Dethatch or Aerate on Newer Lawn

I have a new customer with a lawn that is about a year and a half or two yearsn old. It was sod when installed. He said that he had a lot of yellow grass lastyear. He wants me to either dethatch it or aerate however I am not sure which would be best to do on a younger lawn. I would rather aerate because I am more familiar with doing it. The lawn is pretty thick also. Any help would be much appreciated.

 

You may get away with Dethatching in the fall but I sure would not do it this spring on a newer lawn.

 

Definately aerate.

How much thatch buildup can a lawn that new have? And if it has any at all (which I doubt seriously), it is probably doing more good than harm protecting the root zone during hot and dry weather. Go for the aerating, especially since it was sod installed.

 

Is it irrigated? It was very dry most of the summer last year.
Proper fert program?
I'm guessing thatch is not the problem.

 

So I just talked to the customer. I told him that I checked with some other companies about performing a dethatch on such a young lawn. He said that Scotts told him that he should do a dethatch, because they do his fertilization. He said that his sprinkler system broke while he was out of town last summer, so the grass was shot. The grass is really thick also. He said he was going to check around to see what others think he should do. I said that I would aerate now and then see how the summer goes and dethatch in the fall, so we will see what "the others" say. Thanks for the help.

 

The benefits of dethatching in cool season grasses is debatable IMO

A good aeration is helpful. What was he using for fertilizer last year?

Have you looked at the grass fairly closely. In Minnesota it is still early in the season too. Not everything has some out of dormancy this far north. In fact there was freezing rain and a touch of snow here last night. The temperature here is below freezing right now.

 

Please let us know what he finds out from the other LCO's in your area!!!

 

You haven't said what turf type the lawn is! Sounds like it is a cool seasons turf but is it a Zoysia, Bent, Kentucky Blue, Rye or one of the Fescue's? The diffrence being that the first three grasses are creeping varieties and are more than likely thatched up. The lawn will need de-thatching and coring, lightly topdressed, and ferilised. If a bunching grass, just core, topdress and fertilize.

 

Is just the top half of the grass blade yellow? Maybe you just need to sharpen your blades more often. I've been reading that they probably need sharpening or changing once a week.

 

So the guy called me today, all he said was, "yeah lets go with the aeration." So I am guessing that he checked around and found out that Scotts was wrong. So I have scheduled an aeration with him.