Thatching and Plugging

[gerty]

When is the best time to thatch your yard and when is the best time to plug your yard?

Next, when is plugging your yard the necessary thing to do?

Thanks for the help.

[LwnmwnMan2]

Real real real quick is the best time to do it.

You need to aerate your yard if you have hard, compacted soils.

It's better to do it now, rather than in the spring, because the soil isn't as soft, therefore you're not going to damage the turf nearly as much now.

Once you get done, get some grass seed and a good starter fertlizer, something with a high middle number, and go over the entire area. Water it in, and you should have a filled in yard in time for winter.

[Powerstroke]

Thatching and aereating can be used incunjunction with each other if you have an excessively thick thatch layer. This is the layer of decaying matter between the topsoil and the actual surface. If you took a shovel or if you have a soil core tool you would take out a sample and look at teh cross-section. There is dirt on the bottom with (hopefully) long healthy roots. Then there is a spongy layer of organic matter from dead grass, bugs, and other decaying material. Than you have the surface where the grass is above ground.

You want your thatch layer to be around 1/2 inch. Having no thatch is not a good thing.Having more than 3/4 inch can restrict your lawn from getting the nutrients it needs, it hold the moisture rather than it getting to the soil and it also harbors insects and provides a great environment for fungal disorders to develop.

Aereating (plugging) will help with thatch but its mainly for compacted soils. It is usually done in the fall and benefits your lawn with overseeding. With severe compaction aereating can be done twice a year till the condition improves. A normal yeard only needs aereating every 2-3 years.

Dethatching or power-raking I think is best done in the spring so you don't have to rake out the matted grass from winter. It can be done in the fall also but I think its benefits are more if done in the spring. You can dethatch too much. I've seen too many people compain that they have too thin a yard and they always say "I get it power-raked and aereated every year".

Use these things as needed and your lawn will benefit.

[LABS4ME]

The middle number (phosphorous or P) in fertilizer is not to be used any more in the metro area. Most stores now carry phosphorous free fertilizer. Most soils in Minnesota have an exceptable amount of phosphorus natually occuring in the soil. Also phosphorus does not "leach" through the soil column as does nitrogen and to a lesser extent potash(N-P-K), so once applied it stays there until it is used by the plants. This is one of the reasons the decision was made to eliminate it from fertilizer mixes... It plain does not need to be applied every year and doing so only increases the algae bloom problem we are having in most lakes and rivers. For many decades people would fertilize with (P) in their fertilizer many times a year, when in reality it would only need be applied when the lawn was first put in and maybe once every 5-10 years there after.

Also your lawn will "naturally" areate itself every winter if it's healthy. Up to 60% of your lawn's roots die each winter and each one of the dead roots will decay and become organic material in the soil allowing the translocation of water, nutrients and air. Core plugging and power raking are also very good for your lawn, but I agree they should be done once every couple of years. After core plugging, try laying down a very thin layer of compost over the entire lawn... it literally will transform your lawn 'overnight'.

Good Luck!

Ken

[LwnmwnMan2]

Labs is correct, most stores no longer carry high phosphorous fertilizer.

However, anytime I've seeded, I've always had my best results with an 18-24-18, with slow release. I ONLY, and I stress ONLY use it when starting a yard from seed. Once the yard has been seeded, I agree, no need for it anymore.

I agree, usually the middle number should be 0, however when you're starting out with seed, IMO, it works better.

You CAN find it, you'll just have to look in specialty stores or a feed mill.

And again, as with any fertilizer or chemical, you must follow directions on the label.

I tell people that gasoline is dangerous when not used properly, but when it's used the way it was meant, there's no better substitute.

Same goes for chemicals / fertilizers. It's medicine for your lawn.

[gerty]

Thanks for the info. My lawn is really pretty thick right now so I do not think I need to plug/areate. I did thatch it very well this spring which I think helped a lot.

My understanding is that you do not want to thatch to early because it helps the weeds, if any, to start to germinate quicker. Is that right? When would be a good time to consider thatching?

[Powerstroke]

Actually I would disagree and say that getting thatching out of the way is important to do early since you will no doubt want to put down a crabgrass Pre-emergent in the spring and if you dethatch after the Pre-M is applied you could disturb the vapor barrier making the Pre-M ineffective.

[Moose]

areate {plug} in the fall only on heavy soils ie. Clay, heavy loam. Doing it on sand is a waste of time and money unless soil gets severe compaction ie. sports fields De thatching should be done in the spring after the frost has come out and the turf has dried out and before it turns green. Get the Pre Emergent down after the de thatching. I personally do not beleave in dethatching. If you are cutting at the right hieght which is as high as your mower will cut and fertilizing properly the turf will regenerate the thatch on its own and a layer of thatch will hold moister longer and reduce the amount of watering during the hot part of the summer

[LwnmwnMan2]

Powerstroke, Moose and I differ.

I believe it's best to dethatch in the fall, when the soil is hard(er).

The problem that you run into in the spring, is many times the soil isn't dried out enough from the snowmelt before you really need to get the pre-emergent down, especially if it's a more shady lawn.

If you do it in the fall, say September, you really don't have that many more cuttings left for the year, so your thatch is not going to build back up again.

Now your yard is all ready for spring, ready to absorb all the snowmelt, and you aren't going to tear out good turf from having softer soil.

[harvey lee]

I bag all the lawn clippings every time I mow.Once every two years I will thatch the yard in the fall.In the spring I will apply the Fertilizer and crab grass preventer and them mow,mow and mow.Even though I do bag my clipping the thatch in my yard is very heavy due to such a thick lawn.One year I did not thatch and my lawn took 2 weeks longer than all the neighbors to green up.I then had it thatched and in a matter of days the lawn was green.You can have a very thick lawn and bag your clipping and still have a thatch issue.Granted my lawn is so thick that its like walking on a carpet as soft as a sponge.So,whether you thatch in the spring or fall it helps to do so every so often to clean up some of the old clippings.As far as aerating I have that done every three years and I probably dont need to but I do and that is also done in the fall.Right or wrong almost all of my lawn work is done in the fall along with some fertilizer and the lawn always looks nice and thick with no problems.My weed spraying is done in the mid summer and fall if needed but that usually is only once a year at best.