Lawn Scarifers

kah22

I’ve done a major clean up around my house this past few weeks, my attention is now turning to my lawn and putting it into shape.
I live on the top of a hill, my soil is heavy damp clay, the lawn itself is roughly 12x24 meters and is really in need of some TLC. The lawn has never been scarified and is full of moss.  I have thought about clearing the whole lawn, adding drainage but several large mature trees does not make this impractical. To that end I’m trying to figure out: how often should it be scarified each year, and if it needs done at least twice a year is it worth buying outright or renting forthwith occasional weekend
I will be adding sharp sand to it this year to improve the drainage
Thanks for and advice you can offer

Kevin

twopenny

I only used to do it in spring.

Its worth doing it to make a start but the moss will come back.

So scarify in spring and follow with a good nitrogen feed to get the grass growing strongly and squeezing out the moss. You'd be surprised what a difference that makes.

You can do it by hand, light touch is easier and just as rewarding as taking out your agression on it. Unless you are very fit and able do it in parts each day as it quickly becomes mindnumbingly boring. Some music helps

greyteam1959

I have 2 large lawns that I scarify spring & autumn if the weather allows.
If you are going to purchase a scarifier consider the following.
There are basically two types of scarifier.
Those that throw the grass forward into a box & those that throw the grass backwards into a box.
Because I have such a lot of moss I use my backwards throwing machine to go over the lawns then pick up the moss etc with my lawnmower.
You cannot do this with with a forward throw machine as it obviously throw the material into you path.
If you use the box on the scarifier you will only go maybe 5 metres or so before the box is full & you are forever stopping & starting.

Apodemus

Greyteam, that's good advice.  One thing I would add is only to buy a scarifier that has replaceable tines.  On my lawn the tines  don't last long and the cheaper scarifiers very rapidly become bald!

gamston

my lawn has lots of moss, to control it i do this,
apply iron sulphate couple of times to kill as much moss as possible, petrol scarifier (got one from ebay 7 yrs ago) don't run it too low as pulls out too much grass, do it a few times on different days
hollow tine all the lawn ( i've made one from 2 car disc's and metal tube but its hard work) been looking for 2nd hand petrol one from ebay but no luck at my price
reseed when you know its going to rain for a few days (saves watering costs)
i then areator my lawn a few times a year does keep moss down

donemedosh

I scarifie my lawn twice a year spring & autumn. I use an electric unit I got from screwfix a year ago cost under £60 & it does a great job as it has a scarifier (spikes) & an airater (blades). then after scarifieing apply a washed sharp sand/ compost mix (50/50) But as mentioned before Iron sulphate kills the moss & helps the grass go really nice green apply it every 4/6 weeks or a feed & weed of the same type of which there are many. All the previous posts are good sound advice. Last thing is also get the right seed for the conditions your grass is going to grow in. best of luck with your project