Hi
Could you advise the recommended length the grass should
be cut for bowling green?
Regards Frank
Hi Frank,
Depends on what time of year you are looking at. During winter I raise to 12mm and during playing season go down to 5mm. Players always want it lower but we suffer from moss and I refuse to take it down more.
Frank,
Ascot is spot on, and as he states, the players will all ways ask for it to be lower in the mistaken belief it will be faster, it will of course be so in the short term. Stand firm and resist all tempation to lower the hight of cut below 5mm. If you can verticut do so at 3 weekly intervals and follow up with a power brush and the players will be happy. Its funny (not) that all bowlers know more about the green than the person who looks after it and all ways have some thing to say about how it should be looked after!!!!!!!
Frank,
I should have said, have a look at the bowls diaries from the home page or through the search box.
Steve G,
Good call, but in my experience it's the cricketers who shout most, 30 years of playing the game makes them an expert in turf maintenance. You can get awards from the governing body of the sport but still be unable to prepare a pitch for a Sunday seconds game!!!
Sorry, rant over.
Ascott, make life easy for yourself. Whoever plays Sunday gets Saturday wicket full stop.
Ascott/Bath
Just been up to look at one of our greens and it was frozen solid, I was met by the sight of some of the members, pints in hand, walking on it on some kind of inspection. Red faced they soon got off it when I let rip at them. What can you do? At the start of the season they will be asking what are those markes??? You just can't win some times.
Funny that Steve, I had two lads playing rugby on my frozen green today. As ever I was extremely polite and asked them if they would mind using the main field.
Bath, that's the problem, they get Saturdays wicket, but think they should have a new one. Try to explain that 15 into 100 doesn't go and they then counter that they always used to get a new one!
Ascott, if that man was good enough to always give them a new one, why is he not there now ?
Totally agree with you fellows about hieght of cut though.
7 Dec 2008 by gsd
hi frank 6mm in winter 4mm summer 6mm in the winter helps keep good tight sward
gsd
Hi to all you that responded
Our Greenkeeper will be delighted at your comments
re cutting it lower, he cuts at 4mm,
Thanks to all
Frank
I never gave them a new one ascott, as you say 15 into 100 dont go!
I may cut grass, but i'm not green !!
8 Dec 2008 by vid Last edited 8 Dec 2008
Hi Frank, I would personally say dont be tied to a height. It depends so much on the speed of the green. If you can lightly verticut every 1 -2 weeks dependant on growth, or your mower has good well adjusted groomers you will not need to cut even as low as 5mm. When I took over a bowling green it was bowling at 10 seconds (32m delivery) and was being cut at 4mm, was never verticut or scarified in season. 2 Years later after a thorough anti thatch programme and regular verticutting the speed was up to a regular 12.5 seconds with 16 seconds in hot dry spells and I had increased the height of cut to 6.5mm (the bowlers were told it was 5mm and were never the wiser!!). In my opinion cut it as high as you think you can get away with and tell the bowlers the opposite - ie you are cutting as low as you can get away with without killing the grass. It may be economical with the truth but at least its not a lie and if you can back it up by timing the green you are unlikely to be criticised (I used tomake a big thing of standing by the gate timing the runs with a stop watch - worked wonders!)
BTW lowest 6mm in summer and 11mm in winter
8 Dec 2008 by Poa7
I'd say the following:
Leaf height is important - the longer the leaf, the deeper the root. The longer the leaf the more light is absorbed and therefore the better the growth (there are many more benefits).
So,
A summer height of cut could be 8mm and a winter height of cut could be 14mm if you are able to top dress lightly and frequently throughout the year (sand is ideal for most applications) . In fact, with frequent top dressings and the suggested heights of cut, I'd bet that you would see increased rolling performance of the bowls both in speed and smoothness.
Less thatch
Improved drainage
Better gas exchange between rootzone and atmosphere
and more.....
Food for thought?
8 Dec 2008 by vid
I agree Poa7 but there is an upper limit, 8 and 14mm sound a little much but achievable still I would have thought without too much loss of speed. Increasing the percentage of soil so that the ground can be made alittle harder without compromising drainage and aeration can also be balanced with an increase in height - too much sand is undesirable as it comes loose at the surface and increases the resitance to roll
Vid
Totally agree with what you say in my opinion its indoor greens that give us the problem running at 16 / 17 seconds they then come back outdoors with comments like this is heavy . i to go by greenspeed rather than height of cut also its very difficult to get speed on 5 layers of underlay ( thatch) good grass species and good maintenance and the speed will come
has2mow
8 Dec 2008 by Poa7
Ah! Vid, I agree but,
With aeration work, there would not be too much soil on the surface, we are talking very light applications, applications so light that they shouldn't need brushing/dragging in. (dust dressing)
I think you would be suprised how easily light sand dressings are incorporated into the soil, through water/aeration practices, brushing, etc. You can do dust dressings many, many times without having to worry about sand build up on the surface. Once a month is fine!
I've done this on golf greens in Spain, works a treat, nothing to worry about.
The only bug bear is that you need to keep an eye on the sand type you put down (shape) and the pH of the dressings during Spring & Autumn. High pH can = increased likelihood of Fusarium attack.
Anyway, it worked for me!
Cheers Vid
8 Dec 2008 by vid
I do beg to differ, bowls greens should be treated as very different in nature to golf greens. The weight of the wood is such that the wood makes contact with the soil surface more directly than a golf ball, plus a golf green should be receptive enough for a ball to be able to back spin or even take a bit of a plug, exactly the opposite is required of a bowls green. Too many bowlers listen to what is essentially golf advice when listening to reps and a lot of advice comes from golf greenkeepers as they are generally better informed. When it come s to maintenance the job can be viewed as essentially the same except the height of cut requirement is mostly seen as lower for golf, but when considering the construction or renovation of a green great consideration should be given to the ability to sufficiently consolidate the surface of the green without adversely affecting porosity, so that the green can be speeded up.
