How to Dethatch Bermuda Grass

Bermuda Grass Runners and Seeds

Bermuda grass along with many other varietals of grass can build up an unhealthy layer of dead thatch that prevents nutrients, sunlight and moisture from reaching the roots of your Bermuda lawn, constricting new growth and making the lawn look brown and shabby and occasionally dead. Dethatching rakes with a row of evenly spaced sharpened tines cuts through the built-up thatch and lifts it to the surface for removal. The process can look brutal but the results over time will bring new life and new green to your Bermuda grass lawn. Dethatching should be done in the spring or in the fall well before the threat of frost.

Things You'll Need

• Dethatching rake
• Flexible tine rake
• Trash bin or bags

Instructions

Dethatching the Lawn

1. Pull the dethatching rake through the Bermuda grass lawn with even, chipping like strokes bringing the old dead thatch to the surface in tufts. Cover the entire lawn area in one direction.

2. Make a second pass on the lawn with the dethatching rake pulling at a 90-degree angle to the first pass. This cross hatching second pass loosens and picks up more dead material and gives an evenness to the thinning.

3. Use a flexible-tined rake to gather up all of the loosed thatch debris and discard every last bit you can pick up. This may take a few passes with your rake and some work with your hands but the more dead material that comes up the more space for fresh green blades to grow.

4. Water in the dethatched lawn well with a sprayer on light flow or mist so as not to disturb or wash away any exposed soil. Keep the lawn moderately moist while it recovers.

Tips & Warnings

• After dethatching in the early spring it is a perfect time to lay down new grass seed when soil is exposed. Add aged manure or another gentle fertilizer to the cover soil after seeding for extra enrichment of the remaining soil.

References

• Arizona Master Gardner Manual on dethatching and reseeding.
• Landscape America primer on lawn Thatch