How Do I Know If My Lawn Needs To Be Dethatched
Not all lawns need to be dethatched, so how can you tell if your lawn needs it? If your thatch layer is 1-2 inches thick, often the grass blades will have poor coloring. Try to stick your finger into the soil. If your lawn feels spongy or if you cannot easily stick your finger down into the soil, you need to dethatch your yard.
How Do I Prevent Thatch Accumulation
- Apply the correct amount of fertilizer and water to the lawn. Avoid excess nitrogen, and do not exceed the fertilizer recommendations for your particular type of grass. Too much water and fertilizer produce excessive growth.
- Mow your lawn at the proper height and mow frequently. The use of a mulching mower alone will not prevent a thatch problem.
- Keep the soil pH at the level recommended for your type of grass. Soils that are too acidic hamper the activity of earthworms, insects and microbes that break down thatch.
Should I Fertilize After Dethatching
Because you fertilize your yard immediately after dethatching, it is best to wait until your yard has “greened” up before applying nitrogen. If you fertilize while your grass is still dormant, you encourage weeds to compete with your grass. … Too much nitrogen will exacerbate your thatch problem in the future.
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What Causes Thatch Buildup
Excessively thick thatch is caused by the following:
What Should I Do After I Dethatch My Lawn
Whichever method you choose to dethatch your lawn, you must feed the lawn immediately after with a quality fertiliser and water deeply.
Dethatching will inevitably leave your lawn looking a little worse for wear for a few weeks. But it will bounce back, and the many benefits will be worthwhile.
Thatching is not always avoidable but by adhering to the following lawn care practices throughout the year you can help reduce the severity in the future:
- Use the right type and amount of fertiliser for normal growth
- Water deeply, thoroughly, but infrequently
- Maintain proper pH levels
- Aerate your lawn on a regular schedule to make room for new growth
For more lawn care advice visit our website here.
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What Month Should I Aerate My Lawn
Ideally, aerate the lawn with cool season grass in the early spring or autumn and those with warm season grass in the late spring. When experiencing prolonged dry conditions and drought, aeration is recommended. This will improve the passage for water and nutrients to reach the lawns roots when watering is limited.
How To Dethatch A Lawn
Ready to work? Heres how to dethatch a lawn, whether youre using a thatch rake or a dethatcher.
Just pull the thatch rake across the lawn and then remove and toss the debris. Thats simple enough, right? Well, keep doing that for your entire lawn and youll get plenty of upper-body exercise!
Dethatching with a vertical mower requires a few steps. First, set your lawn mowers blades so theyre lower than normal. Then moisten the area.
Next, run the vertical mower across the yard in one direction and follow that pattern until youve dethatched the entire lawn. Then, make a second pass over the lawn, perpendicular to the first pass. Finally, remove and dispose of any debris.
Whether you dethatch with a rake or vertical mower, youll still need to do some follow-up work, aerating, fertilizing and watering the lawn.
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Types Of Lawn Dethatching
Dethatching warm season grass is very different than cool season grass. Check each method below to see what the right tool for the job is depending on the grass type and severity of the thatch problem:
1. Manual removal with dethatching rake. This is a special rake that is specifically designed to dig into the thatch layer of your lawn and pull it out. These rakes are effective but can add up to a lot of manual labor. They are best suited for smaller lawns and lawns with a small to medium thatch problem. These should only be used on cool season lawns since they can be to damaging on warm season lawns.
2.Use a tine rake dethatcher. A tine rake dethatcher is usually mounted to a ride on mower or tractor, but they also have a hand held version that works for smaller lawns.
Tine rake dethatchers work by using thin metal tines that scrape the surface of your lawn. This loosens up any dead grass or leaves and can then be sucked up while mowing.
Tine rake dethatchers are great spring cleanup tools, especially the ones that get mounted to your mower or tractor. They dont require a lot of labor and it doesnt take much more time then if you were to just mow your lawn.
3. Core aeration. Core aeration is made possible by the use of a machine called a core aerator. A core aerator has hollow metal tines that penetrate into your lawns soil. These hollow tines pull out plugs, or cores of your lawn, creating tons of small holes throughout.
How Do I Reduce Future Thatch Accumulation
Thatch is inevitable, but appropriate lawn care practices will help reduce the severity in the future. Use the right type and amount of fertilizer for normal growth. Water deeply, thoroughly, but infrequently. Maintain proper pH levels adjust them if needed. And aerate your lawn on a regular schedule to make room for new growth.
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Why You Need To Dethatch Your Lawn
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As mentioned above, a small layer of thatch is beneficial to your lawns general health. But more is definitely not better in this case.
