Anyone used a Power Rake dethatcher?

[alchemysa]

I've just ordered one. It will take about 10 days to get here. Amazon reviews are mixed but generally they have persuaded me that its worth a shot. Including spare blades and postage to Australia its about a $50 purchase. I think this is by far the cheapest option for me to do powered detatching job ... as long as it works. I have a self propelled walk behind mower that should be ideal for the job. I also have a ride-on mower, but towable or pushable attachments for that seem non-existent over here and the postage to import one from the U.S. would be a killer.

I have about 300 sq yards of kikuyu lawn with a good half inch of thatch. I expect it will rip the lawn to shreds but kikuyu is almost indestructible so I hope it will come back pretty quickly, better than ever.

Amazon.com : Maxpower 330100 16-Inch Universal Power Rake/Dethatcher Lawn Mower Blade : Patio, Lawn & Garden

 

[alchemysa]

I finally got around to using this thing around our shack so i thought i'd post some comments in case anyone is interested.

I did a test patch of about 80 square metres and have to say I'm pretty pleased so far. I'll leave this for about a month now and see how it goes before doing the rest of the lawn. We are just heading into our growing season now.

First up I mowed pretty low using a my self propelled walk behind, then I collected all the clippings with the catcher on my ride-on.

Next, I fitted the dethatcher blade to the walk behind mower and adjusted the height so it was just skimming above the dirt. The dethatcher blade is only 16" wide but this was an ideal size so as not to stress the mower too much, in fact I was usually only cutting 'half widths' at a very slow walking pace. It makes a heck of a mess but I went over it a couple of times with the ride-on to collect the rubbish, then repeated again with the dethatcher. This sounds tedious but it really didnt take long to cover the whole test area. The area is somewhat uneven, so in some places I was skimming dirt while at other spots I was still leaving some thatch. I could have gone lower but i'll leave it like this for now.

Surprisingly the springs on the detacher showed very little wear and I think I'll be able to do my entire 300+ square meters on one set of springs. Of course they would wear much faster if i was actually cutting below dirt level rather than just above it. Another thing I learnt is to slightly wet the lawn. This keeps the dust down and probably helps reduce wear on the springs. (But dont wet it to much or it clumps too much under the mower.)

I don't know if the pics really do it justice. Like I said, I'm pretty pleased with the result so far. In real life its actually pretty smooth and neat. I filled the big catcher on the ride-on twice with the thatch that was ripped up by the springs.

U.S. customers can get this gadget for about $20. Replacement springs are about $7 a pair. It cost me quite a bit more to get it sent to Australia but it still worked out much cheaper than any other option available to me. (Unfortunately it seems they are not available in Australia).