Master Greenkeeper John Quinn is the author of Performance Bowling Greens, and several other titles on Greenkeeping, Club and Business Management.
Chemicals can affect the soil and the micro-organisms contained within it. Of course, in some cases this is exactly the effect that is required. Fungal pathogens such as those responsible for Fusarium disease in turf are micro-organisms and we might think, that logically, it's a good idea to be rid of these.
But is it?
The management of bowling greens often presents complex challenges, one of the most prevalent being the occurrence of localised dry patch (LDP) due to hydrophobic soil conditions. Addressing this issue effectively is crucial for the health and performance of your green and wetting agents have emerged as a key tool in this endeavour.
However, concerns have been raised about the potential toxicity of commonly used chemical wetting agents, leading to a call for safer, more environmentally friendly alternatives.
Some wetting agents are made from harsh chemicals that can be harmful to the environment and potentially toxic to humans and animals. However, wetting agents made from biodegradable and environmentally friendly ingredients are available. These products are designed to be safe for use around people, pets, and wildlife, and they break down naturally in the soil over time, leaving no harmful residues behind.
Localised Dry Patch is a common problem on greens in summer and it can take a while to conquer it. Could some of our traditional management practices be making it worse?
Bowling clubs are susceptible to any expert who comes along claiming to have a quick fix, usually in the form of a product that claims to eat thatch or cure dry patch and of course it is never as simple as that. However, these small, under resourced clubs will often choose the seemingly fast track solution over the reality of the hard slog to physically reduce thatch and start to bring life back to the soil over a longer period. As part of this, the annual ritual of top-dressing, with its rather dramatic appearance including lots of hands on deck, big bags of stuff to man-handle and the general drama of the event for a small bowling club, engenders the belief that this “surely must be doing a lot of good?” In this way, top-dressing has become a tradition at most clubs, almost a talisman, an offering to the great god of the greens to ensure good performance next year. When the good performance is short lived or even absent, the blame is always laid somewhere else, never with the top-dressing. This inevitably results in the greenkeeper being fired and the next expert being wheeled in to scatter his magic dust.
