About 3.5 weeks in now
Process so far:
-2 rounds of glyphosate
-Mowed grass lower than usual
-Scalped the dead patches with lawn mower at lowest setting.
At this point the dead grass roots and thatch layer were still dense despite scalping and I was concerned for soil:seed contact, so I scarified the hell out of them; I essentially had tilled the ground in those spots with the Sunjoe and a Garden Weasel. People here had warned me that you really need to cut this stuff out- perhaps this is why. Maybe it would have been fine simply top dressing soil but I wanted a clean slate for the new roots.
-Scarified the full yard, two times with offset passes.
-Detached the full yard, two times with offset passes
-Beer while I defended myself from wife’s questioning on how I ended up with eleven 60-gallon trash bags full of debris and what I was going to do with them.
-Top dressed the patches with fresh soil
-Over seeded full lawn, went heavier on the patches
-Used a lawn roller rental to press seed in
-Used a compost spreader rental to topdress peat moss
-Dropped starter fert same day as overseed
-Watered daily, 4x a day. Slowly backing off on the watering but being conscious of the kbg in the mix that germinates slower. It’s rained 2-3 times over the last month.
-Dropped preventative rate of fungicide a few days in.
-Had to go out and hand seed a few patchy spots at 2 weeks in. Rabbits have been doing a number on me.. they clearly prefer the seedlings and will eat them down to dirt. I did a very very light pass with the Garden Weasel when I reseeded those spots just to rough the soil a touch.
-Sharpened my blades and mowed yesterday. I tried to avoid the new grass for the most part as some of the kbg seedlings are small. I probably looked drunk mowing in circles as I weaved through… so basically business as usual.
*Plan to hit another preventative fungicide and light fertilizer app in a week or three.
I did not use tenacity. Weed pressure has been minimal so far. I’m out there checking so often anyway that I can handle the few that pop up here and there. Been pulling more Aspen shoots than anything.
So far I’m mostly happy. Excited for next Spring.
by jibernaut
4 Comments
Hey! Are you looking for information about how to overseed a cool season lawn? You can find a comprehensive guide [in this post here.](https://www.reddit.com/r/lawncare/s/pUsKCxyvwQ)
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Dethatching is a recent trend in lawn care that’s become more common thanks to youtube creators and other non-academic sources. As such, there’s a widespread misunderstanding/misinformation about the topic. /u/nilesandstuff has created this automatic comment in the hopes of correcting some of those falsehoods.
Thatch is the layer of stems and roots, both living and dead, that makes up the top layer of soil. Grass clippings are not thatch and do not contribute to thatch. The thickness of thatch can only be assessed by digging into the soil.
Some thatch is good. While some academic sources say that under 1 inch of thatch is beneficial, most settle for half an inch. Thatch is beneficial for many reasons (weed prevention, traffic tolerance, insulation against high temps and moisture loss, etc) and should not be removed. Over half an inch of thatch may not warrant removal, but the underlying causes should be addressed. An inch or more of thatch SHOULD be addressed. Dethatching as a regular maintenance task, and not to address an actual thatch problem, is NOT beneficial… Again, some thatch is good.
Thatch problems are not typical. Excessive thatch is a symptom of other issues, such as: over-fertilization, overwatering, regular use of fungicides, excessive use of certain insecticides, high/low pH, and the presence of certain grasses (particularly weedy grasses).
Dethatching with a flexible tine dethatcher (like a sunjoe) causes considerable short-term and long-term injury to lawns, and is known to encourage the spread of some grassy weeds like bentgrass and poa trivialis. In some RARE cases, that level of destruction may be warranted… But it should always be accompanied with seeding.
A far less damaging alternative to dealing with excessive thatch is core aeration. Core aeration doesn’t remove a significant amount of thatch, and therefore doesn’t remove a significant amount of healthy grass. BUT it can greatly speed up the natural decomposition of thatch.
Verticutters and scarifiers are also less damaging than flexible tine dethatchers.
For the purposes of overseeding, some less destructive alternatives would be slit seeding, scarifying, manual raking, or a tool like a Garden Weasel. Be sure to check out the seeding guide [here.](https://www.reddit.com/r/lawncare/s/pUsKCxyvwQ)
Additionally, be sure to check the list of causes above to be sure you aren’t guilty of those.
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Looks great! Clumping fescue can be such a pain
I’m about to nuke my clumping fescue. Trying to time it right with travels, weather, and other crazy shenanigans.