Thatch Removal

chap914 – posted 16 May 2007 05:29

I believe that my St Augustine has a great deal of thatch built up underneath it. Whats the best way to remove it? Will I have a mess after I do? How long will it take for the lawn to return to looking normal? Or am I better off leaving things be and raising the height of the mower deck?

L-Doctor – posted 25 May 2007 12:44

i have bermuda, but this might work on your yard as well. i cut the grass down to about 1 inch(and bagged all clippings). then i used my blower on the highest setting, stuck the tip down to the ground and blew out the thatch. its kinda messy but you dont have to rake, or tear up the grass. plus all the thatch then falls on top of the yard and just mow over it again and bag it. it worked really well for me

wrivers – posted 25 May 2007 13:46

quote:Originally posted by chap914:I believe that my St Augustine has a great deal of thatch built up underneath it. Whats the best way to remove it? Will I have a mess after I do? How long will it take for the lawn to return to looking normal? Or am I better off leaving things be and raising the height of the mower deck?

The best way is to rent a verticutter (or hire a lawn care company to do it for you). Go over the lawn twice in perpendicular directions to get out the thatch. Then, you can rake it up, or run over with the mower and bag it up. The lawn will look beat up for a couple weeks, but as ong as you do this while it is vigorously growing it will recover quickly. Wes

seed – posted 26 May 2007 14:45

In reply to post by L-Doctor, St. Augustinegrass does not tolerate scalping (mowed to low height) the way that bermudagrass does. St. Augustinegrass is all stolons, (aboveground runners) so it has little chance of recovery if the top of the canopy is shaved off. Phil