This article is the best place for you to know how to dethatch a lawn with a mower attachment. A lawn is a soil-based area planted with grass and mowed at a shorter size with mowing equipment. Every lawn contains thatch with grass.
Dethatch is a combination of living and dead grass, roots, weeds, etc. Which piles up in the yard around the roots of the living grass plants. A small amount of thatch is quite helpful to your lawn, but an excessive amount of lawn thatch creates an issue for the lawn.
Dethatching lawn mower blade
A dethatching lawn mower blade is a specialized type of blade that is designed to remove thatch from your lawn. Thatches are the layer of dead grass, stems, and other organic matter that can build up on your lawn over time.
Dethatching blades look similar to regular mower blades, but they have sharpened teeth or flails instead of a smooth cutting edge. These teeth help loosen and lift the thatch so it can be cut by the blade and discharged from the mower.
Most dethatching blades are made from hardened steel or carbide for long-lasting durability.
Pros and Cons of Dethatching Lawn
Thatch creates a layer about almost half-inch thick, which accumulates around the root of the living grass. It takes a long time to let them eliminate by soil automatically. That may create a problem for your lawn.
After dethatching your lawn, the soil will get enough oxygen, water, fertilizer, and other nutritional elements. It will also let the living grass breathe. Dethatching will improve the outlook of your yard too.
Advantages:
- Allows for better airflow which helps the grass to grow more quickly
- Helps prevent thatch from accumulating
- Loosens up packed down soil so water can reach grassroots more easily
Disadvantages:
- Can rip up healthy grass if done too aggressively
- Takes a lot of time and hard work if done by hand
Now question is, how and what attachments do I need to dethatch and make my yard more healthy?
List of lawn mower detaches attachment:
- Aerator
- Dethatcher
- Harrow
Aerator: An aerator is a lawn care tool that punches small holes in the ground, which allows air, water and nutrients to penetrate the grass roots more easily. Aeration also helps reduce compaction of the soil.
Dethatcher: A dethatcher is a lawn care tool that removes the thatch layer from your lawn. Dethatching helps improve airflow, water infiltration and nutrient uptake by the grass roots. It also encourages new growth of grassroots.
Harrow: The harrow is another type of dethatching machine which has metal teeth or spikes that loosen up the thatch layer so it can be raked up easily.
Dethatch lawn with mower
The easiest way to dethatch your lawn is with a power rake or dethatching mower attachment. A power rake has tines that spin quickly, vertically cutting through the thatch layer to loosen it so you can remove it easily with a garden hose or leaf blower.
A dethatching mower has blades that cut horizontally across the ground as you push it over your lawn. The blades loosen the thatched material so it’s easier to rake up after mowing.
For either method, you’ll want to set the machine to slice only 1/3 of an inch deep into the turf since going any deeper could damage delicate grassroots. After running the machine over your entire yard, rake up all the debris using a plastic garden rake—a metal one will damage grass blades —and dispose of it in a city-approved green waste bin.
If you don’t have access to machinery, you can also try renting One From A Local Hardware Store before taking on this Project yourself.
It’s better to cut the grass before detaching your yard. And you can use your mower to cut these grasses to a shorter size.
Pro Tips:
What is the Best Time to Dethatch Your Lawn?
Firstly, keep in your mind – the period isn’t the same for every lawn. It depends on your location, yard soil, season, grass type, and many more.
However, you came here for a solid answer, what is the best time to dethatch lawn and how do you do it easily with mower attachments?
Now come to the point, spring is an ideal season for all to do dethatch and aerate the lawn. Aerating and the dethatching job isn’t much time gap but almost the same.
If you’re planning to plant new yards or over seeding existing lawns, active grass growth time is the best time for dethatching the lawn because it helps the lawn to recover fast more than at other times of the year.
In that case, Kentucky bluegrass grasses love to grow in Cool-season and for this, you should dethatch the lawn in spring, late spring and early fall.
