Compost Tea is a home made spray that is applied to fine turf to increase the micro life in the soil. It reintroduces missing microbes and boosts the populations of all of the main beneficial microbe groups such as bacteria, protozoa and the all important Fungi. Some of these help to degrade thatch, turning it into valuable humus, giving life and body to the depleted and often excessively sandy soil in many bowling greens.
Managing turf disease effectively, cheaply and permanently is well within the grasp of every greenkeeper. The soil in our greens already holds all of the answers to this, or at least it should do. Some of the routine work we do on greens is more damaging than beneficial. The need to manage turf disease more effectively gives us the perfect excuse to start returning our soils and grass plants to their natural disease resistant selves, much to the benefit of our members and clubs. John explains how to manage turf disease outbreaks simply and with reference to vegetarian sausages :-)...may contain nuts!
Fight off disease and toughen up your turf against the worst of winter with this excellent value Winter Survival Pack. More details
Successfully dealing with fairy ring in fine turf is a challenge facing many greenkeepers, but one that can be broken down into easily taken key steps. The conventional remedies that feature the use of fungicides are simply dealing with symptoms and can guarantee only one outcome; temporary relief followed by a worsening of the problem over the longer term. In this article you'll find a pesticide free, long term solution that also alleviates the short term symptoms.
The 2018 Summer Heatwave has left many greens scorched, parched and suffering from a severe lack of water.
Now that the rain has returned, at least temporarily to most areas, it will be important to take advantage of the moisture and latent soil temperature to effect a quick recovery in late summer and autumn.
One of the most often asked questions about compost tea goes like this:
"Why can't I just use the compost from the Garden Centre to make compost tea for my greens?"
This is usually mistakenly based around the belief that buying specially inoculated compost will be an expensive business in the long term.
Today is World Soil Day (WSD). A campaign that aims to connect people with soils and raise awareness on their critical importance in our lives.
To mark the occasion The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations has produced a wonderful series of Postcards that highlight the main threats to world soil health. In the UK we don’t do particularly well with many of them.
I received a nice email from a reader yesterday as follows:
"Hi John, I thought I'd share this pic from 8 weeks ago and now following your aeration and no sand advice... must say impressive in such a short time ... thanks. Looking forward to the next task email from yourself" VT
