Downcast is back and improved

If a product’s real purpose is to kill earthworms then this is now illegal for turf application in the UK. It's always best to stay compliant with UK pesticide legislation, honest with your players and committee, and aligned with a longer-term view of soil health. That’s been the Bowls Central way since day one.
Downcast is a non-pesticidal liquid that deters surface worm activity and encourages it deeper in the profile. It doesn’t kill worms; it helps keep their good work (aeration, aggregation, nutrient cycling) where it benefits the soil without spoiling the playing surface.

December 1, 2025

Winter Greenkeeping Strategies

Winter Greenkeeping Strategies have to a large extent been based on preventative fungicide, putting the green to bed and hoping for the best. This overlooks the huge opportunity greenkeepers have to make a real difference through applying some sound Winter Greenkeeping Strategies right through the closed months.

November 17, 2025

Mycorrhizal fungi and turf health, better bowling greens rely on us understanding this.

Mycorrhizal fungi and turf health go hand in hand. The symbiotic relationships that exist between our turf grass plants and soil fungi are critical to producing a high performance, perennial grass dominated sward. Here we look at the benefits of mycorrhizal relationships in turf and the techniques greenkeepers can employ to encourage them.

November 16, 2025

50 Years of Sand

Autumn Bowling Green Maintenance Question Time

From the very beginnings of the game of bowls, most clubs bowled on a green constructed largely of local top soil, built, prepared and seeded by the club members, perhaps with the help of a local gardener or farmer. Maintenance was largely mowing, turning the rinks on flat greens, keeping the surface clear of debris and worm casts and an occasional roll before a big match. In the autumn, a squad of members would descend on the green with forks to aerate or spike the green, before putting it to bed for the winter with a final cut and perhaps a bag of fertiliser.

November 13, 2025

Sand Top Dressing – Friend or Foe? Soil Texture 5.

Sand Top Dressing - that ubiquitous and apparently simple greenkeeping operation indulged in by most clubs annually is actually a much more complex operation than most give it credit for. In this article John Quinn explains the mechanics of top-dressing. He explains what it can and can't do and why you must understand some soil science before top-dressing is considered.