Category: Greenkeeping

March 8, 2019

Sand and Bowling Green Performance

The relationship between sand and bowling green performance has become a thing of legend with the majority of clubs still throwing more sand on their greens every year, despite a worrying trend showing poorer and less predictable green performance due to problems like Localised Dry Patch and excessive thatch. It seems that for many clubs the dots aren't being connected between too much sand and poor performance. In this article I will explain the fundamentals that greenkeepers must keep in mind with regard to their bowling green soil.

March 2, 2019

Performance Greenkeeping tasks for March

Essential Greenkeeping tasks for March include aeration, moss control, microbe boosting, disease prevention and keeping the surface clear of worm casts. Now is the time to make soil nutrient balance corrections and to get some starter fertiliser and bio-stimulants on to boost soil microbial activity and get the grass growing well. Take advantage of my soil analysis service for a positive start to the 2019 season with a done for you greenkeeping schedule.

November 23, 2018

Symptoms, Causes and Cures in Bowls Green Maintenance

One of the easiest, cheapest and effective methods of killing moss in turf is to apply Ferrous Sulphate. Therefore, on Bowls Central, I could sell many tonnes of Ferrous Sulphate at a nice profit margin every year by simply pandering to conventional thinking, but you won't find any for sale here. Let me explain why:

November 11, 2018

Performance Greenkeeping tasks for November

Essential Greenkeeping tasks for November include aeration, disease prevention and keeping the surface clear of worm casts.

November 4, 2018

Bowls Green Compaction

I once commented that there are only ever two real problems in bowling greenkeeping; compaction and thatch, with the rest of the myriad problems we come across being merely symptoms of these Big Two. Lately, I've revised that thinking, as the more I see of ill treated bowling greens the more I realise that, although they are important, even thatch and compaction are only symptoms too. The trouble we face in greenkeeping is that the industry wants us to treat symptoms. If we treated the root cause after all, we wouldn't need to buy half as much stuff! But before we get too carried away, let's have a recap on what bowls green compaction actually means.