Thatch is a thin layer of organic debris that forms between the blades and the roots of the grass (figure A). The primary causes are overwatering, overfertilizing and mowing too high. Because thatch acts as a barrier to water, nutrients and air, it needs to be removed to ensure a healthy lawn. Lance Walheim, the author of Lawn Care for Dummies, offers these tips: - The best time to dethatch a cool-season lawn is early fall or early spring; for a warm-season lawn, early summer.
- You can use a thatch rake, a sharp-tined rake that rips the thatch out of your lawn -- but using one on a large lawn is a very big job. A better solution is to rent a power dethatcher, which has a 7-horsepower engine and rotary tines on the bottom (figure B). This is a tool that will make short work of dethatching.
- When the task is finished, your lawn will look terrible, but don't panic. It's supposed to look that way. Now you have to rake up all the debris, water and feed the lawn -- and wait three or four weeks. (Some people like to overseed for quicker fill-in, but it's up to you.)
Web site resources for dethatching your lawn: Dethatching a Lawn Lawn Dethatching Most Overlooked Spring Chore Dethatching
RESOURCES :
Lawn Care for Dummies
Model: 0764550772
Author: Lance Walheim
Hungry Minds, Inc
(January 1998)
GUESTS :
Lance Walheim
Author of Lawn Care for Dummies
| 
)
)
