Putting Your Foot In It!

We are all guilty of saying or doing things that we regret in life and that includes bowlers. Those of you that are charged with the maintenance of your bowling green will know that there is precious little praise for all your hard work  but a constant stream of moans and groans about the condition of the green.

Now that we are finally getting some warmer weather the grass and more worryingly, the weeds, have begun to grow. Weeds such as Plantain, Daisy, Dandelion, Parsley Piert and Clover can be seen on many greens at this time of year. Most weeds can be easily treated with one or two applications of a good selective weedkiller but the key to success is accuracy in measurement and application. I once had the misfortune to visit a bowling green where the greenkeeper had applied all 10 litres of selective weedkiller when he should have used 1 litre. The result was a brown space measuring 40m x 40m which was only suitable as an extension to the car park.

A few years ago we used to sell aerosol tins of selective weedkiller for spot treating weeds in fine turf. Used correctly with the slightest touch of the button the resulting foam would kill off the offending weed in a couple of weeks. Keep your finger on the aerosol button to 'give it a really good dose' and in a couple of weeks you will have a 'crop circle' of dead grass the size of a dinner plate and one more job to put it right at the end of the season. Any selective weedkiller will act as a total weedkiller if you apply it too strongly.

Paths, gulleys and gutters can be cleaned up by using a total weedkiller such as glyphosate but there are a few rules to follow:

1) Make sure you use a sprayer that is dedicated to total weedkiller.

2) You should never spray when it's windy.

3) Use a hood on the lance or get someone to hold a board on the green side to shield spray from the green.

4) Make sure you have a suitable herbicide nozzle for the job.

5) Keep to the path when spraying gutters.

6) Finally, NEVER walk over the area you have just sprayed.

Failure to comply with any of the above will have serious and long lasting consequences. Failure to comply with number 6 and you really will 'Put Your Foot In It' and don't be surprised if the committee want to check your shoe size to find the culprit.

Happy Greenkeeping!