Master Greenkeeper John Quinn is the author of Performance Bowling Greens, and several other titles on Greenkeeping, Club and Business Management.
The most popular subject in bowling green maintenance is…Green Speed.
The main factors affecting green speed are in order of importance:
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Get back to the basics of thatch and compaction control
Here we go with our next web search term that resulted in someone finding this site.
I picked this one today, because it sounds like this search was instigated by someone who really needs help quickly.
This kind of situation calls for a level headed approach. At times like this, when it appears that all is lost and you feel like digging up the green and starting again, it’s easy to Read more
Over-seeding is a common element of autumn renovations. Costs for having the work done will be around £300-£500 depending on seed type, application rate and method used, but is this value for money?
In the vast majority of cases the answer is sadly…no! Why?
There are many reasons why over-seeding can turn into an expensive and in-effective luxury. First of all it’s an easy sell for contractors; after all what’s not to like about it? It’s non-disruptive, relatively cheap and promises a surface free of bare patches and populated with fresh new vigorous grass next year.
Unfortunately it doesn’t work like that.
First of all the new seedlings are up against very stiff competition from the existing, mature sward. Sure, you will see an almost 100% success rate at around 14 days after seeding in a lot of cases and your contractor will be quick to point this out to you. However, at this point the seedlings are Read more
This week I will again be looking at some club turnaround focussed issues.
I’m going to kick off with a look at what your club can do for the local community without charging!
The readers and members of this site represent the tip of a large pyramid of bowlers. By this I mean that if you are reading this you are among a minority of bowlers and parties interested in the health of the game of bowls that actively engages with others in the online environment and also that you are among the small number of people within the game that are actively looking for solutions to the difficulties the game is experiencing.
As an internet and world wide web user, you can’t have failed to notice the impact the technology has had on Read more
I still get incredulous emails and phone calls about my advice to generally stop top-dressing.
In the last 10 years I have only visited one club where I recommended sand top dressing as part of the renovation program and this was due to total neglect and lack of any real maintenance other than cutting and fertilising for a very long time before that. The club in question unfortunately didn’t get as far as implementing the renovation plan and has now been replaced by 4 new family homes!
The top dressing “tradition” has become so ingrained in bowling greenkeeping that it is very difficult for a lot of people to get their heads around it when someone says “don’t do it”.
Here are my top ten reasons not to top dress:
More info on why you shouldn’t be top-dressing here.
