Lawn Dethatching

It’s important to choose the right time of year to dethatch, depending upon the type of grass you have and the climate. Also, using the proper equipment to properly dethatch and collect the thatch is equally important.

A Dethatch Lawn Service can be tough on a lawn, so it should be done when the lawn will have the best chance to recover. Don’t dethatch if you’re in a drought or a heat wave. Ideally, there should be about 45 days of good growing conditions after you dethatch so the grass will recover without weeds taking over. Generally, late spring and early fall are the best times, but a lot depends upon your grass and whether it grows during warm or cool weather.

Warm season grasses such as zoysia, bermuda and buffalo shouldn’t be dethatched in March or April, when a late frost will hurt new growth. Dethatching in fall will make them weak in winter. The best time in most areas is late spring or early summer, when these grasses are growing and producing new runners. Cool season grasses such as bluegrass, fescue and ryegrass are less likely to need dethatching, but if they do, the best time tends to be early fall. Reseeding may be necessary after dethatching. Bluegrass also can be dethatched in early spring after it has begun to turn green.

How often to do it

How often you dethatch also depends upon your type of grass, as well as growing conditions. Zoysia grass, Bermuda grass and other spreading grasses tend to produce more thatch. Tall fescue usually produces the least, with ryegrass and bluegrass in the middle of the scale. But soil that is clay, sandy, acidic or often wet and cold encourages thatch in many types of grass.

Dethatching has the potential of leaving your lawn looking destroyed or beat. Once the lawn has a chance to reestablish during its growth cycle it will quickly fill in. This is also a great time to overseed and appropriately fertilize. If your lawn produces a lot of thatch, dethatch annually, so that it’s not such a big job. If the thatch is no more than a half-inch deep, you can probably get by with every other year. If it’s as much as 1.5 inches deep, you might need to dethatch in spring and fall. If you have more thatch than that, think about digging up the lawn and starting over.

Dethatch Lawn Service from Infinite Property Care

Call us today at 978-654-6524 to get a free quote on our Dethatch Lawn Service and anything else you might need.