please don`t laugh

No I`am not really a dumb ass<br>but what is the purpose of dethatching<br>a lawn?what is the best way to do it?<br>what should be charged?approx.<br>using 60&quot;ztr gravely.<br>please dont laugh too bad

 

The purpose of dethatching a lawn is to get the customer to part with their money.<p>If a lawn has less than 1/2&quot; of thatch, there is no need to de-thatch.<p>If a lawn has more than 1/2&quot; of thatch, there is something wrong with the lawn, soil or fertilization/cultural practices.<p>A healthy lawn w/ all things in balance should never need de-thatching.<p>It is a great and easy service to sell, but completely unnecessary in most cases.<br>

 

Bubba, you wouldn't be dethatching St. Augustine would you? That's rough cutting there man.

 

Thatch build up is a natural process in any<br>bluegrass lawn. Bluegrass lawns need to be<br>dethatched yearly to maintain health and<br>vigor. You must cull the herd or thin out<br>the crowd so the remaining plants have room<br>to breathe and prosper.

 

Dethatching is basiclly verticutting. I have never seen anyone dethatch a st. aug. yard. in 40 years.

 

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There is only two good reasons to dethatch a lawn.<br>1- If the leaves were not cleaned up at all last fall, especially in a weak lawn, you may save time on spring cleanup by running a powerrake over the lawn, then cleaning it.<br>2- In a lawn with very excessive thatch, you can aerate in 3 to 4 directions. Since this would have 8-10% of the actual thatch sitting on thr surface, a powerraking would enable you th remove this quantity of thatch, while leaving the soil from the plugs on the lawn.<p>Dethatching, or powerraking is generally done as a spring cash generator. You churn up and haul away a tremendous amount of material, so the customer just knows you are doing something great. And since it is so impressive, you can charge a pretty penny for it. Lazer stated it simply above.<p>&quot;Dethatching&quot; is not removing thatch. It is mostly pulling up a lot of dead grass that would decay in the next 6 weeks on its own.<p>----------<br>Jim<br>North central Indiana

 

De-thathing does make a lawn look more groomed now thru April when the (northern) grass really gets growing. The grass is standing up nicely and looks better kept.<p>As far as making any real difference? No. <br>I've even de-thatched half a lawn in April and there was no way to tell which half by mid-May.<p>Part of the &quot;dead&quot; grass greens up and grows and the other part decays.

 

Lawrence Stone, thanks for your post, now we know how little you actually know about horticulture. Are you self taught or do you have any training. You may know about the business end of the business but God help your clients, as you have no business doing anything but mowing!

 

give him a break kermit why are you bashing him? the administrator asked us to keep it kind so please do<p>----------<br>CJC Landscape Management<br>Winter Haven, Florida