Bowling Green FAQ 20: How often should we water our green?

This will depend on numerous factors, not least how much rainfall (and the frequency of it) falls to counter loss of water used by the grass plant. A bowling green with a deep root system will be able to extract water from the full rootzone volume, with a much longer interval being needed between potential irrigation activities, whilst a shallow root system will dry out fairly rapidly. Soil texture will also have an effect, as will the type of grasses present in the sward as well, as well as a range of other maintenance practices, especially mowing height, intensity of scarification, thatch depth, whether fertiliser has just been applied or is about to be applied, if grass seed has been sown and therefore needs moisture for germination and then initial establishment.

To provide a very general guide for the main growing season, and assuming no extreme weather events are occurring, and the sward is well maintained with predominantly desirable grasses then a weekly application might suffice at times when supplementary rainfall occurs, to twice a week might be considered an ideal situation, to no more than on three occasions per week. Ideally water will be applied so that it penetrates to depth and that as the surface gradually dries downwards, the roots explore further down into the rootzone to extract available moisture to maintain health. Watering shouldn’t be used to produce much growth, which will only be cut off by the mower, but to support grass development to keep it resilient and ticking over.