Comments on: Remove Thatch With Your Lawnmower

By: TL

TL — Fri, 15 May 2009 00:06:46 +0000

I use one of these less as a dethatching device and more to remove moss. Front lawn on the north side of the house in the Puget Sound region (aka Seattle area) grows moss so well that it WILL choke most of the grass out of my “lawn” if left alone.

My method is to cut it short, apply moss killer and wait a few days. Then cut it short again and make then make a pass with this device and reseed. The yard will look HORRIBLE for a couple of weeks until the new seed sprouts.

By: Jereme Green

Jereme Green — Thu, 14 May 2009 00:16:31 +0000

This tool is great and it is just in time I wanted to buy a new blade for my lawnmower a long time ago

By: Kevin Pace

Kevin Pace — Wed, 13 May 2009 04:21:12 +0000

I hear contrary opinions on the value of dethatching in the state of Florida. Some say it’s a must with our St. Augustine grass, others say don’t waste your time. I don’t have a lush enough lawn to really say one way or the other.

By: Galadriel

Galadriel — Wed, 13 May 2009 00:45:25 +0000

I drag my pastures to spread the horse manure, and find that it ends up dethatching too. My drag is made of a 4′ length of 2″ by 4″ woven wire fence, with 3 3″/6′ wood fenceposts attached on top of it (nailed on from the bottom with fence nails). Everything but the chain I use to hook it up to the riding mower was leftover from fencing the pastures; I’m sure other materials might do as well.

By: Benjamen Johnson

Benjamen Johnson — Tue, 12 May 2009 23:24:12 +0000

@Dazrin:

They are pretty much the same product — the Ace version is still made by Arnold, only packaged with the ACE name.

I just used the picture from the “ACE” listing because you could actually tell what it was.

By: Dazrin

Dazrin — Tue, 12 May 2009 23:14:04 +0000

By the way, the picture above does not match the link to Amazon. That one is called the “Ace Universal De-Thatching Blade Kit”. It is a couple dollars cheaper for shipping from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/ACE-UNIVERSAL-DE-THATCHING-BLADE-KIT/dp/B000H5Y7SO

By: Dazrin

Dazrin — Tue, 12 May 2009 23:10:30 +0000

I think I will have to try this - about 1/4 of the cost of renting a power rake. Does anyone know if this will do ok on moss? We have a huge moss problem we are starting to work on.

So far we have used moss out to kill it and will reapply this week/weekend. Our next step (in about two weeks) was to rent a power rake (dethatcher). Then an aerator and rake up the plugs. Then spread some sand so that we can start getting some sand mixed into our clay. And finally get some good healthy grass growing.

Any thoughts on this method? It seems like this is the hard way to go about this, but we have some pretty intense moss here (western Oregon) and it has proven challenging.

By: Bren R.

Bren R. — Tue, 12 May 2009 21:39:38 +0000

I guess I should mention, too… I’m in the Canadian Prairies where the snowfall keeps those last few mulchings in fall from ever really breaking down well.

By: paganwonder

paganwonder — Tue, 12 May 2009 21:35:54 +0000

My Colorado lawn has always done best with no de-thatching, no aeration and no bagging. I mulch mow and use season appropriate turf builder.

By: Bren R.

Bren R. — Tue, 12 May 2009 21:34:03 +0000

I use one almost every year. They work well. Set the height of the tines to just touch the ground (so high spots they WILL dig in), it pulls up a whole lot of thatch - you have to either use an ejector mower or lift the deck every few feet to let the thatch clear. I leave it on the ground, then put a normal blade back on and bag it using the mower as a vacuum. These blades are REALLY hard on the shaft of the mower, since they don’t have the rotating mass of a blade and thus don’t act as a harmonic balancer, plus they hit the ground fairly often as you’re going along, which has got to be hard on the connecting rod. The lawn ends up looking scalped for a week or so, then comes back well. As for when to dethatch - you should be able to see earth between the blades of grass, not just old dead grass and clippings. Once a year in spring is plenty though. As for being universal, you may have to tweak it a bit to get it to fit your mower - I did.

By: Brad Justinen

Brad Justinen — Tue, 12 May 2009 21:00:37 +0000

It seams like it would be pretty easy to make one of these.

By: Toolaremia

Toolaremia — Tue, 12 May 2009 19:19:39 +0000

For at least 20 years we never dethatched the lawn in the Midwestern house I grew up in, and the lawn always looked great; thick and healthy. When is it necessary to dethatch? Are there locales or grass breeds that require it or the yard turns to crap?

By: uqbar

uqbar — Tue, 12 May 2009 17:58:51 +0000

These work very well - so well in fact that they will “de-lawn” your lawn if not used carefully! The most important thing to do is raise the “cutting height” of your lawnmower, so that the de-thatching springs do not dig in too deep. The first time I used this, I was worried because it removed so much thatch that my lawn looked a little bare, and I was afraid I had overdone it. In a couple of weeks though, the lawn recovered nicely.

By: George K.

George K. — Tue, 12 May 2009 17:43:59 +0000

Rick,
I have used a similar product and the two springs work well. So well that using the bagger was not an option unless I wanted to stop and empty the bag after every 10-12 feet! I took the bag off and raked the mess up when I was done…

By: rick

rick — Tue, 12 May 2009 17:24:54 +0000

seems like the 2 little spring things would prove not enough. I would have designed it with maybe 4/side. Would be very interested if anyone has used this