Colorado here, thanks for the great demonstration and explanation. I have used the blade attachment and although it worked well it also destroyed some of my lawn. I did not know how to judge if it needed dethtatching until seeing this, and should not have used it everywhere. Same thing with aeration, as I found you do not need to do it every year in these drought t conditions. Much appreciated.
Nice one John. I'll be referring people to it because Im tired of speaking the same words to dozens of people weekly 😄 Edit: sidenote, I once couldnt sell a total renovation so I my core aerator shallow enough to just poke holes in a seriously thatch plagued lawn deep enough to barely touch soil, if at all. Went over it maybe 6 or 7 times. Didnt add anything except some seed, and nutrients, since I removed minimal soil. It popped, and by the following spring the un-plugged areas thatch layer was 'normal'. I love when thatch eats itself, seriously. Even a month later the lawn looking good.
Thanks for this. I'm in Florida and was thinking about de thatching, but the dewpoints are starting to get up there and I think everything will break down on its own.
I plan to renovate my lawn at the end of the summer a bit, dethatch,/scarify overseed and top dress.... would you recommend dethatch and scarify or one or the other? I was planning to scarify for sure to get the seed down, but was wondering if i should dethatch first to clean up lawn debris etc. thanks in advance
I think you’re asking the head in your SunJoe to do more than it’s meant for. If you’re trying to get deeper down you need to put in the heavier bladed dethatching head, not the rake head. You also have about 6 tines left on that thing. I’m on my second SunJoe in 3 years. No fault of the machine. I was using mine for grading my back yard. I beat the hell out of it. If you watch Robbie from Premier Lawns out of Northern Ireland, he always uses a commercial grade dethatcher which removes huge amounts of debris. Big fan!
I agree with this comment but I couldn’t really compare tine to tine. The sunjoe does what it’s intended for and the worse the problem, the bigger the equipment need. This is truly just an example of the two, not one being better than the other.
Love the new graphics and the fancy video editing of the two “JPs” working side by side. 😊 Thanks for sharing. We are getting warm out here now- 80’s this week. Cool season grass here- I dethatched in the fall. I may need to wait and do again in fall. Any issue with that?
I just don't ever get a thatch layer nor debris buildup, and I think I would kinda like at least some? ...I mulch mow everything back into the lawn, and have a lower pH; so it's like the grass cannibalizes itself? anyway, most of my lawn areas/types came back with a bang this spring(short mowed fall and timed the last fert just right, and then short in spring with just a light raking starting really early almost two months ago now) and was all dark green and thick with hardly any dead or dormant grass blades(slight bit of snow mold and 'mushy' grass that rotted away) which seemed different? maybe it is that we had kinda weird snow cover this year(really only two snows that stuck, and they were both a foot deep) but right now we keep going from either dry and hot(70F to 80F) to wet and cold(down to light snows still) which somehow is making my grass grow like crazy in Iowa - like I'm trying to mow twice a week, which sometimes I can't if it is too wet, and now I've had to raise the cut up ... nothing done on the main lawns yet, no fert/weed, water, nor dethatch/verticut, just mowing as often as possible ... so starting to wonder what would happen if I just "let everything go" for a year? and used no products or even over seeding and just mowed, but then I can tell one area is looking like it wants some N already; altho if I let the lawn 'sober up' and clean out, I wouldn't give it anything without a soil test to make sure it really needs it ...idk, just a strange early spring for me so far - I'm assuming everything will get back to normal May/June and then a sun baked drought will hit hard again starting in July until late Oct like last year
The biggest issue here is just the length of time under snow. We had coverage for 5 months this year, 6 months last year. The cleanup portion isn’t really needed. Just starting off mowing works great around here. The biggest contributor to the debris is the snow mold. Even that recovers on its own quickly but if I want to get the lawn moving toward health faster, the more standing dead I remove the better. The golf green has snow mold too, but the turf is green as hell and growing. I’m going to “fix” part of it and let the rest be natural and see what happens
I seen a video from Pete the other day and he was using a verticutter on his bluegrass, it also bagged it while cutting, I suppose that would work well if a person had access to that too? As always, a great video JP
@@Lawncology I wish I knew who, around here had one? I used my groundskeeper rake and raked through my front yard several weeks ago! That sucks but I did get several piles of thatch out of it! Pete said you wouldn’t want to use it on TTTF which I have 85% of and the rest is KBG .
