Remedy Oak
in producing great surfaces within the first five to seven years of their lives. The others didn’t get off to a good start, and quickly went though a number if differing management regimes that doomed them to the old foe. Of the successful ones, most have eventually succumbed to Poa annua invasion and, at best, are now a 50-50 mixed sward. Sadly, for those of us who have putted on pure creeping bent only greens, very few remain shining examples. That brings us up to date with Creeping Bent Grass in the UK, so what has been learned and does CBG have a future over here?
Creeping Bent Management
There is no doubt that well managed CBG provides one of the finest putting surfaces, to my mind second only to a fescue dominated sward. It may only appear on the lower half of the R&A’s sustainability ladder, but it is on the top rung when it comes to fast, uniform, true, high quality putting surfaces. It is often specified at the high-end developments because of this quality. Its speed of establishment is also a major factor in specifying this grass. It rapidly provides a dense cover that is capable of tolerating low cutting heights soon after colonisation. This shortens grow-in times, providing not only earlier playing surfaces, but the commercially crucial elements of earlier marketing material and sales revenue as well. I estimate that CBG greens add
around 20% to a course management budget over a traditional greens seed mix. While many of the practices,
Machynys Dunes
machinery and materials required are the same, it is the frequency and intensity of the management that escalates. Let us presume that the expertise, budget, manpower and machinery resources are in place to maintain quality CBG greens, so what are the problems?
Core and blind me
Firstly, one of the advantages of CBG, namely its aggressive stoloniferous nature, is also one of its downsides. Whilst it is able to form a dense sward, that Poa annua finds hard to establish itself in, harder than a traditional colonial bent sward anyway, the build up of organic material as a fibre can be rapid. During the growing season, dilution of this fibre is vital if it is not to become a thatch problem. Regular grooming, combined with very light sand topdressings, is a must. In fact, if possible, light sandy dressing should be undertaken every ten days from the end of May through to mid September. Hollow coring is also a greater
requirement for the management of CBG than bent/fescue or Poa annua. Removal of between 20% and 30% of the green surface annually, combined with sand topdressing, will maintain a good soil air exchange. This will provide a free draining surface interface that is compatible with the rootzone construction. Of course, as ever, these operations require careful timing to ensure rapid re-establishment of the playing surfaces, and prevent the invasion of Poa annua seed. Total annual topdressing volumes should be up around the 200 tonne mark.
Brush and Groom well
Brushing and grooming regularly will produce a much better surface texture than verticutting on a monthly basis. The new varieties, such as A4, while having a denser habit than the early Penn varieties, do not require, or respond well to, aggressive vertical mowing operations.
Feed me but don't get me fat
As all CBG swards in the UK are grown in high sand rootzones, the nutrient requirement is naturally higher than our traditional swards grown in soil based profiles. However, the drive for lower rates of nitrogen seems to be filtering into the feeding programmes for CBG. I would be careful not to overdo the attrition approach, particularly when it comes to nitrogen feeds for CBG. I have seen 170kg per Ha per annum recommended for A4 - this could be too low. When put into practice this past year, there has been an increase in annual meadow grass colonisation. I prefer to keep CBG healthy at all times, do not allow it to thin or weaken at all, keep it aggressive and dominant over AGM, but don’t make it bloated. At this point I should mention Silver
Thread Moss (Bryum argenteum) as it is another reason for keeping the sward tight. This moss has been causing a lot of problems in the older CBG greens of late. It seems to be successful on USGA rootzones with close mown creeping bent. A more open sward, caused by a combination of low mowing heights, deeper vertical mowing and a reduction in nitrogen levels, are the main contributors
Glen of Downs 32
Mount Juliet
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