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Dealing with Snow and Ice on Your Green

A couple of years ago we were hit by severe snow and ice in some parts of the country and it raised a few questions about how best to deal with severe winter weather on bowling greens. I am re-visiting this today as a timely reminder now that we are in the winter season. Hopefully this will be a good omen and we wont get any snow this year!

The unusually early onset of winter in 2009 and 2010 created a few problems for most of us and seriously curtailed many winter maintenance programs.

We received a lot of enquiries asking for advice on dealing with the snow and ice on bowling greens and the aftermath of deep snow cover.

The main concern during and after snow cover is the potential for the outbreak of fungal diseases such as fusarium patch; and indeed, fusarium might well be encountered after the snow has melted. Although many clubs will have applied a preventative fungicide in the Autumn, this might not have provided total protection, but should have minimised the risk of attack.

When the snow has gone you might well find active areas of Fusarium and this should be treated with a curative fungicide containing the active ingredients iprodione  or chlorothalonil applied as per the manufacturer’s advice.

Many of the enquiries we have received have been related to the actual snow cover and clubs have been worried about the prolonged cover of snow and ice on their turf and have asked if they should be pro-active and do something to remove the ice cover. My advice would be to leave it and allow it to melt naturally.

Attempting to remove ice could result in damage to the turf, soil structure and grass plants.

Please also remember that even after the snow and ice has gone the underlying soil could still be frozen and any activity on the green could result in damage to the root system of the green.

Please make sure that the green has completely thawed by probing the soil before commencing (and catching up) with your winter maintenance program.

Any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Localised Dry Patch Update

LDP Affected green after heavy rain

Already the relatively dry April and start to May has seen bowling greens suffering from Localised Dry Patch (LDP).

As we have discussed many times on this site before, this condition is a major problem for bowling clubs throughout the UK and if your bowling green is aready showing the tell tale signs then you need to take rapid and relentless action to avoid major disruption to your bowling green surface this season.

Meantime for greens already showing signs of the problem here is my Read more

Why is Thatch the single biggest problem in Bowls Green Maintenance?

We have had a few queries asking about thatch; actually a few readers asking for a definitive description of thatch and its associated problems, so here it is:

What is it?

Thatch is the name given to the mat of dead roots and shoots that accumulates on the surface of the green. Where moisture, nutrition and cultural practices are optimised for the desired grasses, thatch rarely becomes a problem. However, when soil air content is low, or if drainage is poor and the fertiliser program is not optimised for the prevailing conditions, thatch can become a problem. In severe cases the major root mass might only exist within this layer and this leaves the green susceptible to drying out in summer and to the heads “skinning” (loss of turf cover) in wet weather. Thatch is also a major contributor in the Read more

Achieving Excellence on a Budget

There can be little doubt that the green is one of the most important assets of any bowling club. It would seem obvious therefore that this is where the pursuit of excellence should begin for any club.  What is not so obvious, however is that the green is also where the greatest  savings can be made. It’s all about working smarter and not blindly following greenkeeping traditions that have prevailed in bowling for decades and which don’t always add value to the club or improve the green. Please browse this site to find out how you can optimise your green maintenance and ensure you are getting the best value for your budget.

Fungal Pathogens-Myths dispelled

You don’t have to be involved with bowling greens for very long before you encounter the infamous Disinfectant Tray at the gate or at the side of the green.

No, there hasn’t been a new foot and mouth epidemic, just a mild outbreak of paranoia.

To accompany this you will hear a series of myths banded about as follows:

  1. the green keeper brought in disease on his boots
  2. the visiting team last week brought disease in on their feet from their disease addled green.
  3. the contractor brought disease in on his mower

While it is perfectly possible that some or all of the above can import disease spores, these won’t result in a disease attack on your green unless conditions are optimal for this to happen.

A recent article covered this and other “fungal myths” in more detail.