This is the SEPTEMBER installment of Horticulture Week's month-by-month guide to essential maintenance and management tasks for turf and sports facilities such as bowling greens, cricket pitches, football pitches, rugby pitches, golf, lawns and other recreational and fine turf.
All turf areas
- Check for disease activity and treat appropriately
- Watch for pests and control when necessary
Winter games pitches
- Repair divots
- Inspect goal posts before each game
- Apply light topdressing and fertiliser if not applied last month
- Seed thinning areas
- Control weeds with selective fertiliser
- Seed thin areas
- Mow regularly to 25mm for football and 35mm for rugby
Golf
- Renovate greens with irrigation, aeration, scarification, mowing, overseeding and topdressing
- Irrigation may be required for seed germination
- Apply fertiliser to greens and tees if not fed last month
- Watch for red thatch and treat
- Remove dews as they occur
- Divot tees regularly
- Scarify fairways
- Mow greens to 5mm, tees to 8mm and fairways to 12mm
Bowls
- Although the season will not finish until the end of the month, some renovation work can start
- Consider hollow tining
- Top dress
- Watch for fusarium and pests and control as necessary
- Continue mowing to 5mm
Cricket
- Renovate the square once the season is closed, first mowing at 5mm to produce a clean surface, then scarify thoroughly, followed by more mowing
- Aerate to 100mm
- Spike and overseed before applying and working in top dressing
- Apply low nitrogen fertiliser
- Reduce mowing on outfield to 25mm
- Repair, overseed and feed if used for football in winter
Lawns
- Continue mowing 6-8mm for ornamental use, 12mm for general and 25mm for amenity
- Change position of benches and other furniture to avoid wear
- Start scarification
- Control moss
- Overseed where needed
- Attack weeds for last time this year
- Apply a balanced autumn feed
- Aerate if not too dry
*Jobs should only be undertaken when ground and weather conditions are suitable and will vary according to location and may vary significantly from year to year. And remember that while the year nicely divides into 12 months, activities often overlap.
- SEE SALLY DRURY'S TURF TASKS MONTHLY CHECKLISTS FOR THE WHOLE YEAR
