Thatching & Weed Removal
- 1). Press a measuring stick through your grass to your soil 45 days after your cool- or warm-season grass starts growing. It is important to remove thatch after grass has had time to grow to ensure that your grass can recover from the blades ripping through the grass to remove the thatch. Warm-season grass should be dethatched when night air temperatures have risen to 60 degrees F for two to three weeks. Cool-season grass must be dethatched in the fall when the turf has had time to green up.
- 2). Look at the measuring stick to figure out the height of your thatch buildup. If the thatch level is between 1 to 1 1/2 inches, dethatch twice a year. Avoid removing the entire thatch accumulation at one time if it is over an inch. Dethatch the yard and wait a month to a month an a half to remove the rest.
- 3). Set your power dethatcher's blades to medium. Push the power dethatcher back and forth across the lawn. Rake up the excess thatch and throw it away or burn it.
- 4). Apply a pre-emergent herbicide on the lawn. Walk back and forth the lawn spraying a pre-emergent herbicide that will prevent weed seeds from germinating but will not harm your grass.
- 5). Water the lawn for two weeks to encourage weed growth for spraying a selective herbicide on existing weeds. Use a selective post-emergent herbicide that will not harm your own grass. Reapply the herbicide in 10 days.