So I can use my electric dethatcher in the Spring and Fall year after year if I just want to clean up dead material off the soil? Second, can I do that even if the turf has come out of dormancy and is growing without damaging the turf?
I think maybe you should have used the scarifying blade that would have gotten down to the soil a little better and I think pulled out more more thatch than debris.
I got the sunjoe it's a bit of a pain I have to slowly bring my TTTF to about 2 inches but it rips alot of good blades I'm on the fence if i should cut lower but I dnt wanna destroy the fescue going to low
Can detaching run the risk of churning up dormant weed seeds, like poa or anything else unwanted that is dormant in the soil? If so, what would you suggest to combat this? A rookie DIYer asking. Thanks in advance.
I suppose it’s possible but the risk is worth the reward. Doing this will thicken up the grass and in all the years I’ve been doing it, I still haven’t put down a pre-M or post-m on my lawn. If you did get poa break though, grab some Velocity.
Funny you ask. I actually went over it three times. After what I shot, I did a couple other things that are coming up in videos as well. I also ran the scarifier attachment and I will consider my dose with that and the mower blade as well.
Expecting some lawn destruction with my newly purchased dethatching mower blade this weekend 😁 There's way too much of a spongy, interwoven layer of old brown grass that is choking the new growth. Added to that, an increasing growth of moss across the lawn thanks to the seemingly never ending wet warm weather we're having in the UK this year so far. It's an old, well used lawn that has had minimal maintenance over the years. Guess I could just rip it all out and start again but like the challenge of trying to improve what is there already.
I can’t make that decision for anyone all I can do is provide pros and cons to each. Irrigreen pros: Water savings Simple install Flexible application Smart watering Ability to add standard stations to timer (for drops etc.) Cons More expensive up front Setup takes some fine tuning Parts are not readily available Standard irrigation pros Inexpensive, Easily fixed or replaced Many combinations of spray heads available Cons Less efficient More labor intensive install Will over water and over spray More heads and lines to worry about
Colorado here, thanks for the great demonstration and explanation. I have used the blade attachment and although it worked well it also destroyed some of my lawn. I did not know how to judge if it needed dethtatching until seeing this, and should not have used it everywhere. Same thing with aeration, as I found you do not need to do it every year in these drought t conditions. Much appreciated.
The mower blades are vicious. I’d say use with caution for sure
Nice one John. I'll be referring people to it because Im tired of speaking the same words to dozens of people weekly 😄
Edit: sidenote, I once couldnt sell a total renovation so I my core aerator shallow enough to just poke holes in a seriously thatch plagued lawn deep enough to barely touch soil, if at all. Went over it maybe 6 or 7 times. Didnt add anything except some seed, and nutrients, since I removed minimal soil. It popped, and by the following spring the un-plugged areas thatch layer was 'normal'. I love when thatch eats itself, seriously. Even a month later the lawn looking good.
Great explanation of the thatch I use my Sun Joe every spring and fall aggressively 2-3 full passes it does make a difference
Thanks for this. I'm in Florida and was thinking about de thatching, but the dewpoints are starting to get up there and I think everything will break down on its own.
Yeah, unless you have zoysia, don’t do it.
I plan to renovate my lawn at the end of the summer a bit, dethatch,/scarify overseed and top dress.... would you recommend dethatch and scarify or one or the other? I was planning to scarify for sure to get the seed down, but was wondering if i should dethatch first to clean up lawn debris etc. thanks in advance
I think you’re asking the head in your SunJoe to do more than it’s meant for. If you’re trying to get deeper down you need to put in the heavier bladed dethatching head, not the rake head. You also have about 6 tines left on that thing.