Too much thatch will interfere with moisture and air reaching down into the roots of your grass. You may start to notice a browning in color and general weakening in your grass.
If this goes too far, then the thatch could ultimately damage the soil.
Unhealthy soil is unlikely to breed healthy grass, even after it has been dethatched. This is why it is important to not allow the thatch to grow too thick in your lawn. Otherwise youll find yourself in desperate need of a pricey landscaping overhaul #nobueno
Should I Water After Dethatching
Recovery After Dethatching Thatch removal can be traumatic for grass plants, so recovery techniques must encourage root repair and deep growth. Deep drenching with water rather than frequent shallow sprinkling helps attract root growth to lower levels where moisture persists longer than it does on the soil’s surface.
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Cleaning Up Reseeding After Dethatching
Whether you do it yourself or hire a professional, its a disruptive process to say the least, and your lawn is going to need a Band-Aid and some time to heal.
The first thing to do after dethatching is to remove the piles of thatch from your yard.
After dethatching, seed the lawn and consider topdressing. If youve taken plugs of soil, that soil can be left as a topdressing. But the planty thatch material should be removed.
Topdressing, he said, could give the existing root system a boost. It can also be a form of weed control, filling those gaps before weeds have a chance to take hold.
Within a month, you should see some results, Callahan said, depending on the weather.
Hot, dry weather could slow it down, but nice weather will get that new grass coming up uniform and vigorous in about a week, he said. In no time, it will look like a new lawn.
What Are Some Steps To Keep Your Lawn Healthy Between Dethatching
There are some helpful lawn care tricks you can use to keep everything healthy and to hopefully cut down on how often you need to dethatch your lawn.
- Test your soil: Take a soil sample and check for healthy pH balance and nutrients. Experts recommend doing this test every few years. Knowing your soils composition will help you to choose the best fertilizers and supplements for your lawn.
- Aerate your lawn annually: If you have a heavy or compacted lawn, then annual aerating will help to loosen things up and allow air, water and fertilizer to better reach the roots of the grass.
- Fertilize well: Use high quality fertilizer to ensure the optimal nitrogen levels in your lawn. Be careful not to over fertilize though.
- Mow and water regularly: Keep a regular schedule regarding mowing and watering your lawn. Be sure not to overdo it, particularly if youve had a rainy season.
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What Is Thatch On Lawns
When most people think of grass, they think of the long, graceful blades that stick out of the lawn. Well, thats only about half the story that grass has to tell. Grass also has below and at-ground level parts, like the crown, rhizomes and roots that help it stay healthy and spread horizontally across the ground. Although the grass blades, which are basically leaves, decompose easily, these other structures do not.
Over time, the other parts of your grass plants can build up into a spongy layer between the grass leaves and the soil. This is the thatch. A small amount of thatch is pretty normal for lawns, but too much and you risk creating a situation where water and oxygen have trouble penetrating to the grass roots, or in severe cases, roots are only anchored in thatch, making it hard for the grass to thrive and even harder to execute any on-trend landscaping ideas.
Do Grass Clippings Cause Thatch
Contrary to a popular lawn myth, leaving clippings on the lawn does not cause thatch, which is a layer of partially decomposed grass-plant parts between the soil and live grass. Grass clippings are mostly water, so as long as you mow regularly at the right height, they will break down and disappear rapidly.
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Can Dethatching Harm The Lawn
Mann suggests caution when dethatching your lawn. Theres the possibility of removing too much plant material at once, which would significantly increase recovery time, he warns. Also of concern is desiccation. With so many wounds, grass plants may dry out and die.
If your lawn is already compromised, dethatch with a rake or dethatching machine with rake tines. This method removes the layer of thatch without penetrating the soil beneath, so there is less chance of further damaging your grass.
Otherwise, opt for a dethatching machine with thin blades that cut through the thick layer of thatch into the soil. Scarifiers are much more effective in removing thatch, but also more aggressive and only recommended if your lawn is in good health.
How To: Dethatch Lawns
Thatch is a dense layer of dead and living organic material that forms between grass blades and the soil and roots. When it gets too thick, thatch can impede the penetration of water, air and nutrients, stressing the lawn. If your lawn feels spongy when you walk on it, it probably has a thick layer of thatch. You can check by removing a small section of sod with a shovel.
When a thatch layer is more than ½ inch thick, it’s probably time to dethatch. You have three options: remove thatch manually, rent equipment or hire a professional lawn care service. Also realize that a dethatcher tears up a lot of material that is difficult to rake up and must be disposed of.
