I was searching the web for ways to make my lawn the thickest, greenest, freshest looking one on the block. Is it for bragging rights…maybe but I cam across a question that I had never thought of. We all dream of a lush garden, and the feel of fresh, green grass between our toes. While a thick lawn is the goal, in theory, it begs the question: is there such a thing as lawn that is too thick?
Your lawn can be too thick if its not taken care of properly. Some grass species can grow thick and stay healthy as Bermuda grass, but without proper maintenance can lead to a starved dead lawn. Also, if your lawn is thick with weeds that resemble grass, it can kill all the grass that you have.
The short answer is yes. For one, if your lawn is thick with all the wrong things it can lead to its demise. While a jumble of roots may be the first sign that it’s time for a trim, another problem that can arise is a spongy sensation, caused by an excess of a little thing called thatch in lawns. It’s important to remember that getting rid of lawn thatch is a multi-step process and must be done right so as not to have to replace your landscape grass entirely.
What is lawn thatch?
For starters, what is lawn thatch? Lawn thatch means having a spongy lawn, which is the result of excess buildup of old and dead grass material. Identifying lawn thatch is easy as you will likely be able to see a brown hue to your lawn and you can’t actually see the dirt through the grass. With extra thick species of grass this can be difficult to handle unless you stay on top of your lawn maintenance.
Typically, once thatch reaches a thickness of one inch or more, you should remove it. Some types of grass don’t produce thatch, but ones with thick stolons will often trap their own leaves and stems. Thatch can collect in different ways such as when your lawn is mowed and you leave the clippings on top or through the natural cycle of life and death. If your lawn looks browner after cutting it then it is a sign that thatch may be building up.
Despite the sponginess, the main concern with overly thick thatch is that it may interfere with the plant’s ability to gather air, water and fertilizer. Due to the spongy nature of the grass it can soak up all the water from your sprinkler system or light rain leaving your grass drying out. When the roots are forced to grow on top of the thatch, the sponginess increases and getting rid of the thatch while keeping as much grass as possible becomes a lot harder.
Getting rid of lawn thatch increases the health and texture of the grass. You will find that once it is removed it will look a lot more barren and the remaining grass is likely mostly brown. Unfortunately that was how much of your grass was left anyways. If you follow up with over-seeding, fertilizing, and watering your grass with be as lush as ever in a mater of a few months.
What To Do About It
When you are removing thatch you wan to remove most, if not all, of the underlying brown stemmy growth and allow for new, healthy growth. You can use a simple rake to reduce less serious cases of thatch in the grass. As previously mentioned, a little thatch is not harmful, but anything over one inch is damaging to the sod. If you find yourself in a scenario with thick thatch, you’ll most likely need a dethatching rake – they’re usually larger and have sharper tines which help them to cut and grab the thatch to pull it out of the layer of sod.
You’ll have to rake the lawn thoroughly after dethatching. Raking the lawn annually at the end of the season for cool season grasses but in spring for warm season grasses will decrease the likelyhood that you will have to do this again as it is a lot of work.
If your lawn is thick with things other than grass, the most important thing to do is give your grass a very healthy environment tho thrive. That means aerating, over-seeding, fertilizing, and watering. It seems like a lot yes, but each one of these can be accomplished with a quick trip to your local supplier and about and hour to an hour and a half of outside time.
It is also possible to try a weed killer, but you have to be careful as often times these will kill the grass as well as the weeds. The more powerful the more likely to kill everything there. Depending on the chemicals it can also be harsh to animals, kids, and your feet so be careful.
Verticutting/Dethatching
Sometimes using a rake dethatcher just can’t get the job done without days and days of back breaking labor. That is when you need something a little bigger, which is using a heavy duty vertical mower, often called a verticutter.
A verticutter is a specialized piece of equipment has evenly spaced, knife-like blades that revolve perpendicular to the soil surface. The blades slice into the thatch and remove it from the root. Since this process is usually done yearly at most, it makes more economical sense to rent than to buy a verticutter. Since vertical mowing is also quite physically demanding, it might be advisable in this case to have a reputable lawn maintenance company do it for you.
If you want the most efficient way to get the job done for the weekend warrior than check out this article I wrote specifically for solving this exact problem. It needs to be a very careful process starting off as you do not want to kill all of your grass. If you still have 50% of a healthy lawn then you don’t wan to wind up with 0% of it surviving the day. This job only needs to be done a max of once a year for the absolute worst lawns, and this is if you don’t do any upkeep during the year.
Repair Your Lawn And Prevent Future Problems
Once you have done the hard work or are just trying to strengthen your lawn, follow these steps below to get a great looking lawn with the easiest way to do it.
Aerate! Oh yeah, lets poke some holes into that lawn. Aerating will provide more oxygen to the soil and loosen it up. Sometimes a lack of water absorbing into the ground can dry it out severely and you may find it rock hard.
Fertilize! Give the seed you are about to put down a warm welcome by providing it the required nutrients before it is even there. This allows you to place the seeds into an environment that will help it grow from the start.
Seed! Give the lawn everything it needs. Although some types of grass repair themselves easily like Kentucky Bluegrass, by seeding your lawn you are giving the weakened grass the reinforcements it needs to take back its property by storm. This will also help the grass take root before weeds can move in giving you just another problem.
Water! Finish it up with a little drink for not just yourself but also your grass. Don’t over water however because watering too heavily after fertilizing can wash away nutrients that you just put there. Make the top inch or two damp and then continue watering approximately twice a week only skipping if it rained.
Because of the hard work you are doing today you will reap the rewards over and over. You can do it!
Related Questions
Why is my grass turning yellow?
How tall should I cut my grass?
