Jennie's Bowls Blog: March
By Jennie Roberts, Area Technical Sales Representative
Following my last blog we were all still dealing with the dreadful weather conditions following all the storms that hit the UK, and now we are dealing with COVID-19 or in other words Coronavirus!! 
Wet, worms, moss, disease, flooding, more rain and wind like I’ve never known before making life very difficult for all green keepers to apply products. At least now there appears to be some reprieve with the weather warming but please be cautious with hard scarifying as from previous experience April can be a cold month.
I would recommend if you have heavy moss on the green a hit now with Prestige Lawnsand No.1 at 50 - 100 g/sq.m, Spraying Heptasol or Sulphate of Iron, leave for 10-14 days before light scarify or verti-cut 1 - 2 directions followed by a powered brush if you have to remove all debris.
Sarel spike before applying second application Lawnsand or if using ICL Greenmaster Pro-Lite Coldstart 11:5:5 + 8% Fe this will give a good starting spring feed with added iron for further moss control and give a great colour. This has different forms of Nitrogen release so a perfect product for those difficult spring conditions.
Don’t forget to start your wetting agent application in late March or start of April, this can be tank mixed with the Old Porthcawl or the NEW Aquatrols Attain. It is very important to apply on a 30 day plan to keep the moisture moving off the surface down deeper into the root zone drawing the roots downwards. As we have had a lot of rain the top surface will dry very quickly once the ground temperatures and weather warms.
Also start to lower cut gradually from winter height to play 5 - 6 mm but monitor the weather for good growth as the grass needs to be able to recover from the mechanical bruising of scarifying/brush etc.
Products for the Spring / Summer to stock up on:
Below are some IOG tips for you also to consider:
Aerate whenever possible – usually with slit tines only if soil moisture is good, although some greenkeepers will be moving over to solid pencil tines or Sarel roll to the end of the month.
The green might benefit from a light pre - season rolling to aid a smooth surface following the ravages of winter frosts but make sure all worms casts have been dispersed so as not to cause mud patches. It is good practice to take a soil sample to check that the correct amount of moisture is available before commencing aeration operations.
Some greens in the south of England may be ready for a light top-dressing at the end of the month, although be careful not to smother the grass. Ideally wait until April though if the bowls season starts early on, some greens this could pose a problem.
A full size green would take approx. 2 ton of Tru-Turf Sterilised Top Dressing after a light scarify or verti-cut in April to improve surface levels. Top dressing can also be applied to small areas if needed to improve levels.
Commission the irrigation system before a typical dry spell often appears in the month of May – it’s surprising how soon this arrives. Simple measures of cleaning the surrounds of irrigation heads of grass dirt can help improve movement, sometimes a small piece of carpet or astro around the casing can prevent build up. The Prestige Super Concentrated Big Tablet can be applied to irrigation tanks to improve watering systems these are often used in golf clubs with success.
Sweep and clean out ditches cut edges. Moss usually appears around the edges of greens you can control this by mixing some sulphate iron in a watering can and applying to these areas as live spores can be transported to the green.
PATHWAYS - hard surfaces can be treated with Brintons MMC Pro or NEW Prestige Hard Surface Cleaner to clear of algae/moss/weeds that can become hazardous when wet.