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Bowls Green Spiking

Slit tining, solid tining, hollow tining, verti-draining. All of these terms seem to be interchangeable with the word “Spiking” so it can be confusing for the new greenkeeper or green convenor to know what the best approach is at any given time to do the best for their green.

All of these terms relate to the aeration or introduction of air in the green. They all do this by making holes of one kind or another.

When I refer to spiking I usually mean “slit tining” and this is still the best thing you can do to your green through the winter months to relieve the compaction that has built up over the playing season and to keep the green surface open to allow drainage of surface water.

You can get much more detail on the aims of aeration and the techniques used here.

Autumn and winter bowls green maintenance

We are getting an increasing number of enquiries about the correct process for Autumn bowling green maintenance at the moment.

Here are my top 10 tips for autumn maintenance:

  1. DO NOT TOPDRESS
  2. Remove as much thatch as possible.
  3. Create air space in the top 100mm of the green
  4. Relieve Compaction
  5. Treat LDP by applying wetting agent
  6. Renovate heads to ensure recovery for next year
  7. Improve CEC on overly sandy soils by introducing zeolite
  8. Boost potassium levels
  9. If over-seeding, also give some Phosphorous
  10. Draw up a program of work to carry on right through the winter months. Don’t “put your green to bed”

Performance Bowls Greens-Making Best Use of Winter

Time is marching on and most greens have had their autumn renovation works completed and the greens have been “put to bed”, which is my least favourite phrase in bowling green maintenance.

There should be no question of putting a green to bed for winter, as the next few months are the most vital of times for starting your journey towards a performance bowling green.

Bowling green maintenance has traditionally concentrated on the bowling season and greens have to a large extent been almost neglected during the winter.

The 2 main problems that greens suffers from and which are the root cause of almost all of the difficulties we encounter on greens can only really be tackled head on during the winter.

First among these is thatch and if there is an excessive build up of thatch on your green you should be taking appropriate action now to reduce this mechanically before it gets too cold.

The remainder of the winter right up to March or thereabouts should be peak compaction relief time; this is the only time when you can tackle it properly and the best technique to use is pedestrian, deep slit tining.

So if you are not out doing this now, don’t be surprised if your green isn’t performing very well next season.

The trouble with neglecting this work is that it just can’t be caught up with again during the season, which results in a very early deterioration in condition once the season is underway; in many cases the green doesn’t really get growing until well into the late spring period. Meantime the green is being subjected to further compaction and wear at a time when recovery is limited due to cold soil and weather. If this is combined with last year’s compaction and thatch which hasn’t been dealt with properly in the close season then tgreen can deteriorate beyond recovery very early in the season.

Let’s re-cap on some of the major problems that arise from neglecting this work:

Flooding, puddles, un-even playing surface, Localised Dry Patch, bare areas, poor use of fertiliser/increased fertiliser requirements, disease, more pesticide required, more water required, moss, weeds, poor runs, slow green surface, inconsistent rinks, unhappy members etc.

Now is the time to be getting on with the early stages of renovation which will lead to a performance bowling green for your club in the future.