How to Dethatch Grass

You should know how to dethatch grass so that your lawn grows healthy and thick. Over the winter months, dead leaves and grass roots can die off leaving behind thatch that will hamper new growth. If you want your lawn to be thick and green, you must dethatch the lawn to promote healthy growth. Dethatching your grass is not hard to do. It just has to be done every year so that the lawn gets oxygen to the soil and grass roots.

Things You'll Need

• Dethatching rake Power dethatcher Leaf rake

Instructions

Dethatching Rake

1. 

   Use the dethatching rake, which works so much better than the power dethatcher does. The rake has strong pointed bars that work the grass as you rake.

2. Use the rake as you would a leaf rake. Put some pressure on the rake so that you loosen all of the dead debris in the grass.

3. Pull the rake toward you. Make sure to cover every inch of the lawn to dethatch. This will leave behind debris in the grass that you will need to clean up.

4. 

   Use a leaf rake to remove all debris from the lawn.

Power Dethatcher

1. Mow the lawn before you dethatch. A shorter lawn will be easier to dethatch.

2. Rent a dethatcher from an equipment rental company. The blades on the dethatcher are vertical and cut into the lawn and sometimes into the soil.

3. Adjust the height of the dethatching blades for your lawn. The blades should be set for you, but you should talk with the rental company to see if the blades are set for the type of grass you have and ask for the instructions on how to set the blades for the type of grass you have to dethatch.

4. Start the dethatcher and mow in a straight line up and down, and then mow across from side to side to fully dethatch the lawn.

5. 

   Use a leaf rake to remove the dead debris from the lawn after you are done.

Tips & Warnings

• After you dethatch your lawn, you might want to fertilize it and reseed it.

References

• Dethatch a Lawn