7 DETHATCHING MISTAKES that could RUIN YOUR LAWN 

A little bit late to the party, but just found your channel and subscribed. I am here in Lexington, NC and just over seeded (TTTF.....got some amazing seed for this process). But, before I did that, I dethatched. With an old rake. Man, there was a ton of material (as expected). I will not over seed if I have not done a dethatch before hand. Too much "interference" for the new seed to make that much-needed "seed-to-soil" contact. Your list of seven is spot on. Job well done.

Bruh, if you have a lawn bigger than 500 sqft don’t use a rake haha that work is exhausting!

Great to see you back and stay safe!

This is exactly the advice I needed, thank you!!!

Best video that I’ve watched on this topic by far. I was headed out to dethatch my cool season grass that was wet and I would have hurt it. I’m going to wait until fall now. Thanks

Great clip. Very insightful about the how and the timing; which is extremely helpful.

Oops! I’ve already made some mistakes but now I know. Thanks for the video!

Thank you for the valuable information!

This is the best dethatching video on RU-vid for sure!!! Thanks

Central Texas here - Last year (2023), i was mowing into December. When spring came this year, I had a lot of dead grass because the clippings didn't break down.

Very good points. Never thought about weeds and their seeds. Thanks

Perfect video brother! Your lawn is looking crazy good my friend!!! 😊🤙🏾

I use a green works & it is absolutely fabulous. We have some lawn mowing people around here that use a rake behind a rider & they do a horrible job & it does literally nothing as they whizz around the yard super fast.

Perfect! Answered all my questions.

Great info. Thanks!

Extremely helpful video!

The electric sun Joe scarifier works great!!

I also have the Greenworks dethatcher. Love it! Highly recommended.

Thanks for the great tips!

Great video! I learned a lot.

My first year doing lawn work I had nothing but weeds and dirt. I verticut the whole lawn in fall and I was mowing nice full thick grass early April the next year.

Great tips. Thank you for this information

Thanks. Many things I had not thought of.😊

Great video! In my area in Wi, people are absolutely obsessed with dethatching in early-early spring. They all use the “power rake blades” on their mowers and tear the crap out of their yards. If I dethatch, I do it in fall to avoid the weed pressure like you mentioned. The old timers look at me like I’m the crazy one lol.

Great video!

I dethatched this year, oh how my grass looks good now. Of course its been fairly rainy last 6 weeks and not to hot. And I did fertilize not long afterwards.

Great video 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Great video! I'm in northern Illinois and have a couple of areas that are thinner and there's some matted dead material preventing growth that I want to get rid of. It has been annoying and I want to dethatch. BUT, you mentioned the preemergent issue, which I put down in mid to late April. Also, neighbors nearby all but ignore their yard and, naturally, have dandelions and other weeds (that pesky common violet) everywhere. So opening up that soil may not be a best bet. Based on your recommendation, I will wait until fall, when I also plan to core aerate anyway. So, thanks for the info.

I’m causing a major thatch issue on my front lawn. As there is no power at this house and no gas mower, I’m using a trimmer to cut the lawn. I know it’s bad. But it’s what I can do for now. If I actually live there, I hope to replace the lawn with ground cover next year anyway.

Great hat... love from Chicago

Keep them coming 🤛!

The Man is BACK! 🔥🔥🔥🔥😎

#5 is why I'm going to wait until Fall, unless I can somehow zap weeds ASAP first. Good video.

NICE! I just bought the green works dethatcher 😊 I’m planning on dethatching, then laying down weed and feed, then seeding over my existing lawn… which is barely existing since the last owners used a grass type that cannot handle the sun and heat that my lawn deals with. Thank you so much for the info! ☺️

One mistake you left out was leaving the dethatcher outside overnight in the rain. I'm totally not speaking from experience here. Definitely didn't just do this yesterday...

Nice video. Great info for a homeowner. Im in Wisconsin and the "terminology" dethatching is what it called however most people dont really know or have seen true thatch. The process to break that down is with a vertical mower by verticutting or scarifier. Both are destructive processes but should only be used when true thatch is found. True thatch can be deceptive however the best way to simply describe it is by having grass try to grow thru a wool blanket on the ground. The blanket is the true thatch that really cant be effectively broken up by spring tine methods. True thatch is usually over 1/2" thick and sits below the crown and on top of the soil layer. It prevents sun, moisture and fertilizer from doing the job intended. What is mostly done here under the umbrella word of dethatching is basically a raking of the lawn by mechanical methods. Its more of a visual but some of the debris that isnt true thatch is lifted and can be vacuumed and removed making a lawn look combed and visually appealing after a winter where the top layer is pressed down from the snow. I do agree that true dethatching should be done when active growing is happening. However this type of work that is done here can be done in early spring when new chutes are just getting started. Obviously frozen or wet ground is a no go. I have been doing this commercially here for 28 years and the dethatching and spring clean time is crazy and also profitable from a commercial operators viewpoint. Thanks for sharing the good info for the homeowner.

