Heatwaves demand a change of priorities. Stop opening the surface, water deeply, hand-treat dry patches and let the clippings fly. Here’s how to keep your bowling green alive without making the underlying problems worse.
There comes a point in every long-running problem where the evidence becomes too obvious to ignore. For many of the bowling clubs that get in touch to ask about solving green performance problems, I think they are now at that point with sand.
After another summer of heat, dry patch, weak turf, hydrophobic soil, disease pressure, uneven surfaces, irrigation panic and increasing renovation costs, the question can no longer be: “What top dressing are we putting on this autumn?”
...we can consider Golf and Bowls as sports that long ago had a common greenkeeping ancestor. In terms of budgets, skills, equipment, labour availability and professional support, we can usefully consider these to have followed different evolutionary paths and that they are now two distinct species...
A simple new biological bundle for clubs that want stronger soil life without the time, kit or uncertainty of brewing compost tea.
Phosphite (PO₃³⁻) is a reduced form of phosphate (PO₄³⁻), the familiar phosphorus source in traditional fertilisers. Although the two compounds are chemically related, their behaviours in plants and soils differ significantly. Phosphite is highly soluble and readily absorbed through both roots and foliage, making it a highly efficient delivery mechanism for phosphorus-related benefits, including disease and pest resistance, acting as a trigger for some of the plant's remarkable natural defence mechanisms.
