Aeration describes a range of mechanical operations used to improve the air content of the soil on bowling greens. Soil air content is reduced mostly by he perennial turf problems of Thatch and Soil Compaction.
Aeration can be sub-divided into surface and sub-surface aeration practices.
Surface aeration usually Read more
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It’s essential for strong teeth and bones; I know that much from school, but where does Calcium fit into a bowling green maintenance program?
When we hear discussion of soil nutrients, it is usually in terms of Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium; the famous NPK, that we see written on fertiliser bags.
However, there are another 3 major nutrients; these are Calcium, Magnesium and Sulphur.
However, the most overlooked macro or major nutrient in bowling green maintenance is Calcium. Calcium is needed by plants to grow and maintain health. It is a key constituent of cell walls.
If calcium availability is low or compromised grass plants can experience a range of difficulties
Calcium plays a very important role in plant growth and nutrition, as well as in cell wall deposition. The primary roles of calcium are:
Therefore the role of calcium in plants must not be overlooked.
In Performance Bowling Greens, a practical guide I go into this in much more detail.
Today sees the launch of a host of new interactive features here on bowls-central.
Although not very prominent at the moment if you look at the top left of any main page you will see a new menu called Bowls Social Network, although we would like to arrive at a better name soon and I’ve put up a little competition to see if we can do that!
The new features include Special Interest Groups which you can join to enter the discussion with other members. Membership is free and setting up your profile is very straight forward.
I have set up a few starter groups including ones for the four home nations of Great Britain and Ireland and groups focussed on Performance Greens, Club Survival and Club Membership issues. I will be happy to set up any other relevant groups requested by members.
Once you join a group or groups you will have access to a host of features including discussion forums, private messaging, extended member profiles, friend connections, user groups, activity posting etc.
Don’t worry if you don’t understand everything at the outset just jump in and set up your profile today.
Its easy…just click here choose a user name and password and join the conversation today! Alternatively select “Register” from the Bowls Social Network menu at the top left of any main page.
I’ve put up a few starter questions on the forums to get things moving.
Site users who have previously signed up for the Bowls Club Mastermind Network will be able to sign in with their existing user name and password, or alternatively set up a new account.
As usual, if you have questions or need any help with any of this; just drop me a line by clicking here.
Hope to see you on our new bowls social network!
John Quinn
Slit tining, solid tining, hollow tining, verti-draining. All of these terms seem to be interchangeable with the word “Spiking” so it can be confusing for the new greenkeeper or green convenor to know what the best approach is at any given time to do the best for their green.
All of these terms relate to the aeration or introduction of air in the green. They all do this by making holes of one kind or another.
When I refer to spiking I usually mean “slit tining” and this is still the best thing you can do to your green through the winter months to relieve the compaction that has built up over the playing season and to keep the green surface open to allow drainage of surface water.
You can get much more detail on the aims of aeration and the techniques used here.
