The only time you should avoid scarifying your lawn is if it is brand new or has been reseeded within the last year. It's all about fine-tuning your lawn to get the most out of it. This will create a healthy base for the growing season ahead. Now let's take a closer look at dethatching.
Both the scarifier and dethatcher are designed to remove clippings and other accumulated debris (collectively known as "thatch") from your lawn before they can overwhelm the grass, depriving it of water, nutrients and sunlight. Both the scarifier and brushcutter are designed to remove clippings and other accumulated debris (collectively known as "thatch") from your lawn before they can overwhelm the grass, depriving it of water, nutrients and sunlight. There are many makes and models of brush cutters. If your lawn is relatively large, you can opt for a petrol scarifier, but be prepared to perform regular maintenance on the machine to prolong its life.
As with scarifying, always mow the lawn before dethatching.
What does the scarifier do?
The vertical cutting action of the scarifier blades also prunes the shoots and stolons of the grass plants, which encourages new growth. Otherwise, wet thatch can clog the scarifier much faster and is more difficult to clean up. Although similar to a cultivator, a scarifier digs deeper into the soil, making it a very different tool. A lawn scarifier, sometimes called a "weed whacker," is a garden tool designed to cut the soil, which helps remove dead moss and other debris, such as grass clippings.
Now that you know what a lawn scarifier is, let's look at some tips on how to get the most out of your new garden tool. There are also a number of combination tools on the market that incorporate a scarifier and a rake, allowing you to choose between the two functions. A simple garden rake is the most popular scarifying alternative, as it allows you to control the pressure you put on the lawn with a lighter tool.
When should you scarify your lawn?
Scarifying is much gentler on the lawn than heavy scarifying, which uses vertical weeding blades. Most gardening experts agree that the ideal time to scarify your lawn is when it is growing vigorously. Spring usually means sometime in April, just as things warm up, which increases the rate of growth and recovery, but before the heat and dryness of summer slows things down. Lawn scarifying can be a laborious process that will likely cause some initial damage to your lawn.
Heavy scarification might be followed by closely spaced lawn aeration, over-seeding and light fertilizing for optimal results. If you scarify at the wrong time of year, when your lawn is not growing as fast, you run the risk of severely damaging your lawn. Not only that, such an invasive treatment as scarification will open up the soil and cause it to dry out in the heat.
What is the difference between dethatching and scarifying?
If you have a regular mower, chances are you can find a special blade called a dethatching blade that fits on your mower in place of the cutting blade, just lift your mower and replace the blade, this effectively turns your mower into a dethatcher at a fraction of the cost of a complete new toy. The blades of a scarifying tool go deeper into the ground than those of a strimmer, which is useful when it comes to removing very thick layers of thatch. Of course, in cases where the thatch layer is thicker, the dethatcher may not be able to remove it. A dethatcher removes thatch in much the same way as removing dead skin (from your body) with a cougar stone (remember I mentioned that it will comb the ground to remove thatch).
Now that you know the difference between a weed whacker and an electric rake, you're probably wondering which tool is right for you.