On a golf green the height and smoothness of the grass is most critical - in bowls the smoothness and resistance of the soil itself is more responsible for the speed.
I have advised bowls green keepers to reduce the % of sand from sometimes 90% - all that have followed this advice have increased the speed and uniformity of their greens
I could not agree more Vid. Just take a look at the green following a Vets match and the invasion of the Barnes Wallace school of Bowling. Pitch marks all over. I know this may be the result of an infermity in most cases, where the player cannot bend to introduce the bowl at the correct hight from the surface of the green, but its inpact, in both senses of the word, may be increased by an over reliance of an excessive sand ratio in the past years top dressing.
As to hight of cut, yes it is in fact bowl speed which determins HOC. The answer must be then, within reason, cut to your own conditions at hight which is not detremental to the green and a lack of Bowl speed? For us, on the greens in our care, that relates to 5mm in Season and 12mm in Winter.
8 Dec 2008 by Poa7
Why should a bowing green be treated differently then a golf green. Do golf greens collapse and move when people walk on them? Surely the weight of a person is greater than a bowling ball?
The only reason bowling balls would sink and slow is where there is an abundance of thatch. The softness, thickness of which will only be increased by adding higher percentage soil top dressings to the surface in small heavy amounts.
Frequent light (sand based) dust dressings, will help with surface smoothness and dilute/reduce the thatch layer through increased aerobic activity.
Lets get something straight, I did not say, nor recommend that you should top-dress the bowling green with 100% sand dressings throughout the year. There are times when heavier applications of similarly textured (to the rest of the existing rootzone) applications should be made. We all know that! Dust dressings should be at least 90% sand though.
I would say that reducing the amounts of sand in a dressing, which are then applied to a green (bowling or golf - it matters not) that have deep thatch layers is wrong and ets face it most all bowling green have too much layered thatch (IMO). This can be attributed to people telling people to apply top dressings twice per year, why? because that's how it's done?. Not good!
I too have consulted to many, many bowling greens. With great success.
Smoothness of the grass? As you put it! Its not smoothness of the grass but uniformity of density and leaf texture. Same applies to bowls.
Resistance of the soil? As you put it! There is no resistance of the soil, the thatch layer keeps getting in the way!
Sorry Vid, don't agree and I don't think you get it!
Good luck anyway though!
8 Dec 2008 by vid Last edited 8 Dec 2008
POa7,IMO and being brief roll a ball on concrete then roll it in a sand pit - I know its an exaggeration but it makes the point that if the surface is bound it will be firmer than one that is mostly not. iI think it really does make a huge difference. 70% + sand mixes make markedly slower bowling surfaces than 60%sand or less, golf balls are not heavy enough to interact greatly with the soil surface, a bowls wood is far heavier and therefore the fundamentals are completely different. There will also be a much greater incidence of divots and delivery point damage due to the looseness of the particulate surface and the abrasive nature of sand and of course this is much more concentrated in bowls (with the exception of the area directly around the pin). I still completely disagree that the uniformity of grass is what makes the difference to speed in bowling - uniformity of direction and draw maybe - I have seen many greens played on where the surface is beautifully prepared with great uniformity but the wood travels across it like a bouncing bomb - you cant tell me that down to the grass surface or the thatch layer.(It was actually wormcastes rolled back in to the surface by the mower without redress with a verticutter or the like)
As for thatch, with regular aeration followed by verticutting this was never more than 10mm and mostly just in the base of the sward not in the soil layer. I have never considered the thatch layer as part of a playing surface as I do all I can to remove it so that the wood travels on the soil surface with the minimum amount of resistance from the grass, introduce a thatch layer and I agree with you quality of the soil subsurface becomes less important.
I believe to introduce a sandy dust regularly to the profile would actually reduce its porosity and add an abrasive to the surface which will damage the wood especially if not rubbed in, this would also partially bury the thatch and fill the pore spaces within it thus reducing its breakdown - regular aeration is what will help break down the thatch and reduce diseases - all good dressings take the sand dust element out of their sand mixes as it is considered damaging to the profile (source Bourne Amenity Ltd's stand at the IOG 2006).
Some of what you appear to be saying is against everything I have read and heard and been advised by the STRI and other organisations over the last 20 years, perhaps you are right and I am wrong. I have never told anyone what to do on the green it is only my own opinion, but I am more than happy to impart what experiences I have had, what knowledge I personally have gained, and what I would recommend, should they choose not to do it I will not be upset. If it works for you Poa stick with it - I was very taken aback by your comments - we started off so well!!
8 Dec 2008 by Poa7
OK Vid, I was not trying to be rude to you, I like to get to the point of things though! Just my style I am afraid :-{
I like what you are saying, but don't think you understand porosity fully, lets just agree to disagree!
I was never one for taking someone else's viewpoint (your STRI comment), I like to read many opinions, try and then make an informed decision on what to do.
Cheers Vid,
PS - Your comment above, its not a sand dust (its a medium sand) dust dressing is just a term - meaning very light.
8 Dec 2008 by vid
We probably dont disagree, after all its a perception and an opinion. Until I meet you and see the results of your toils who am I to criticise anyway! I hope you are ok with all this I have not meant to offend either
Vid
8 Dec 2008 by Poa7
Hey Vid, PM your mailing address, I want to send you something (for free, an xmas present), if you like reading, you'll like this.
Cheers - Phil
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