Great video , Love my sun joe it does the job

I plan to dethatch in late Summer/Early Fall. I also plan to plug my lawn and over seed at the same time. Is this recommended? Also, what blend fertilizer would you recommend after all of that? I live in Central Va. Thanks!!

Great timing on this video. I've been chopping at the bit to get out and dethatch knowing its to early. I heard someone say you should mow 2 time before you do it in the spring. Mow alittle lower that 2nd time and only do it if its pretty dry. Gonna do I light dethatch this Spring and then really get after it in the Early Fall.

Good. What about the discussing what types of lawns can be detached. For example, can a detacher be used on st Augustine lawn? Thank you.

Yes! Thank you. I do this every odd year!

Great video very helpful! And your arm movements are just perfect, very natural.

GREAT VIDEO!! I did Zeon Zoysia sod last summer and its starting to come out of its first dormancy. But i dont understand the process. Are the grassblades themselves grass changing color or is new grass growing up past the old grass that went dormant? And if so do sunjoe the old grass once the grass is all the way green again. Right now its just green in spots and im scared to do anything. 😢😢😢. I think myblawn company already did pre emergebt too.

My personal mistake #8: Not wearing PPE. My greenworks dethatcher tore up so much dead grass (scorched grass that didn't come back after winter) and the wind blew it in my face, I ended up with a very bad respiratory infection that lasted 3 weeks (+2 more weeks with a cough). Doc said there may have been fertilizer or bacteria in it that I inhaled too much of. ...#9, If you have uneven ground, dips or holes, the tines of the dethatcher will go deeper than expected if a wheel dips and brings the cylinder closer to the ground. I ended up scalping a few spots :(

great content. thank you

I dethatched lightly yesterday June 26 on cool season grass It is going to rain on and off for the next week. I have an established lawn with good soil amendment. I expect it will look normal in about a week. The lawn spent the last 3 weeks trying to go to seed, so I have a lot of yellow sticks in the lawn, compared to before. I also had some water penetration issues and whenever that happens the grass grows sideways and then starts to choke itself out. I now have a wetting agent I put down to stop that from happening, but when it does, I have to remove some of the dying grass so the other stuff will grow.

Good tips

I live in KS and we are renting the house we are in now. It has a lot of thatch and just hasn’t been taken care of. Would it be safe to thatch this time of year or wait?

Can I de-thatch any time of the year? Will a drag behind a tractor de-thatcher do a good job? I see lot of dead grass covering the green yard.

I had new sod installed with a new home build 1 month ago, they didn't water it at all and it was during the hottest 2 weeks of the year, constantly over 100+ every single day. 80% of the grass is dead. How to best get rid of dead grass to prep to replace with new seeds etc.? Is dethatching the way to go? I already have a machine.

I don't get thatch in tall fescue but the kbg section has hella thatch. Like a wool rug. Is this from not bagging the clippings or just the nature of kbg growing style? Thanks in advance.

Thank you. New subscriber ❤

The hat is priceless.

Ah the memories, my first year of home ownership I dethatched, aerated, and overseeded in late May when it was 96 outside. And then I bagged every blade of grass with my non-mulching mower.

🔥tips bro! i remember when i was a beginner, i dethatched in summer 😂 needless to say, i learned my lesson haha

You didn't mention those pull behind dethatchers you attach to the back of a tractor?? What are your thoughts on those?

Another reason to avoid de-thatching after a pre-emergent is that right after dethatching is a great time to put some new seed. There is a pre-emergent called Tenacity (gen. mesotrione) that will allow new turfgrass seeds to germinate but still stops crabgrass and broadleaf weeds.

Hi.. please, in what order do i do these: dethatch, aerate, herbicide, insecticide, weed and feed? I got weeds, thatch and i got ants all on my lawn, and the silly ant trap i bought doesn't seem to do shit. Thanks

I live in North Florida and have st. Augustine grass. I have heard dethatching is bad for st. Augustine. Is this true?

how long after applying pr-emergent should a person wait. example we have lots of rain since it was applied.

Hi there. Love your videos. Your lawn is beautiful! Do you roll it annually or more then once a year? Your lawn looks like a golf course! Thanks

This guy knows his 💩💩💩! Very informative!!!

