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Since your lawn comprises a large part of your property, you’ll want it to enhance its overall health and appearance. It’s worth noting that providing your turf with all the nutrients, water, and mowing it could need won’t ensure a healthy and vibrant lawn. If you want this part of your property to reach its full potential, you should eliminate thatch, pests, diseases, and debris without causing damage to the grass that makes up your turf.A revolutionary landscaping technique called verticutting is the secret to having a lush, damage-resistant lawn. Besides making your grass taller, this method prepares it for seeding, helps it retain moisture, absorb more nutrients, and look its best.
Verticutting, also known as vertical mowing, refers to the process of removing thatch or the intermingled layer of dead grass, stems, debris, and roots that build up between the lawn’s soil and grass. Since verticutting helps your turf breathe better, it ensures that the fresh, young blades of actively growing turfgrass absorb all the nutrients and moisture they need.
Verticutting uses a special landscaping tool called a verticutter. This machine has vertically-oriented blades that cut unto the thatch buildup without damaging healthy grass. It efficiently pulls up the layer of dead mass and brings it to the surface to ensure easy collection and removal from the lawn. Moreover, you can use other techniques such as aerating and dethatching in combination with verticutting to achieve a better outcome and prepare the lawn for overseeding.
Although a certain amount of thatch reduces compression and provides cushioning in high-traffic areas, too much of it can absorb the food, water, and air that the younger turf needs. In addition, thatch kills the beneficial microorganisms living in the soil. Since these microorganisms provide nutrients to the turfgrass, excessive thatch accelerates the process of lawns dying.
A thick layer of thatch is detrimental to your turf’s drainage. Verticutting is an excellent way to improve drainage because it reaches down to remove the thatch, allowing water to seep into the soil.
Too much thatch also makes lawns more vulnerable to insect and disease problems. Several pathogens can survive in the thatch layer, causing leaf spots, dead patches, and melting-out diseases. Eliminating thatch via verticutting reduces disease risk while ensuring lawn grass health and visual appeal.
A lush and strong turfgrass results from a vertical root system that grows deep into the soil. Since verticutting helps create a vertical root system, it prevents the grass roots from growing out to the sides.
Commercial groundskeepers usually use the overseeding tactic to create highly resilient turfgrass. Before the growing season, these experts prime the ground to receive and nurture the extra seeds via verticutting.
Removing thatch through verticutting helps water trickle down into the soil to heal and restore grass and encourage new growth to sprout. As a result, the grass stays lush and green for extended periods.
You may need to verticut when your lawn feels spongy each time you walk across it. The sponginess indicates a thatch buildup that needs to be eliminated. Although you can verticut any time and as often as you prefer, certain times are ideal for verticutting. Experts recommend verticutting at least once a year in the spring or summer to eliminate thatch before the growing season.
An ideal scenario would be hiring professionals to verticut your lawn. However, if you choose to go the DIY route, you’ll want to have the following materials to achieve professional results:
Damp soil will help make the verticutting process easier. For this reason, it’s best to water your lawn two or three days before verticutting. If you’re looking to dethatch your lawn, you’ll want to verticut a few days after it rains lightly.
You’ll want to cut your grass to prepare your lawn for verticutting. Set your lawnmower to the lowest setting. Collect all grass clippings in a bagger or container attached to your mower. You can rake the glass clippings if you don’t have a bagger.
Inspect the entire lawn and remove all objects that may be on the ground or buried in the grass. Otherwise, the verticutter will cause damage to these items when it runs over them. If you can’t pick up particular objects that may constitute an obstruction for your verticutter, be sure to use baking four to mark them. These objects may include sprinkler heads, utility cables, sprinkler lines, and water and gas pipes.
Set the verticutter’s blades to a high setting, around three inches apart from each other if you’re working on turfgrass that isn’t particularly thick. However, if you’re working on dense turfgrass, you should set the blades on a low setting and one inch apart.
Start in one corner, move the verticutter straight to the next corner, and repeat the process until you complete the entire lawn. Go over the lawn’s entire surface on the adjacent side. If your first strip went from east to west, the next one should go from south to north.
Use a rake to push the excess thatch into your tarp before collecting it into garbage bags. You can also use a leaf blower to remove the thatch debris and move it into a clear area.
At this point, the turfgrass is ready to absorb a fertilizing product. You’ll want to use a specially formulated fertilizer for working on lawns instead of the weed-and-feed type. You can jumpstart your turf’s recovery and growth by watering the grass after fertilizing it.
At O’Hara Pest Control, we’re here to help you keep your turfgrass healthy and beautiful. Contact us today to make an appointment.
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