Manual Removal
For small lawns or thatch less than 1 inch thick, consider removing thatch with a rake. Doing the job manually causes the least amount of stress to a lawn. A rake with hard tines may or may not work effectively to pull thatch to the soil surface.
A specialized dethatching rake has sharpened tines designed to lift thatch away from soil. With this type of rake, use the same motion as with a traditional rake, allowing tines to dig into thatch and pulling it upward to loosen and lift thatch. Done correctly, you should feel the thatch separating from soil and see it being lifted to the lawn surface.
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When To Dethatch Your Lawn
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How To Dethatch A Lawn: +why You Need To And When You Should
Dethatching a lawn is a fairly simple process that can be a weekend DIY project with the right tools. But if youve never done it before youre probably wondering how to dethatch a lawn and whens the best time to do it.
If this is why youve come here, then weve got the perfect guide for you. Were going to outline not only how to dethatch a lawn, but also teach you how to do it properly so you dont permanently damage your soil and how to determine when your lawn needs to be de-thatched.
Why You Need To Dethatch
Some types of lawn grass are more prone to thatch buildup than others. Sometimes even the climate in the area contributes to the speed of decomposition of the mulch. When the breakdown of plant matter is slower than the buildup, then thicker thatch would develop.
An accumulation of thatch that exceeds 1. 5 cm may be deterrent to the healthy development of your lawn. When the thatch gets too thick, it could prevent the grass and the soil from getting and absorbing the needed water and nutrients. Thatching could also cause shallow root growth, root suffocation, or rot. Without regular dethatching, the thatch layer may accelerate the growth of lawn diseases and pests.
To check how much thatch your lawn has, pick a spot, preferably one where there is a noticeable discolouration or slower growth, and use a spade to dig up a small wedge. If the thatching is more than 1.5 cm, then it is time to dethatch.
Other times, though, you may not even need to dig into the grass to see the thatching. By simply walking around and looking, you may feel certain areas as spongy, or see larger areas with patches of matted thatch, making your lawn look uneven and discoloured. If you see that there is too much matted mulch all over the grass, then it is time to dethatch.
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Landscaping: How To Dethatch Your Lawn
You want your lawn to be the envy of the neighborhood but when you look out the window, all you see is brown, thin grass. Definitely not the lush lawn you were after. What should you do? The first step is discovering the underlying problem: Is the thatch too thick? Is your soil compacted? Do you need more growth? Each one of these issues can be resolved with the right approach. Lets look at what to do if your thatch is too thick.
How And When To Dethatch Your Lawn
Lawns need regular care and maintenance to ensure that they are bright and verdant for as long as possible. A generally green and even lawn is a sign that it is growing as it should. But there are times when we may notice some discolouration or patches where the grass looks as if it is not growing as fast as in other areas.
Several factors may contribute to an unhealthy lawn, and one of these is thick thatching, thick enough to warrant a need to dethatch.
Read on to find out if you may need to get a power rake to dethatch your lawn or if your lawn is too far gone and need a new Instant Lawn Installed.
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Dethatching Machines Tools Techniques
Dethatching machines come in various forms. And although some lawn services and rental companies use the terms interchangeably, the machines perform dethatching by different means, with varying levels of intensity.
Here are some of the most common dethatching techniques, and the power dethatchers that perform them. What they have in common are spinning metal pieces that pierce and lift the thatch from the lawn. Some employ slicers, others metal tines . Some are stand-alone, powered units, others are made to be dragged behind a tractor or riding mower.
How To Prevent Thatch Buildup
1. Use slow release fertilizers. Slow release fertilizers dont cause rapid growth of vegetation which can cause thatch problems. A lot of slow release fertilizers are created from organic material that help build soil structure and promote microbial activity. Check out some of these recommended fertilizers here: Lawn Program for Extra Green Grass
2. Cut your lawn frequently, and/or bag your clippings. This will decrease the amount of organic matter your lawns soil has to break down.
3. Core Aerate. Core aeration has many benefits and is great to add to your lawn care program. If you cant do it every year then every other year is still a big help.
4. Irrigate deeply, and less frequently. If you have an irrigation system then set a watering schedule that focuses on less watering days, but for a longer watering duration. Deep watering causes roots to grow deep. Frequent, shallow watering causes a shallow root system and is more likely to cause thatch problems.
5. Apply liquid aeration. Liquid aeration is a great substitute if you dont want to go through the labor of core aeration. Air 8 is a great choice for liquid aeration. Liquid aeration creates little pores in your soil and allow in air and nutrients.
6. Increase microbial activity with bio stimulants. Spraying bio stimulants over your lawn has so many benefits and is one of the best ways to improve soil structure.
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