Plant Tissue Culture PPT

You Should Consider Dethatching Your Lawn if:

1. You have a lawn comprised of cool season grass or grasses, the most common of which are perennial ryegrass, Kentucky bluegrass, and fescue. Cool season grasses grow where the winters are colder; they spread by producing underground rhizomes.

2. Your lawn has spots where the grass is very thin - where the individual grass blades are weak and far apart from one another.

3. Your lawn has large brown spots where the thatch is so thick that it has temporarily suppressed all of most of the grass plants in that area of the lawn.

4. Water runs off your lawn before it can penetrate the soil. This is especially problematic on sloping areas, where thatch prevents a barrier to water absorption.

5. Your lawn is severely compacted by heavy foot traffic, and you are planning to aerate it, or have it aerated professionally. (Thatch build-up should always be removed before aerating a lawn.)

6. You are planning to over seed your lawn this fall (which is always a good idea).

Timing - When to Dethatch

Timing is very important; you can actually do more harm than good if you dethatch at the wrong time. The very best time to dethatch a lawn is early fall, at least four weeks before the end of the summer/fall growing season. An early fall dethatching can prepare your lawn for over seeding and fall feeding, giving it the best preparation for surviving the winter and rebounding quickly the following spring.

Late spring, after several weeks of green grass growth, is the second best time to dethatch. Of course, if you dethatched the previous fall, you won't need to dethatch in the spring. There is virtually no thatch build-up during the winter.

How to Dethatch - The Basics

1. Choose a time when the turf is not too wet.

2. Remove twigs and other debris from the lawn

3. Mow the lawn if the grass is 3" tall or taller

4. Dethach your lawn using an attachment for your tiller. Or you can easily rent a dethatcher from your local lawn & garden equipment dealer.

6. Clean up the thatch with a rake or bagging mower; it can be composted or used as mulch on the vegetable garden. (Add dry brown leaves - now, if you have some, or later, when you can get some - to help balance and speed the decomposition of your compost.) A quick final mowing, or the use of a lawn vacuum, can help remove a lot of the debris caused by dethatching.

The Final Step

As soon as possible, water and feed your newly dethatched lawn. While a dethatched lawn may look somewhat ragged, you'll be surprised and delighted at how good your lawn will look in just a few weeks.

If you've dethatched in the fall, now is the best time to over seed the lawn, as well. You'll be preparing your lawn for winter survival and a quick spring recovery.

If you've dethatched the lawn in the late spring, you may want to apply a pre-emergent weed preventer to keep weeds from competing with your grass plants for water and nutrients.

For more information on Mantis Tillers, click here.

For a complete discussion on dethatching, see How and When to Dethatch Your Lawn.

Writer for Mantis & Mantis Owners.

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