Our lawn care company recommended dethatching our lawn?
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Raintrain asked:
We core aerate twice a year already. He says the lawn will get more oxygen if we do it. It will cost $ 280 for a quarter acre–is this a high price? Can I rent equipment & do it myself without trashing my lawn?
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We core aerate twice a year already. He says the lawn will get more oxygen if we do it. It will cost $ 280 for a quarter acre–is this a high price? Can I rent equipment & do it myself without trashing my lawn?
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October 26th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
It’s called a rake. Send the kids outside and tell them to rake up the grass and you’ll pay them 50$.
October 29th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
You can dethatch your lawn yourself without doing damage to the lawn. It is just time consuming more than anything. I do about 1/2 acre and take about 2 days to do it. I bought the thatching rake at the home improvement center, but I think Home Depot rents a machine that would be faster.
October 30th, 2008 at 2:19 am
I would agree on dethatching your yard, but YES you can rent a dethatcher and do it yourself a heck of allot cheaper then that.
October 30th, 2008 at 2:44 am
it’s MUCH cheaper to do it yourself. plus, dethatching is actually more important than core aerating. don’t get me wrong, aerating is very necessary. however, oxygen can’t get into your lawn in the first place if the thatch still there. and don’t worry about trashing your lawn; they take all kinds of abuse, a little raking will never hurt it (it’ll help!).
November 2nd, 2008 at 11:25 am
YOU CAN RENT A MACHINE AND DO IT YOURSELF IF YOU ARE WILLING TO WORK. 280 MIGHT SEEM LIKE A LOT BUT IT IS VERY LABOR INTENSIVE WORK AND YOU MIGHT CHANGE YOUR MIND AFTER YOU GET STARTED.
November 2nd, 2008 at 2:30 pm
If you’re already core aerating twice a year, I think that maybe the lawn service thinks it found a patsy (you).
What might be beneficial here would be to apply additional nitrogen to speed the decomposition of the dead grass.
I might also suggest a topdressing of 50% coarse sand and 50% sphagnum peat, along with the fertilizer. Top dress a uniform 1/2″ deep just prior to your next core aeration and then water in well.. the increase in soil particle size and raised organic content will do amazing things for your turf.. (aeration and moisture balance).
if you must dethatch.. get another estimate.. $280 seems awfully high to me.
November 5th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
of course, check out local rentals. good luck.