Hi everyone,
Once more asking for the advise of our trusty and experienced members.
Again our crown green has suffered a major bout of fusarium, this year worse than ever, when other local greens havent suffered at all. It seems to happen just after application of feed/fertiliser. A test of ph reads just under 7 almost all over the green.
Does this need altering???if so how??(what to apply).
Over the past 5 years we have spent a lot of money on chipco to try to fight the fusarium problem.
I have been speaking to an old greensman who said our grass is mainly rye grass that is more prone to desease, he mentioned a green comprising of mainly bent and fescue grasses are more resistant to these type of deseases and have the added bonus of producing a superior surface that is probably a little faster without cutting lower, although the seed is far more expensive it pays in the longrun due to not having to apply fungisides not near as often.
I am contemplating trying to introduce bent and fescue surface without rye, is there a way to do this??? (a particular seeding machine) where playing on the surface is still possible, I do realise it will need to be done next spring when temperatures rise (unfortunately it clashes with the start of the playing season, but was not sure if the ryegrass could be eliminated and replaced that easily and with this method.
The surface is slit and spiked quite regularly (every 3-4 weeks) also scarrified every 4 weeks.
Regards
J
jbxxxx I will leave the change of grass to the more experienced on the bowls side, but as for the fusarium, you will need to keep changing the product that you treat it with or it tends to become immune, I try to change after every couple of applications, to help with this myself an Panch try to make sure we buy different products so we can swap, you may be able to arrange with other greens in your area to all buy different products and then move them round the greens, I will of course take it that you or someone has the correct license.
It sounds more like your green is poa than rye and what do you expect when you feed at this time of the year? August should be the latest on a fine turf surface when there is still adequate growth.
Chris
You will never see a statue in honour of a committee.
19 Nov 2009 by Anthony Asquith
Hi J
I have sent you a message, look forward to hearing from you!
Ant
19 Nov 2009 by has 2 mow Last edited 19 Nov 2009
Hi jb
There is a product to remove rye from a green , but not licensed for bowls only golf . It is called rescue .
My view is that If you do not have fescue or bent grass growing naturally on your green at the mo , the chance of fescue mainly taking hold is minimal . Fertilizer requirements to start with are so far apart , against rye and poa .
I have over seeded during the playing season this year with zero complaints , with bents and the results have been good .
Mark
Before changing your grass species you need to know what species you have and WHY?
What height of cut is used?
What soil type do you have?
Is there any drainage under the green?
What is the nutrient analysis of the soil?
Those are some of the more obvious questions and there are plenty of others, we can offer advice + suggestions but a site visit and investigation from an expert would be the best first step I think.
Regards
Steve
Don't talk to me about Contractors Wonka, I am one myself......
Agree with Steve63. Hardly ever, if ever get fus in any of my rye swards. On bowling greens dominated by poa and thatch always get it. If you hhave fertilised recently then i am not surprised.
Get a professional in to have a look and in the meantime keep airating and leave all fert in the shed.
Hi,
Sorry guys I did actually mean POA not rye...not sure why rye was in my mind age probably.
Chris, who said I'd fed at this time of year??? it was actually fed on the 1st week of October which sounds as tho that was too late also, however in my area I know most greens were fed that late or even later due to playing season being extended, and they didn't seem to suffer the same fusarium onslaught.
I like most people who look after bowling greens do most of the work on a voluntary basis, and as you have guessed very amatuer hence the reason for posting (almost wish i hadn't now) to ask for advice from people who are willing to help.
Thanks for the replys anyway guys.
J
Please never wish that you had not asked. This is what this forum is for. Of course it does mean you might not always like the answer to your qeustion.
With regard to feeding, you said it always appears right after feeding. It would suggest that as you ask the qeustion about fus now, it was recently fed.
Feeding poa during October especially, often leeds to an attack of fus in a poa sward. Heavy dew in the morning at that time of the year is not helpful either. Hence brushing dew of greens every morning is often mentioned as a vital maintenance task.
Hi Bath,
Thanks for the reply.
Am i to assume that due to the green having a lot of poa we are simply stuck with that or can we gradually introduce bent type grasses to achieve a green with far less poa which in turn should eventually reduce the fus problem.
I'm only assuming that the reason the green has a lot of poa is that particular seed is far cheaper than the bent type mixtures and is what has been used in recent years. But the downside of using the cheaper mixtures is the desease problems, I do seem to remember 20+ years ago the green seemed to have far finer grass and was definitely more pacey (faster running), I also remember in dry spells it wasn't long before the high spots turned brown but soon greened up when the rain arrived.
I believe that bent type seed is very fine and trickier to spread, do you know of a hand operated machine that can be used to sow seed to the correct depth etc.
I know the simple answer is to get an expert in, the problem is these experts require paying which is rather difficult in the crown green bowling world due to the majority being extremely frugal, limited budgets obviously resitricts what can be achieved but my thoughts were to possibly get a higher quality surface for similar cost but most spent on seed rather than fungisides.
Regards J
Hi jb,
If you are crown green I presume the North West of England,
If you want to I am sure that there will be somebody who would take an hour to have a look with you, and as Bath said please keep posting, sometimes a reply may appear a little more curt than intended.
Regards
Steve
With regards to Poa, it is a weed and seeds naturally within a weak overfed, overwatered, under aerated, overused sward. If you carry out sound turf management practices you should be able to reverse the sward composition, but it will take time and effort, and some finance.
Check the drains and aerate to different depths with different types of tines, slitting is generally regarded as the best winter aeration.
Bent seed is usually sold as a 20% mix with 80% Fescue, the Fescue is a much larger seed and will act as a carrier, shake the bag before opening. A bag of pure bent is very expensive.
Don't talk to me about Contractors Wonka, I am one myself......
Hi jb
As for applying pure bent seed , i have found that a scotts drop spreader will go down to the rates you need , or failing that you could mix the seed with a good dry top dressing and spin on as you would the same way as applying fert ( nice calm day required ) . As the seed only needs to be in good contact with the soil . Bent seed seems dear but it goes a long way as you only need to apply around 4 to 5 grams a meter .
And keep posting .
Mark
i have just (sept) had to deal with a green that was so badly populated with poa and a hidious amount of thatch it was almost left bareand with deep hole all over (from the amount of thatch removed) by the time i had finished scarifying (chairman of the club was horrified and threaten to sue me if the green was unplayable next season) overseeded with 20/80 bent /fescue and top dressed. he has just bought me a bottle of champers........ as remember fescue needs soil to soil contact to germinate where as bent will surface germinate
im now an ex groundsman but hey old habits die hard
hi,
poa will always be the dominant grass on all surfaces if when sowing in the autumn good germination is not achieved.
I guess the industry spends heaps of money on chemicals to control the fusi.
When i was into bowling green maintenance, i failed to achieve a good rate of germination in the autumn with the bents and fescues, so i dumped them and sowed with rye.
this reduced some fusi.
now i would use growth retardents to control the AMG and sow with rye.
Koro regular.
good luck to all who maintain greens....frustrating job.
chris
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