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Category: Greenkeeping

Bowls green over-seeding rates

Leading on from my previous article on over-seeding and the new over-seeding fact sheet , I have received a few enquiries about over-seeding of bowling greens this week.

A common question is about over-seeding rates, or how much seed to use.

There is of course no right or wrong answer to this as the rate can be adjusted to suit conditions, required effect etc.

So in some circumstances it might be necessary to over-seed very heavily to ensure a thick enough sward on a bare area for example.

At other times when using a particularly specialist seed mix the rate might be very light indeed.

As a general guide if you are using a traditional 80% fescue and 20% bent grass mix, then I would normally recommend a rate of 15-20g/m2.

Over a typical green of around 1400m2 the lower end of this scale would use about 1 full commercial bag of seed.

If a more specialist all bent grass over-seeding mix was being used then the application would go down to about 8g/m2 to reflect the major difference in seed size and weight.

It’s always best to try to divide the application into two passes with the machine as this helps to avoid missed areas and gives a more uniform finish. This is all the more important when using all bent mixtures as you can’t actually see the seed once it’s been applied due to its size.

5 tips for getting this operation right are:

  1. Choose a high quality seed mix which utilises cultivars from near the top of the STRI turfgrass manual.
  2. Calibrate machinery accurately as even a small error in adjustment can waste a lot of expensive seed.
  3. Always apply seed into rather than onto the bowling green surface.
  4. Heavy sowings can encourage Damping Off disease so take care.
  5. Always apply seed in at least two passes in different directions.

Carbon Dioxide

One of our regular readers commented:

I read various references to CO2 in fine turf literature but no explanation of its production and effect on turf propagation?

The role of CO2 in Turfgrass.

Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is extremely important in producing a high performance bowling green surface. Fortunately, there is no lack of it in the atmosphere, but we still have to make sure that the plants and soil are in good health in order for them to make best use of it.
CO2 is the basic stuff of life. It is taken in by the plant through the leaf and used (with water) to make sugars (carbohydrate and starch) in the Photosynthesis process. The main by-product is Oxygen which is given off through the leaf…luckily for us!
The Carbs created are then “burned” as fuel in the plant’s metabolic processes (Respiration), or stored for later use. The Respiration process results in increased biomass and gives off CO2.
For steady growth to occur Net Assimilation Rate (food produced) must be greater than rate of Respiration (food burned). Sunlight provides the energy for Photosynthesis, so growth slows in the darker months. Temperature is also important for Respiration, so growth slows in the winter months.
Although there is an abundance of CO2, the plants can’t always access it. In hot, dry weather the plants will close down their leaf stomata (where the CO2 enters) to conserve moisture. This causes an imbalance within the plant photosynthetic tissue (green parts) and Oxygen can build up to levels that far exceed CO2. When this happens a process called Photorespiration begins which is essentially Photosynthesis using Oxygen instead of CO2 as raw material. This is a wasteful process and results in very low or no net gain in energy. Plants then start to show signs of damage and health declines.

Simply put, no CO2 = no Photosynthesis = no bowling green…or bowlers for that matter (no Oxygen!)

As an aside, this is always a very popular subject with my students. When they consider how important grass is to life on earth for the first time they are amazed. Most of the world’s human populations rely on grasses as staple foods; wheat in the west, rice in the east and of course maize. The Oxygen manufactured (discarded) by the Photosynthesis process is of course vital to our existence.
Hope this is helpful, but it’s a vast subject in itself. I aim to put up some short online courses on these fundamental aspects of turf maintenance soon on Bowls-Central.
Footnote for our readers in South Africa, Southern Europe, Southern USA and Australia and anywhere else hot; the grasses you use are typically C4 or warm season grass species’. C4 refers to the first stable product of Photosynthesis, which is a 4 carbon sugar molecule. C4 plants use a specialised form of photosynthesis that is particularly suited to warm weather and which bypasses the Photorespiration phase, allowing C4 plants to thrive in very hot temperatures. The cool season grasses that we use in the UK and more northern climes are C3 grasses where the first stable compound of Photosynthesis is a 3 carbon sugar molecule.

