9 Reasons To Buy A Lawn Scarifier

If you have a lawn in your garden, you want to keep it nice. There’s nothing nicer than a large expanse of green lawn where the kids can play and you can relax. Even well maintained, regularly watered lawns can begin to look brown, dry and not cared for. The main reason for grass to become neglected looking is, it needs scarifying.   

If your grass feels spongy when you walk on it, this is probably caused by a build-up of thatch.

Scarifying your lawn will make it thatch free, allowing the lawn to absorb water, food,and oxygen. The lawn will take around 6 weeks to recover after scarifying because it has to repair itself , and that’s why grass often looks worse straight after being scrified.

Why Buy A Scarifier?

There are many reasons why you should  buy a scarifier the main reasons are:

1  Removes Thatch

Too much thatch build-up weakens grass plants, by stopping enough water and oxygen getting to the roots of the grass.

2 Allow Water To Reach The Grass Roots

Once the thatch has been removed any water can flow freely to the soil and get absorbed by the roots of the grass. When there is too much thatch a lot of that moisture will just evaporate and not be of any benefit to the grass at all. Plus mosses need water to survive so as the moss spreads it deprives the grass of water to increase its own growth.

3 Allows Air To Get To The Grass Roots

As the scarifier cuts holes into the soil, the air can flow freely to the roots of the grass. Too much thatch will prevent the air from reaching the grass.

4 Allows Nutrients To Get To The Grass

Nutrients sit on top of the thatch and cannot travel to the grass roots below, when the thatch is gone, the nutrients travel to the grass plants.

5 Reduces The Chances Of Moss Returning

Once the grass has been scarified, there is less chance of mosses building up again. By removing the moss you remove much of the threadlike rhizoids that moss has for roots, without these moss cannot form.

6 Improves The Condition Of The Lawn

If lawns are getting enough oxygen, sunlight, water and nutrients they will grow healthier, stronger and greener. As scarifiers trim the roots of the grass this encourages more growth making the lawn look better.

7 Refreshes Tired Lawns

A couple of weeks after scarifying the lawn, you will notice a marked improvement in the lawn’s condition. No longer dull and tired looking, but green and verdant.

8 Reduces The Chances Of Weed Growth

 Once the lawn has been scarified, there is less chance of weeds coming back, this is because everytime you can remove a weed before it flowers,you cut down on the number of seeds it can produce.

9 Prepares The Ground For Seeds

By removing thatch and digging the front of the soil, the sacrifier creates the perfect conditions for seeds to grow. If you scarified at the right time (late spring/early summer) the seeds will grow well and be strong enough by autumn to withstand any cold weather spells. 

You can achieve the same effect without a scarifier, but it is much harder work and will take quite a while too. For the first few weeks after scarifying the grass will look like it’s dying. This is normal and will improve over time. Until your new scarified lawn will be so healthy it’ll be hard to remember how bad it was.

Frequently Asked Questions