lawn full of moss

hwalkerh

Hi,

My front lawn is full of moss, we have put two lots of moss killer on i spent hours raking it out but it doesn't seem much better, there is still so much moss in it and now it even looks patchy.

Any tips? Should i put more moss killer on? Put some feed on the lawn? put lawn seed on?

Any help and advice would be great

Kay_Peel

There was a short piece On Gardeners' World (BBC 2, Friday, 17th April) which is available BBC Iplayer and is well worth a look. The 'lawn expert' from the Royal Horticultural society demonstrated how to tackle moss. I had been doing the first and second step that he recommended, but he went further:

Get a fork.

Stab it into the middle of the moss and gently lift up the spit of turf. This way, you'll improve the drainage and get some air down to the roots. Go over the worst bits of the lawn, putting your fork into the turf for about 2-3 inches and keep lifting the turf.

Put your weedkiller on the lawn. Wait until the moss has gone black, then rake it off. Don't worry if you've got bald patches and it looks unsightly - it will get going again.

That's the bit that I do, but he added further steps:

He went over the lawn with an electric scarifier. This got rid of all the deep down compacted thatch and moss.

He finished off with some lawn sand and 'top dressing'.

If you've been raking the moss away and applying mosskiller then you are more than half way there. You just need to add the constant aerating of the lawn with a fork and consider whether its worth buying/hiring a really good scarifier.

Good luck!

dane-katie

I was told nitrogen was good for it, we put it on our lawn and it helps the grass grow and seems to control the moss, but i wouldnt know where to get it from, we use it from what goes on our land with the farmers.

red-boxer

I wouldn't put anymore moss killer on it for about 4-6 weeks after the first application. What did you use? We tend to use a 3 in 1 (weed, feed and moss killer), i use wilko's own make £6ish and find it very good, just needs the 1 application to do what it says on the packet. I also use a push along spreader so that i get even distribution, and if it doesn't rain within 48 hours i water it in. I leave it until all the moss turns black and then rake it out.

red-boxer

Quote: Stab it into the middle of the moss and gently lift up the spit of turf. This way, you'll improve the drainage and get some air down to the roots. Go over the worst bits of the lawn, putting your fork into the turf for about 2-3 inches and keep lifting the turf.


I tried this a few weeks ago, and where i had lifted the turf the grass died of, and i was left with little squares of dead lawn, i've since had to reseed that half. I must have lifted the turf a bit too much, as this same technique was recommended to me by the groundsman/pitch keeper of the towns local football ground.

Kay_Peel

red-boxer wrote: »

I tried this a few weeks ago, and where i had lifted the turf the grass died of, and i was left with little squares of dead lawn, i've since had to reseed that half. I must have lifted the turf a bit too much, as this same technique was recommended to me by the groundsman/pitch keeper of the towns local football ground.

I know what you mean!

I started spiking and lifting the turf last Autumn. My lawn began to look wavy and uneven - as if something was burrowing underneath it. When the frosts and snow came the dips and peaks worried me a bit, but (to my astonishment) I could just reach down and pick whole handfuls of moss off the lawn. They came away easily in my hand - but left huge bald patches. :eek:

But I didn't have to use a rake, weedkiller or a scarifier because I could just pick it off in lumps. Very weird. :rotfl:I got whole bags of it for my hanging baskets. And now the grass is growing over the bald patches, so I don't have to re-seed.

I'm definitely going to do the same this Autumn.

Zanderman

hwalkerh wrote: »

Hi,

My front lawn is full of moss, we have put two lots of moss killer on i spent hours raking it out but it doesn't seem much better, there is still so much moss in it and now it even looks patchy.

Any tips?

Why kill the moss at all? A mix of moss and grass is, actually, just fine for most purposes, and can even be harder-wearing than the 'perfect' lawn. No moss-killing - no bald patches. No need to repair bald-patches. Simples! And much cheaper. You may not agree of course, but that's my tip!

And do bear in mind that all those lawn feed, moss-killing, patch-packs chemicals, tools and seeds are just ways of making you spend more money (not very MSE at all). The lawn maintenance industry is just like the food industry, the home laundry industry and the cosmetics industry - always coming up with products to do things you don't really need to do. And never wanted to do before you heard of their product.

Moss management is a relatively new thing - and we're being encouraged to do it by manufacturers. We never worried about moss int' lawn when I were a lad - and we (and the lawn) survived perfectly well...

knithryn

A warning about the lawn scarifier machines. I got one.
My lawn was terrified as well as scarified. Yes it removed all the moss (huge amounts of it) - it also cut the grass very short and the whole thing looked .... well... 'rough'. It takes a good 6 weeks after that for the lawn to look decent again. Having said that, that was last year, and it doesn't need to be done this year as it was so well sorted last year! I shall be giving it the garden-fork aeration treatment and a good feed though.

conradmum

Zanderman wrote: »

Why kill the moss at all? A mix of moss and grass is, actually, just fine for most purposes, and can even be harder-wearing than the 'perfect' lawn. No moss-killing - no bald patches. No need to repair bald-patches. Simples! And much cheaper. You may not agree of course, but that's my tip!

And do bear in mind that all those lawn feed, moss-killing, patch-packs chemicals, tools and seeds are just ways of making you spend more money (not very MSE at all). The lawn maintenance industry is just like the food industry, the home laundry industry and the cosmetics industry - always coming up with products to do things you don't really need to do. And never wanted to do before you heard of their product.

Moss management is a relatively new thing - and we're being encouraged to do it by manufacturers. We never worried about moss int' lawn when I were a lad - and we (and the lawn) survived perfectly well...

I agree with you. Also, let's not forget that the reason the moss is growing there is because the conditions are better suited to moss than grass - probably slightly shady and damp. Unless the whole area is dug up and the drainage improved, the moss will just return year after year, no matter what you do.

Any lawn will gradually become a mixture of grass and other plants that grow well in that situation and that can withstand constant cutting. This is normal and the biodiversity is good for your garden as it provides good conditions for a variety of invertebrates. Maintaining a lawn that's pure grass is labour-intensive and expensive, and I can think of a lot more interesting things to do in the garden!

In Japan, they grow lawns of moss and pick out the grass.

Zanderman

conradmum wrote: »

Maintaining a lawn that's pure grass is labour-intensive and expensive, and I can think of a lot more interesting things to do in the garden!

Couldn't agree more! So many people spend so much time, and money, on their lawns, and so little time on actual gardening.

What really depresses me is the amount of time and money spent on front lawns that are, because they're at the front, never, ever, sat on or used - so why bother with the unnecessary tlc?

Just a quick cut every fortnight would do. (BTW, I'm not getting at the OP here, for all I know his/her front lawn is in regular use)

hwalkerh

Thanks for everyones help and advise. I think i might leave it now it has had one treatment.

To be honest i like gardening but more about plants then lawns. We live next to my partners 86yr old nan, and the lawn runs across in front both houses. She put the moss killer on so i felt i had to rake it out for her.

I am a bit confused why the moss seams to have taken over in the last couple of years. The lawn has the sun all day and it so dry underneath i am surprised it stays green, i wouldn't have thought the moss liked it.