I’m on my second SunJoe in 3 years. No fault of the machine. I was using mine for grading my back yard. I beat the hell out of it.
If you watch Robbie from Premier Lawns out of Northern Ireland, he always uses a commercial grade dethatcher which removes huge amounts of debris.
Big fan!
I agree with this comment but I couldn’t really compare tine to tine. The sunjoe does what it’s intended for and the worse the problem, the bigger the equipment need. This is truly just an example of the two, not one being better than the other.
Love the new graphics and the fancy video editing of the two “JPs” working side by side. 😊 Thanks for sharing.
We are getting warm out here now- 80’s this week.
Cool season grass here- I dethatched in the fall. I may need to wait and do again in fall. Any issue with that?
Not at all
I’ve always swapped in the ‘scarifier’ head on the SunJoe and do a final pass with the raking tines after and it pulls quite a bit of thatch.
I agree, but I can’t really compare tines that way. I think the sunjoe is just fine, but for more aggressive needs, get more aggressive equipment
Sunjoe looks like it did a better job😊
@@DR-rx4lk it does just fine work. Even with the scarifier head it does less damage to over all turf than the blade does
I just don't ever get a thatch layer nor debris buildup, and I think I would kinda like at least some?
...I mulch mow everything back into the lawn, and have a lower pH; so it's like the grass cannibalizes itself?
anyway, most of my lawn areas/types came back with a bang this spring(short mowed fall and timed the last fert just right, and then short in spring with just a light raking starting really early almost two months ago now) and was all dark green and thick with hardly any dead or dormant grass blades(slight bit of snow mold and 'mushy' grass that rotted away) which seemed different? maybe it is that we had kinda weird snow cover this year(really only two snows that stuck, and they were both a foot deep) but right now we keep going from either dry and hot(70F to 80F) to wet and cold(down to light snows still) which somehow is making my grass grow like crazy in Iowa - like I'm trying to mow twice a week, which sometimes I can't if it is too wet, and now I've had to raise the cut up ... nothing done on the main lawns yet, no fert/weed, water, nor dethatch/verticut, just mowing as often as possible ... so starting to wonder what would happen if I just "let everything go" for a year? and used no products or even over seeding and just mowed, but then I can tell one area is looking like it wants some N already; altho if I let the lawn 'sober up' and clean out, I wouldn't give it anything without a soil test to make sure it really needs it
...idk, just a strange early spring for me so far - I'm assuming everything will get back to normal May/June and then a sun baked drought will hit hard again starting in July until late Oct like last year
The biggest issue here is just the length of time under snow. We had coverage for 5 months this year, 6 months last year. The cleanup portion isn’t really needed. Just starting off mowing works great around here. The biggest contributor to the debris is the snow mold. Even that recovers on its own quickly but if I want to get the lawn moving toward health faster, the more standing dead I remove the better. The golf green has snow mold too, but the turf is green as hell and growing. I’m going to “fix” part of it and let the rest be natural and see what happens
I already put some pre emergent and a little fert down in the lawn. If I were to do a dethatch now, would I have to reapply?
Doubtful as your material should get down into the soil further than what would happen here
Great video. Love that dethatch rotary blade for cool season types, but I won’t ever use it on my st. Aug. looks like it would totally annihilate it.
It would be bad.
No pain, no gain!
😆😆😭
I seen a video from Pete the other day and he was using a verticutter on his bluegrass, it also bagged it while cutting, I suppose that would work well if a person had access to that too? As always, a great video JP
Verticutters are great tools
@@Lawncology I wish I knew who, around here had one? I used my groundskeeper rake and raked through my front yard several weeks ago! That sucks but I did get several piles of thatch out of it! Pete said you wouldn’t want to use it on TTTF which I have 85% of and the rest is KBG .
