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Tag Archives: DIY bowls irrigation

Bowled over by automatic watering systems.

24 Tuesday Sep 2013

Posted by buyirrigation in bowling watering, bowls green, bowls green irrigation, bowls green sprinklers, bowls green watering, drought, Greenkeeping, irrigation, Landscape, landscape irrigation, pitch irrigation, sports field irrigation, sports irrigation, sports irrigation, water storage

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bowling green, bowls green, bowls green care, bowls green irrigation, bowls green maintenance, bowls green water, bowls green watering, bowls irrigation, bowls irrigation kits, bowls irrigation systems, DIY bowls irrigation, football pitch irrigation, irrigation, landscape irrigation, soccer pitch water, weatherproofing

Buy Irrigation bowls green watering systems

A well-designed bowls green watering system produces a consistent, quality playing surface, even in the middle of summer.

So, the bowls season is over. The clubhouse is closed, the seats and scoreboard are cleared away and the green is closed down. It’s time for winter bowls green maintenance to commence, or at the very least be planned for the coming months.

Summer 2013 has been hot and dry for most of us…the best summer for many years. Most of us benefited from long periods of dry weather, and we certainly enjoyed it. Most bowls clubs will have watered their greens at some point during the season. Even without an irrigation system, I bet the hose pipes and sprinklers were switched on to keep the grass alive and keep the green looking and playing it’s best.

Putting a water sprinkler on during the day wastes a heck of a lot of water, as most of the water evaporates skywards due to warmer air and ground temperatures. In fact, as much as 30% of the water applied may be wasted (so not being used to help keep your grass alive) compared to watering your bowls green during the night.

If a standard irrigation sprinkler is set to operate from the mains supply, it may use 800 litres of water during a 60 minute operation time. That may not sound a lot, but if you think that if the irrigation sprinkler is moved around the green 4 times throughout the day, each time running for 1 hour that’s 3,200 litres! With almost 1,000 litres of precious water wasted, and not benefiting the grass on your bowls green. Amazingly, if you water your bowls green every day for 3 weeks, thats over 21,000 litres of wasted water!

Buy irrigation bowls green automatic watering

Enjoying the sunshine (and the bowls) during the 2013 summer.

An automatic bowls green watering system will help to radically reduce water wastage, by watering at night when the ground temperature is at its lowest, the wind speed is reduced, and by applying water evenly across the bowls green surface, will make much better use of this precious resource.

At Buy Irrigation, we hear many different opinions on bowls green irrigation, including the negative ones, like these: “Automatic watering is a waste of time, it puts on too much water”, “Bowls greens should be naturally brown during the summer”, “Watering makes the green too soft”, “Watering promotes disease”.

Ok. Some of these statements may apply to some situations. All of these may be true, for a handful of greens and clubs. But for most clubs, the watering system is an important management tool for the bowls green to attain the required playing surface. Like your mower, if the cutting height is set too low, the grass dies, if you apply too much fertilizer it may damage the playing surface, if you overwater you will damage the green. However, most modern bowls green irrigation systems allow very fine tuning of the system, ensuring this does not need to happen. An automatic bowls green watering system allows you to water your green as often or as little as you like, and allows you to plan your top dressing and fertilizer regimes, without reliance on the good old British weather.

Buy Irrigation bowls green irrigation

Bowls green sprinklers apply water automatically and evenly during the night when most efficient.

No irrigation system is meant to be set at the start of the season and left to look after itself totally throughout the season. Good groundsmen assess the green on a regular basis checking for signs of disease, grass lengths, nutrient requirements, and also how the green is responding to irrigation. Is it too wet? Do the watering times need increasing? Are the sprinklers operating correctly?
There may be times when certain parts of the green need a spot of additional water. An automatic irrigation system works best in conjunction with the skills of the expert who maintains your green.

One thing is certain: installing a well-designed watering system to your bowls green really helps a club apply water efficiently and evenly, at the right time, and reduces the amount of time spent moving sprinklers and hoses during the day, when really it doesn’t work that well.

Buy Irrigation supply bowls watering kits for you to install yourself (with plenty of advice from us if you need it) or we can install for you. If you’d like some advice, specific to your club’s bowls green, give us a call on 08456 808168 or email here.

Weather-proof your bowling green (effectively and economically)

09 Thursday Aug 2012

Posted by buyirrigation in bowls green irrigation, irrigation, sports irrigation, Uncategorized

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Tags

bowling green, bowls green, bowls green watering, bowls irrigation, bowls irrigation kits, bowls irrigation systems, DIY bowls irrigation

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Whatever the UK weather decides to chuck at us, there’s always a need to water your bowls green throughout the season. Your bowls green may need watering whilst your annual maintenance program is underway, or after applying fertilizer, or (if we’re really lucky), during a extended period of sunshine and dry weather.

There are plenty of bowls green watering systems on the market – from using a small sprinkler and hose to an expensive pop-up watering system that waters the bowls green from the perimeter of the area. The simplest and most sophisticated systems each have their advantages and disadvantages.

Here’s our take on them:

The simplest systems using a hose and sprinkler connected to a standard mains water supply are usually used during the day, as the weather is at its warmest. This can be a struggle due to low water pressure and/or because there is just not enough water available to cover the green satisfactorily.

Larger sprinkler systems, featuring 4 sprinklers positioned around the bowls green’s perimeter, mean installing large pipework and pumping equipment to get the sprinklers to reach the centre of the green. The water droplets from the sprinklers tend to be large (the sprinklers are delivering more than 10x the flow that comes from a normal water tap and typically at 3 times the pressure). Sometimes, if not managed properly, this can cause compaction and capping problems. These larger bowls green irrigation systems can also be very expensive, putting them way out of financial reach for smaller bowls clubs.

Our ProBowl System provides a solution. Offering a really effective automatic watering system specifically designed for the smaller clubs with matching budgets. The ProBowl irrigation system is designed as a DIY kit; self installation avoiding installing charges, making it a much more realistic financial alternative.

Just like the more expensive bowls green irrigation systems, with the ProBowl watering can be programmed to start during the night (when most effective) and application is very even across the whole area. Power requirements are smaller, pipework is smaller and the whole system is designed to be installed by irrigation ‘amateurs’.

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The kit is delivered to site by one of our engineers, who’ll take the Club’s installation team through the installation procedure, spending as much time as required so the club is completely satisfied (usually a couple of hours). Any questions that arise during the installation can be addressed to the buyirrigation team via email or phone.

With over 20 ProBowl irrigation systems installed around the UK in the last 3 years, there should be an operating ProBowl system somewhere close by, should the Club wish to inspect. Check the map here, to locate the ProBowl system closest to you.

Recent Posts

  • Weather-proof your bowling green (effectively and economically)
  • A Non Technical Guide to Drip Irrigation for your Garden
  • Bowled over by automatic watering systems.
  • Well green trees with GreenWell watersavers
  • Your garden’s IIP (Irrigation Insurance Policy).

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