But when you have Zoysia, Bermuda, and St. Augustine type grass in your yard, you need to aerate or dethatch in the summer because this is the best growing time for them.
Never dethatching the lawn when your yard is torpid or focused; it can be more harmful rather of recovery.
Pro Tips
How to Install Dethatching Blade for Lawn Mower?
As you can’t dethatch your lawn with a regular lawn mower blade, you must change it.
- Step 1: The first thing you’ll do is to remove the old blade. Tilt the lawn mower upside down. Loose the screw under the blade.
- Take the thatching blade and unbox it. The thatching blade has two springs for two sides of the blade. Put one side of the spring underneath the holding point, and keep the other side of the spring open.
- Then attach this blade to your lawn mower. Rewind the removal process of the old screw. Make sure that both springs other end is heading to the ground.
After completing these tasks, you have to adjust the height of the blade from the ground. It’s a matter of consideration because it won’t touch the dead grass or unexpected roots if the dethatching blade is too high from the ground.
Again, if the spring is too low or close to the ground or touching the root of the grass roughly, it will uproot the living grass and may harm the soil of your lawn. So be careful while setting up your new attachment.
Test Your Mower Attachment
It’s essential to test your setup just before you get it to work. You don’t want to be in a bad situation with your equipment and work. So test it before going to dethatching the lawn.
These blades should be a quarter-inch high from your floor while on a block of concrete or some plane base. Recheck the height of the blade. Make the required adjustment if needed. Go to the lawn and start working.
Lawn Thatching Tips
After checking up on everything, your machine is now qualified to do the work.
- Start from a corner; drive the dethatching machine in a row or column.
- Don’t try to dethatch randomly. The more patient you are, the more perfect you can do; the work will get better.
- After unrooting the thatches, you have to collect them in a plastic bag or something manually. There must be a massive amount of thatch. Collect them in a giant plastic box.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Often Should You Dethatch Your Lawn?
You can dethatch your lawn once a year. You should know when to dethatch your lawn. Just observe the lawn for a while. If the thatch is more than half-inch thick, set up your dethatching tools and get ready to work.
Can I Mow and Dethatch at the same time?
Well, everyone wants to save time and effort. But sometimes it’s better to use some effort. It would be great if you mowed your lawn grasses before dethatching. Otherwise, it will be tough for you to dethatch correctly.
Is it Better to Dethatch or Aerate?
Some people ask which is better for their lawn between dethatching and aerating. They are two different processes. And both are important for your lawn.
Dethatching means removing dead organic materials, like grass, roots, rhizome, etc., from your lawn. This process improves the health of the living grasses and makes the lawn look fresh.
Here aerate means to make an easy way for the natural element (air, water, nutrition) to reach the soil and the grassroots. You can use any prick material. Just make some small whole of a quarter inch so that the air, and water can quickly get through it.
Should I aerate or dethatch first?
For this question, our suggestion is, that dethatching is the first task need to do.
Because if you aerate before dethatching, the small entire will block your dethatching task. But after dethatching, you can aerate your lawn without hesitation.
Do I Need to Overseed After Dethatching?
It’s a good idea to overseed after dethatching. When you dethatch, the soil gets its space back, taken by the thatch. Apply some good quality seeds and take care of these seeds.
How often should you dethatch your lawn?
It’s generally recommended that you dethatch your lawn once every 1-2 years. This helps to keep the thatch layer from getting too thick, which can lead to problems like poor drainage and an increased risk of pests and diseases.
Final Verdict
A lawn thatch is a layer of organic material that accumulates on top of the soil. Thatch is made up of living and dead plant materials, including grass clippings, leaves, stems and roots.
A small amount of thatch is beneficial because it helps protect the soil from erosion and provides a buffer against temperature extremes. But too much thatch can harm your lawn by preventing water, air and nutrients from reaching the grass roots.
Dethatching loosens and removes the thatch layer so your lawn can better absorb water, air and nutrients. It also allows for better root growth, which results in a healthier lawn. And also, dethatching is best done in late spring or early fall when the grass is actively growing.