@@gerryhenning7337 it wouldn’t help with fescue
@@Lawncology I get it! No rhizomes, it would just make it look horrible?! Lol
You have a fairly new lawn. Why is there that much thatch so soon? Thanks for sharing
There’s isn’t much. 1/2” is pretty healthy. The stuff coming off is just winter kill and whatever else it’s ripping ip
That’s a great idea with the Dthatch mower, blade . Do you know if they make it for a Honda mower? 👍🏻🇺🇸🇺🇸
Yes, universal
@@Lawncology Thank you sir.👍🏻
So I can use my electric dethatcher in the Spring and Fall year after year if I just want to clean up dead material off the soil? Second, can I do that even if the turf has come out of dormancy and is growing without damaging the turf?
I think maybe you should have used the scarifying blade that would have gotten down to the soil a little better and I think pulled out more more thatch than debris.
I would have but it’s two different tools and I still may do that while the grass isn’t fully growing to get a comparison for everyone
Better wash up with a pileahose 👊🏻great video!
I have someone coming out on Saturday to dethatch. Did I wait too long? My lawn is probably 70% out of dormancy out here in tooly
Nah, you’ll be fine
If planning on doing a fall reno, would you recommend dethatching at that time instead of spring?
If you’re starting over, it’s a good time
I got the sunjoe it's a bit of a pain I have to slowly bring my TTTF to about 2 inches but it rips alot of good blades I'm on the fence if i should cut lower but I dnt wanna destroy the fescue going to low
never on fescue
@@kensurratt3045 its definitely a challenge I might just kill it all off due to a ton of poa triv and go with PR
Can detaching run the risk of churning up dormant weed seeds, like poa or anything else unwanted that is dormant in the soil? If so, what would you suggest to combat this? A rookie DIYer asking. Thanks in advance.
I suppose it’s possible but the risk is worth the reward. Doing this will thicken up the grass and in all the years I’ve been doing it, I still haven’t put down a pre-M or post-m on my lawn. If you did get poa break though, grab some Velocity.
When would it be appropriate to use the D-Thatch product?
Summer is best, or very late spring through summer
Did you do 2 passes w mower and 1 w sunjoe?
Funny you ask. I actually went over it three times. After what I shot, I did a couple other things that are coming up in videos as well. I also ran the scarifier attachment and I will consider my dose with that and the mower blade as well.
Expecting some lawn destruction with my newly purchased dethatching mower blade this weekend 😁
There's way too much of a spongy, interwoven layer of old brown grass that is choking the new growth. Added to that, an increasing growth of moss across the lawn thanks to the seemingly never ending wet warm weather we're having in the UK this year so far.
It's an old, well used lawn that has had minimal maintenance over the years. Guess I could just rip it all out and start again but like the challenge of trying to improve what is there already.
Start high and work your way down!
@@Lawncology Will do. Just hoping the mower has enough height adjustment 🤞
Ha! I beat Striperman 😎
Something must be wrong!
He’s out making stripes?! lol 🔥🔥
@jaymetheaccountant The mighty have fallen 😂👍🏻💚🦸
@@gerryhenning7337Its almost go time for me 👍🏻💚🦸
@@LawncologyIts too early in the season 😂 👍🏻💚🦸
Boy I miss the intro music😊
Which one? On the lawn or the older one?
@@Lawncology probably the one you were using 3yrs ago. Example is your 150k subscriber giveaway vid.
Half your tines are gone on the sun Joe 😆. It didn't stand a chance!
Meh, just laid over 😂
Im going to get irrigation. Would you get a normal system or irrigreen ? @Lawncology
I can’t make that decision for anyone all I can do is provide pros and cons to each.
Irrigreen pros:
Water savings
Simple install
Flexible application
Smart watering
Ability to add standard stations to timer (for drops etc.)
Cons
More expensive up front
Setup takes some fine tuning
Parts are not readily available
Standard irrigation pros
Inexpensive,
Easily fixed or replaced
Many combinations of spray heads available
Cons
Less efficient
More labor intensive install
Will over water and over spray
More heads and lines to worry about