The invention provides a new form of vegetative propagating material,
referred to as "the grass plantlet", as well as a method for producing
it. The new vegetative planting material and the method by which it is
obtained make it possible to replicate and increase both warm and cool
season grasses more rapidly than by the conventional methods of seeding,
sprigging, or plugging. Three to five new, clean, and pure generations of
a newly developed seeded or vegetative cultivar can be obtained each
year. Outcrossing, the need for burning and possibly for herbicide use
are eliminated by the present invention. The present methodology embodies
a sterile production system resulting in grass plantlets that are free of
nematodes, pathogenic fungi, and damaging insects. The method of the
invention has the capacity to rapidly reproduce and to maintain the
genetic purity of promising new cultivars that would otherwise be
discarded because they are sterile hybrids, low seed producers, sterile
direct DNA transfers, or cross pollinated non-apomicts.