After a long winter’s nap your lawn may be cluttered with debris and the remnants of the previous summer’s grass. The first step in an annual maintenance routine is to remove this clutter so that your lawn can be prepared for new growth. As part of a Spring Cleanup, Kodiak will perform a quick raking to remove large debris, such as twigs, branches, and litter. Once this is done, we will then inspect the thatch layer.
Thatch is a layer of organic matter made up of decaying grass, stems and roots that build up in between the lawn and soil surface. It interferes with water infiltration, prevents air and nutrients from getting to plant roots, and can harbor harmful insects and diseases. Thatch also restricts grass roots from growing into the soil root zone, resulting in a shallow-root lawn. It is a common problem with Kentucky bluegrass lawns that have been established for several years and that have been over-watered and over-fertilized.
We can quickly tell if your lawn has too much thatch on it, by how it feels when we walk on it. If it feels very spongy under foot there is a build-up of thatch, which should be removed. Alternatively, we can cut a v-pattern in the lawn with a sharp knife and pull the turf away from the soil to assess the thickness of it. If the thatch layer in the cut-sample measures a thickness of 2.5 cm or more, there is too much thatch and it should be removed.
Thatch can be removed manually, by means of hand-raking, or mechanically, by use of a power rake. Mechanical dethatching – aka ‘vertical mowing’ or ‘verticutting’ – is a much more vigorous process than hand-raking and therefore more efficient and effective. Hi-speed rotating ‘brushes’ aggressively reach toward the soil, grasping the thatch and spitting it out behind them as the operator moves the lawn-mower-like machine over your lawn. The loose debris is then quickly raked up and bagged for disposal. Typically, we perform this procedure as part of a Spring Cleanup, but it is equally effective in Fall, when the turf goes through its second phase of active growth.
In an undisturbed eco-system, insects, earthworms, beneficial fungi and other microorganisms will break down thatch and aerate the soil naturally. Excessive watering, over fertilizing with nitrogen and heavy use of insecticides and fungicides however, serve to decrease the populations of soil organisms which keep thatch levels down. To help minimize thatch development therefore, we encourage:
