation.
t Mean number of adults emerging per plot.
* Means within columns among experiments followed by
 the same letter are not significantly different (p=0.05)
 using Waller-Duncan k-ratio t test.


Table 9. Bermudagrass resistance scores to the tawny
 mole cricket based on grass growth and insect
 damage when confined in field cage experi-
 ments (18).

 Top growth Visual+ Resistance
Cultivar reduction (g) damage (%) score
 Experiment #1
Ormond 22 a 13 a 83
Tifway 22 a 16 a 81
FLoraTeXTM 31 a 25 a 72
 Experiment #2
Ormond 23 a 8 a 85
Midiron 28 a 14 a 79
FLoraTeXTM 45 ab 13 a 71
Tufcote 44 ab 32 ab 62
Tifway 44 ab 32 ab 62
Everglades 71 b 29 ab 50
Texturf 10 92 b 55 b 27
t All foliage was removed at or just above ground level
 (check and mole cricket-inoculated plants treated
 alike). Reduction due to mole crickets was figured on a
 percentage of control.
t Visually estimated percentage of dead or dying foliage.
 Resistance score = 100 (clipping dry weight + visual
 rating)/2.
* Means within columns followed by the same letter, are
 not significantly different (p=0.05) using Duncan's Mul-
 tiple Range test.


Red Thread
 On numerous occasions, Red Thread, Laetisariafuciformus
(McAlp.) Burdsall, was observed in Gainesville, Fla., growing
on dormant FLoraTeXTM during a winter period (9). No turf
thinning or-damage, however, was noted during a following
spring greenup.

Nematode
 Bermudagrass culture throughout tropical and subtropical
climates is seriously limited by parasitic nematodes (11). In
controlled studies at Fort Lauderdale, Fla., during 1991, Giblin-
Davis et al. (R.M. Giblin-Davis, 1991, personal communica-
tion) concluded that Arizona Common and FLoraTeXTM
bermudagrasses were susceptible to a sting nematode,
Belonolaimus longicaudatus, while Tifway bermudagrass was
tolerant.

 In earlier studies at Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in 1985,
FLoraTeXTM and Tifway bermudagrasses were equally toler-
ant to lance, Hoplolaimus galeatus Cobb, and to spiral,

Helicotylenchus pseudorobustus Steiner, nematodes (25).