This is a great, informative video. One of the hottest men on RU-vid is a lawn care expert.

Great info - love the videos. U may have mentioned before, but what type of grass do u have?

I live in Quebec Canada. I have clay soil so it’s always humid… I’m not sure what I have to do

What fertilizer

What height should the grass be when dethaching? I am dethaching this week in Boston area. Plus aeration and overseeding. I am shooting for 2.5 inches cut of height. Hopefully that is low enough. Thanks. Also will use starter fertilizer after overseeding. Going to try Andersons starter fertilizer.

Thanks for the video. We live in the Central Valley of CA where we have multiple 100⁰+ days in summer. Our lawn is 35-40 yrs old. Is dethatching enough? The lawn is looking sparse in some areas. Thanks

Perfect video for beginners like me 1. Can you tell us some tips on watering when seeding / weed feed/ during fertilizers 2. Your lawn looks pro level like some hard cut precisely :) What is your lawn mower model

Like the video. Do you cut the lawn before you Dethatch?

What about the dethacher that is pulled behind a garden tractor or ATV??

I dethatched yesterday in Buffalo NY, so I’m going to over-seed and can I fertilize same day? Ty!

Great video! What fertilizer you suggest after detached lawn?

Which fertilizer do you recommend for cool season grass post dethatching ? Thanks!

@Lakehouse Lawn Care We are growing grass from seed on a half acre property, we grew most of the grass from scratch in fall last year and then year we're getting started early in spring with top dress and more seed trying to fill in all the missing patches where soil is still visible. When should we fertilize new growth, should we give it a year growing on it's own to try and establish it before fertilizing. Last year we put fertilizer on too early and lots of the grass turned red, I'm assuming we burnt it with the fertilizer.

I want to aerate, seed and then fertilize my lawn now. However, I have noticed we have lots of weeds. What is the best way to address getting rid of the weeds prior to aerating? What do I do with the dead weeds, as I do not want to pick them or have them spread further during aeration process. I appreciate your earliest response.

I have about 1200 sq ft and its absolutely backbreaking to try and use a dethatching rake😢

Another terrific video.....I have two large blue spruce trees which drop needles everywhere. Do you have any suggestions on how to handle that situation? By the way, you're invited to visit Ottawa, Canada to help with my lawn. There'll be a terrific Italian meal involved as my wife is a wonderful cook!!! Cheers.

What's the best fertilizer to use after detaching in the fall I'm in Ohio

Instead of lakehouse lawn you need to change it to GQ Lawn. My dude is always on point with the style!

I live in northeast. I should NOT dethatch now before I apply pre- emerg? Thank you.

Just rent one. Saves you time!!

I’m doing this for the first time in March-April. What fertilizer do you recommend after the detaching? Got the greens works off Amazon.

On the green work dethacher what setting do you use

Southside for life SODfather!

If I de-thatch with a sunjoe, can I use the mulching blade to mulch the thatch or must the thatch be removed?

After you dethatch, can you apply weed killer if you have a lot of weeds and then apply fertilizer weeks after the week killer?

I think a mistake I made was setting the machine all the way down last fall. Now I’m battling poa

Sorry for a maybe stupid question but how do I figure out what gras I have? I am completely new to the topic and just bought a house (South PA)

So dethatching my lawn this week would not be good for tue grass? I should wait until early fall?

Can I dethatch my lawn during early fall? I have grubs which has made dead grass spots in my lawn. I tried moving the dead grass and see grubs underneath.

After Dethatching, can I use weed and feed, in addition spreading seed (Bermuda)? We were hammered out in Texas and the yard was not taken care of by the prior owner. I had planned on dethatching, then aerating (I have two attachments for the riding lawn mower), then dropping weed and feed and concluding with spreading seed. I had planned on doing this on the same weekend as other individuals suggested but this is not my area competency and I am searching for accurate information. Thanks

You said to put down fertilizer after you thatch what if you want to reseed also.

Where’d you get that toro hoodie?

I heard you’re not supposed to rake up the thatch when you’re done, is that true? I noticed he blew it into a pile once the dead material was at the surface.

Is it going to be a long Summer for the Sox?

Is it necessary to dethach if the plug aeration is used?

Thatch is subsoil . Only a scarifier will remove thatch.What you refer to as a detacher is power raking for surface debris

I'll admit. I've never dethatched, so thank you.

I have lots of weed on my lawn, should I spray it down with herbicide and wait a few weeks before dethatching or dethatch first and then spray the weeds?