Bowling green maintenance and management

Bowling Green Fertiliser Application advert image shown if present
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Fertiliser application will be minimal for most bowling greens if a firm surface is to be produced with the desirable grasses of red fescue and browntop bents.

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Bowling Green Grass Species and Sward Composition advert image shown if present
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For a fine surface, with lower fertiliser and irrigation inputs then a traditional red fescue and browntop bentgrass surface is desirable. In practice, a gradual increase in annual meadow grass is routinely seen. This is the result of a range of interactions, especially:

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Bowling Green Holistic Performance Management advert image shown if present
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A fundamental requirement in the use of performance standards is to manage a green holistically. It is important to understand the impact and influence changes to maintenance practices can have on the individual standards and how these might also influence, negatively or positively, the parameters of other standards.

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Bowling Green Irrigation advert image shown if present
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Irrigation is routinely overapplied and is a major contributory factor in the gradual deterioration of a bowling green surface. A wet surface might arise from not removing dew early enough in the morning, but more likely and significantly it will be excessive, or high volumes of, water being applied with the green not being able to transmit the water downwards at a suitable rate, especially where a thatch layer is retaining the water.

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Bowling Green Maintenance: Introduction advert image shown if present
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This could be either flat bowls or crown green bowls, but the focus here is on flat green bowls. The aim is to provide a surface which is flat and even throughout, firm, and relatively free of fine-leaved weeds and free of broad-leaved weeds.

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Bowling Green Moss advert image shown if present
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Moss is probably the most troublesome weed on bowling greens and will always be present to some degree. The aim is to create conditions which are less desirable for its development and to increase the competitiveness of the desirable grass species to reduce its potential for encroachment.

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Bowling Green Mowing advert image shown if present
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Mow at a height of no less than 5mm, especially where red fescue is the dominant grass, although in some instances mowing below this height might be desired for tournament play.

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Bowling Green Performance Standards (A) advert image shown if present
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A range of performance standards can and should be used to manage a bowling green and these can help provide for well informed decisions on the effective and efficient use of resources needed to maintain the green to meet the needs of the club.

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Bowling Green Performance Standards (B) advert image shown if present
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3) Bare (and decaying-dead) area: This is the difference between the total vegetative cover and the total composition of a defined area.

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Bowling Green Performance Standards (C) advert image shown if present
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9) Thatch depth: This is undesirable and should be reduced to a very small amount, although a little depth of thatch, of maybe 3mm to 5mm, is desirable in contributing to sward resilience.

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