Crow Damage on Bowls Green

Crows, usually useful messengers about other problems are the problem at Paul's green

Paul in Wimbledon has a problem with some very streetwise crows.

So far Paul has investigated for leatherjackets and has ascertained that thatch levels are under control.

I’ll let Paul tell the story here and then continue the conversation in the comments area.

All input and ideas or experiences from other readers very welcome. Let’s help Paul get to the bottom of this frustrating problem.

 

 

John
I read your articles with great interest and find them very informative and helpful. We have combined much of the information into the last couple of years winter maintenance programmes with considerable success, so please keen them coming. However, it’s now that we need your help and advice more than ever on how to eliminate the damage being done to our green by a family of crows.
Our club “West Wimbledon Bowling Club” is located in a residential area of Raynes Park in Surrey, not far from Wimbledon Common. Like most clubs over the last 10 years membership has decreased and we now function on a limit financial budget, hence we, or at least four of our member have taken over 75% of our green mamagement, under the watchful eye of a consultant.
Our green has been fully enclosed with an electric fence for the last 20+ years, which was installed to detered the urban foxes and we had been damage free upto about 3 years ago when the crows arrived.
Over the last 3 years we have been effected by a family of about 6 crows damaging our green. Initially the damage began with Read more
green maintenance

Bowls Green Maintenance

A very general title for today’s article, but it reflects the current industry desire for a fix all solution to achieving a good bowling green.

Most clubs are unhappy to some extent with the performance of their bowling greens.

This leads to an open ended search for solutions where the searcher i.e. the bowling club or bowling club management official simply looks for information from whatever source to help with the perennial problem of the bowling green.

If this is you, if you simply don’t know where to start in your quest for the truth about achieving a consistently good bowling green here is my suggested reading in order of importance. You can click on these links for more in depth information:

  1. Top-dressing
  2. Thatch
  3. Compaction
  4. Green Speed
  5. Green Consistency

 

 

turf grass

Turf grass leaf growth factors

Moving on from yesterday’s post which detailed the structure of grass plants, today I want to go into more detail about the processes and factors related to the growth of turf grass.

Leaf Growth
When we think of turf it’s easy to imagine that each individual blade of grass is a plant. However, each of the blades we see in the turf is a single leaf of a plant that might have many other leaves. All growth occurs from the base of the leaf so that the bit we cut off is always the oldest part of the living plant tissue and it is this feature that allows the grass to be mown frequently without undue injury. Although the main function of the leaf is to manufacture food for the plant through photosynthesis and increase the biomass of the plant the leaf can also take in water and nutrients to some degree.

Factors which affect leaf growth

Environment
As we observed in the post introducing warm and cold season grasses there are certain environmental factors that affect the growth of the turf grass leaf.

Temperature
Temperature is one of the most critical factors in leaf growth.

  • Cool season (C3) grasses have an optimum temperature range of 160 to 240C
  • Warm season grasses (C4) have an optimum range of 270 to 350 C

Sunlight
Sunlight is the main energy source in photosynthesis which the plant must do to produce food in the form of carbohydrates. In shade the density of turf will decline significantly which is a sign that there is much less biomass (plant tissue) being created by the plants.

Soil
For successful growth the plants need a favourible soil environment that allows for unhindered root growth. When rooting is curtailed so is leaf growth.

Cultural factors

Mowing height
When the grass is allowed to grow higher this results in more leaf tissue and therefore a greater leaf area for photosynthesis which in turn results in a greater production of carbohydrates for plant food.

Nutrition

  • Nitrogen (N) – an increase in available Nitrogen will typically result in increased leaf growth.
  • Iron (Fe) – the availability of Iron helps to ensure that the plant has the correct level of chlorophyll synthesis which is needed for the photosynthetic process to work efficiently.
  • Water – a very high percentage of plant tissue is water and this makes it critical to plant survival and healthy growth.
  • Diseases – the control or discouragement of disease pathogens is essential to strong and vigorous plant growth.

Next time we’ll look at some of the different growth habits you will encounter in turf grass management.

Meantime, why not share your views in the comments? or drop me a line.

Photo thanks to Kevin Dooley