Are you a Mulcher or a Dethatcher?
- Thread starter Raddad
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JimParker
Bronze Member
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- Jul 4, 2006
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- John Deere 3320 eHydro
Yeah... Sleepin' with the fishes! It's pretty sad at my "city" house. Now my "country lot" (future home/mini-ranch) is still quite beautiful, with tall, waving grass just waiting for my MX5... The JD3320 gets delivered tomorrow, and I can't sleep at all!
Pooh_Bear
Platinum Member
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- Jan 2, 2005
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- Early 1949 Ford 8N
Place I used to live at was a pain in the neck to keep mowed.
Got a local news station that has a different expert on their show every morning taking calls and answering questions. One particular morning they had a lawn care expert. He got calls asking about all kinds of weeds, and fertilizing, and mostly moss. People had moss in their yard and wanted to know how to get rid of it. I had moss in my yard too. So I called in. And I got thru while he was on the air. My question was: "Half my yard is in deep shade and is covered with thick lush green moss. The other half is grass and I have to keep mowing it. The moss never needs mowed. How can I get the moss to take over over the rest of my yard so I never have to mow again." The expert and the newscaster almost did a doubletake, they were stunned. The guy didn't really know how to answer a question like that. Said you will have to plant more trees and get the rest of your yard in deep shade and keep it moist.
My yard now (we moved) is just whatever comes up. If I have to do any earthmoving to fill in a ditch or dig a trench somewhere I don't even use grass seed any more. I use bird seed. 50 pound bag of grass seed: $40, 50 pound bag of bird seed, $10. And it works just as well.
Pooh Bear's Place. (you can see my yard here)
Pooh Bear
Got a local news station that has a different expert on their show every morning taking calls and answering questions. One particular morning they had a lawn care expert. He got calls asking about all kinds of weeds, and fertilizing, and mostly moss. People had moss in their yard and wanted to know how to get rid of it. I had moss in my yard too. So I called in. And I got thru while he was on the air. My question was: "Half my yard is in deep shade and is covered with thick lush green moss. The other half is grass and I have to keep mowing it. The moss never needs mowed. How can I get the moss to take over over the rest of my yard so I never have to mow again." The expert and the newscaster almost did a doubletake, they were stunned. The guy didn't really know how to answer a question like that. Said you will have to plant more trees and get the rest of your yard in deep shade and keep it moist.
My yard now (we moved) is just whatever comes up. If I have to do any earthmoving to fill in a ditch or dig a trench somewhere I don't even use grass seed any more. I use bird seed. 50 pound bag of grass seed: $40, 50 pound bag of bird seed, $10. And it works just as well.
Pooh Bear's Place. (you can see my yard here)
Pooh Bear
TMcD_in_MI
Gold Member
I think a lot of folks have jumped on the dethatching bandwagon who could have saved their time and fuel money for something they really need to get done. In order to need dethatching, you first need to have thatch, and the most common guideline I've seen says that the thatch needs to be thicker than 1/2 inch before you need to do anything about it.
Go out in your lawn and cut a thin wedge of sod out and look at the brown matted layer of old grass stems and roots. (Not the fluffy brown grass blades that you may see.) Unless you have a showplace lawn due to a regular fertilizing and watering program, I'll bet you don't see much thatch there.
Here's a short page explaining it better than I can and showing a picture of real thatch.
Turf 101: Thatch
Maybe some of you can go watch a football game, instead of dethatching your lawn.
Tom
Go out in your lawn and cut a thin wedge of sod out and look at the brown matted layer of old grass stems and roots. (Not the fluffy brown grass blades that you may see.) Unless you have a showplace lawn due to a regular fertilizing and watering program, I'll bet you don't see much thatch there.
Here's a short page explaining it better than I can and showing a picture of real thatch.
Turf 101: Thatch
Maybe some of you can go watch a football game, instead of dethatching your lawn.
Tom
Charlesaf3
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As I understand it, core aerating is much better than dethatching.
nspec
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mulch all mowing season, aerate in the fall before the last 1 or 2 mowings.
CompactTractorFan
Super Member
Mow, let the clippings fall...that's it...
Probably will be using the Cyclone Rake next year...
Probably will be using the Cyclone Rake next year...
Dr_Zinj
Veteran Member
I mulch.
Of course in New England we get plenty of rain and have plenty of bacteria, fungi, and small invertebrates that will compost the clippings into soil right in your yard.
Even works for the leaves in the fall as long as I spread them evenly around the yard.
De-thatching may be necessary in places that don't have the biosphere to break down the grass.
Of course in New England we get plenty of rain and have plenty of bacteria, fungi, and small invertebrates that will compost the clippings into soil right in your yard.
Even works for the leaves in the fall as long as I spread them evenly around the yard.
De-thatching may be necessary in places that don't have the biosphere to break down the grass.
rjwerth
Gold Member
I mulch and then core aerate in the spring. Dethatching seems silly to me under normal circumstances. I do, however, bag the leaves once they start really falling. There would be no way to mulch them all where I am.