Further to my previous post a lot of clubs have been in touch recently to ask for advice about irrigation systems; mainly about the cost of installing them.
Readers of my book Performance Bowling Greens a practical guide will know that I am not a big fan of the industry accepted standard for bowling green watering systems. They simply don’t work well enough.
Where standard irrigation systems are struggling to apply enough water to help with fending off LDP or indeed to apply sufficient water as part of read more…
Its time again for clubs to be thinking about the end of season maintenance program and many of these programs will follow “tradition” and will include the application of several tonnes of high sand content top-dressing.
However, one of the most prevalent problems on bowling greens in the UK is that of Localised Dry Patch LDP a condition that causes soil to become hydrophobic (water repellent) and which is undoubtedly related to excessive sand content in rootzone
The autumn renovation program is the only real chance clubs have to start to make inroads into the major problems with their greens and the only time when it is possible to make large corrections to thatch and compaction; and you’ve guessed it, thatch is another major problem associated with LDP.
Localised Dry Patch creates large dry areas on greens where grass dies back and the surface is disrupted. All attempts to re-wet these areas by watering the green are doomed to failure due to the water repellent nature of the underlying soil.
The application of yet more sandy top-dressing is not going to make this better; indeed it will in most cases make the problem worse next year.
It would be more beneficial to start the process of recovery by following a program that includes thatch reduction, wetting agent application and overseeding. All autumn programs should include the application of a granular fertiliser to correct any underlying deficiencies, usually a low N and high K product.
Where moss is a problem; and with LDP it usually is, you should use a proprietary moss-killer or lawn sand between 2 and 4 weeks before thatch removal work.
The link between Bowling Green Maintenance and Bowling Club Survival has never been more obvious…has it?
Later this week we will be releasing our new publication Bowling Club Survival and in it the process of Green Maintenance is shown to be critical in several different ways.
The most obvious link between Bowling Green Maintenance and Bowling Club Survival is of course that the club with a better green should be able to attract more members and tournaments, thus giving that club a better chance of surviving.
Secondly of course there is another obvious link; and that is that if we reduce expenditure on green maintenance then we will save costs and therefore give our club a better chance of survival.
Between these two clear survival strategies lies a quandary that many clubs have found themselves in for decades now:
“if we spend more money on Bowling Green Maintenance the green will be better; so if a better green would give us a better chance at Club Survival, we shouldn’t be cutting expenditure on Green Maintenance”
In Bowling Club Survival we will discuss why the answer to this argument isn’t as obvious as it seems and leave you with a clear strategy to make progress on this issue fast; but that’s only the beginning because this new guide will tackle 7 distinct strategies that must be mastered in order to give clubs the best chance of surviving the current challenges in both the economy and the game of bowls itself.
Please complete the form below to register your interest and we will ensure that you are among the first to be alerted when the guide is launched.
It’s nearly time again to be thinking about what to do to the green after the last game has been played.
I still hear the phrases “closing the green down for winter” and “putting the green to bed for winter” all too often and that is a worry.
Of course these are for the most part just harmless terms for the end of the season, but in some cases they still mean literally ignoring the green from now until next March.
Autumn is the only time we can really tackle big issues like thatch reduction and compaction relief in a meaningful way.
We also have to ensure that all running repairs that require re-growth such as over-seeding of bare patches are carried out soon after the season ends to give the work the longest and best chance to succeed.
Moving beyond the autumn renovation plan it is vital that maintenance continues throughout the winter months, especially in terms of compaction relief as this is an ongoing effort and doesn’t stop in winter time. In fact winter is the best time to get on top of compaction by following a concerted monthly program of compaction relied measures.
I’ve updated our Winter Bowling Green Maintenance Guide. The guide is FREE and you can get a copy by dropping your details in the box at the top right of the page.
If you have already signed up to receive email updates from us you will have already received a link to download a new copy.
Good luck with the autumn renovation works and winter programs and remember, if you have any questions just drop me a line anytime.
John
photo: Sandy Steele, the booler
Sunday 22nd August saw the finals of the Greenmaster Scottish National Mixed Pairs being held in glorious sunshine at Broughty Bowling Club. Pictured left to right are John Quinn, Greenmaster Ltd, Kevin and Marion Fraser the tournament winners from Newhills Bowling Club, Aberdeen and Scottish Bowling Association President Ewen Farrell.
If Localised Dry Patch is the worst of the endemic disorders in bowling greens that have been mis-managed over the last 3 or 4 decades; then it only just beats low Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) as the most devastating of problems.
CEC refers to a chemical process that occurs in the soil of healthy living greens and describes the process by which positively charged nutrient ions (cations) are attracted to negatively charged soil particles. This is the soil’s method of retaining the essential nutrition required by the plants and is effortlessly achieved by healthy living soil.
However, in the desert sands of most UK bowling greens, CEC is usually very low indeed and nutrition is scarce.
The thinking outlined in Performance Greens a practical guide is based around a program that can be followed to allow read more…
The future of bowls at club level has probably never been less certain than it is today. With many clubs struggling to attract new members and meet the cost of basic bills, the effects of the recession on club revenues and the costs of maintaining and running a club going up rapidly, it is time to apply some lateral thinking to the future of the game in the UK.
Following the successful release of our ebook Performance Bowling Greens, a practical guide by John Quinn earlier this year we are currently putting the final touches to a new and complementary publication called Bowling Club Turnaround and Survival.
This book is targeted at individual clubs and will offer a cohesive strategy to help them assess and quantify their current situation, develop a strategy for turning their fortunes around and finally to implement that strategy effectively.
Bowling Club Turnaround and Survival lays down a step by step plan that clubs can follow to ensure that they are making the best of every opportunity presented to them.
This ground breaking new ebook will be available here from the end of August 2010.
You can register your interest using the form below. This will ensure that you are among the first to be alerted to the book’s release.
Rootbreak is a common feature on greens where thatch is out of control
As bowling green maintenance specialists we get lots of questions every week about thatch. So here is a quick crash course on it; what it is, what it does and how to deal with it:
What is it?
Thatch is the name given to the mat of dead roots and shoots that accumulates on the surface of the green. Where moisture, nutrition and cultural practices are optimised for the desired grasses, thatch rarely becomes a problem. However, when soil air content is low, or if drainage is poor and the fertiliser program is not read more…
Apologies once again for the confused state of the site over the weekend, it has been one of those times when things seem to stack up against you.
The site first started to look a bit weird on Saturday at lunchtime and thanks to all of you who alerted us to this; this particular problem was related to a software update and was fixed by late afternoon on Saturday.
Then as a consequence of the original problem we were hit by a bandwidth issue (don’t say it, I know what the ???? is that?)
All is fixed, tested and solid now thanks to our excellent hosting company staff who don’t seem to take any time off over the weekend which is just as well.
As a result of the changes we had to make (we had to take the site back a few days) some of the recent site activity was deleted.
Again, though we have now restored all of the posts and we are working on restoring the photos and comments from readers from last week.
Thanks for your patience with this.
Localised dry patch continues to be the major problem this year
Localised Dry Patch (LDP) continues to be the major difficulty in bowling green maintenance. We get a lot of our website visits from people looking for a solution to this issue. Our Localised Dry Patch Factsheet is downloaded from the site more than almost anything else.
There is also a lot of confusion out there about LDP; what it is, what causes it and how you get rid of it. There is also a lot of poor advice about dealing with LDP, some of which seems to show a complete lack of understanding of the problem and its causes.
So, although I’ve written a lot about this subject in my bowling green maintenance advice over the years, here is a fresh recap in bullet point form that you can use to explain the problem to others and hopefully help them to read more…