Spring Cleaning Staples
De-thatching and power raking are two terms that cause confusion, as they both involve removal of thatch from the lawn. Adding to this confusion, many service providers don’t differentiate between the two, using the terms interchangeably.
A thatch layer up to about a half inch thick is actually beneficial to your lawn, but if it gets too thick it can start to interfere with fertilizer absorption, leading to a weak root system. A sign that your lawn has too much thatch is a spongy feel as you walk across it. You can test with your finger and see how much dead grass you have to poke through before you reach the soil. Snow mold in the spring can also be a telltale sign.
Most lawns will benefit from some form of thatch removal every year, and failing that, they’ll need a thorough power raking every two to three years. Core aeration complements thatch removal by promoting health of both grass and soil.
Thatch Removal
In most cases, de-thatching is what you’ll actually need, while power raking is a more labour intensive process that may cost more to provide. Locally you will find that most landscaping providers have a standardized service that they provide every customer; it’s really more about which equipment they have and what their routine is.
In broad terms, de-thatching is a preventive cleaning-out process to avoid the development of a thatch problem. The de-thatching unit is usually mounted to the front of a lawnmower, and its spring loaded harrow tines break out some of the thatch so the mower can bag it up all in one pass. This is a gentler process that removes less thatch compared to power raking.
Meanwhile, power raking is more like a fix for an existing thatch problem. The power rake uses a rotating shaft with hinged blades called flails that pick out three or four times as much thatch. It’s a more severe process requiring a little more recovery time for the lawn, and it’s also more labour intensive since it’s done in a separate pass from mowing.
Some people will even use power sweepers to clean out their lawn, this also can be adequate for thatch removal.
Power Raking vs De-thatching Attachments
As far as we’re concerned, it doesn’t much matter which thatch removal method you choose, the result is the same. Since our growing season is a bit shorter than average, property owners like to fast track the greening of the lawn.
If you were to take two Calgary lawns, side by side, and de-thatch one and not the other, the main difference you’ll find is the de-thatched lawn will green up about two weeks sooner. By mid-summer however, there won’t be a big difference between the two.
Barring a serious thatch problem, it makes little difference for the health of the grass. The main reason for this is that Calgary is one of the sunniest places in North America; provided your lawn is getting adequate moisture, then the sunshine promotes strong growth.
The few lawns with a serious thatch problem are usually those that are over-fertilized and then left long in the fall. Then you wind up with matted grass, and it takes much longer for the new grass to come up green.
Core Aeration
A great way to maintain turf health and control thatch buildup is core aeration. For the health of the soil and the grass, leave the cores in place; as the lawn is watered and they disintegrate, all the enzymes present in the cores get redistributed and serve to break down the thatch layer. This is why golf courses aerate in the fall and rarely need to de-thatch the fairways.
There is one down side to leaving the cores after aeration, and that’s the muddy phase. Depending on the kind of traffic your lawn sees, you may want to keep kids and pets from tracking this around.
Some lawn experts swear by doing core aeration in the fall, but most landscaping providers do it in the spring for expediency’s sake. Spring or fall, we think it it’s about the same for the average lawn.
In most areas of Calgary, aeration isn’t strictly required on a yearly basis because we have a very healthy population of dew worms, and they “dew” a pretty good job. However, there will often be hard areas of your lawn that need help if they suffer extra traffic compaction, or have trouble retaining water for any reason.
Questions? Come See Us!
If you’re doing your own lawn maintenance, remember we deal on a day-to-day basis with plenty of seasoned landscaping professionals, and we can pass their experience– and ours– on to you.