How to Scarify a Lawn - The Complete Guide 

Hey Matt got the same cobra. Fantastic scarifier. I scarified with it a couple of weeks ago and overseeded. Went a bit heavy with the scarifier but got a lot out. New seeds coming through after 14 days. Great video Matt. I also have the dark green all American seed which I used to overseed. Thanks for all your help.

I wish my experience was as pleasant as that seemed to be. Just spent six hours doing our small back garden and it’s nearly killed me. It’s a new build, with really rubbish clayey soil. We’ve been here about eight years and 2 years ago I scarified, over seeded and added top soil but it made very little improvement so I lost heart and have just kept mowing and weeding but the thatch and moss have overwhelmed the grass and it’s like walking on a big sponge in places, so I decided on the one decent day of weather we’ve had all year to give it another go. I have a Vonhaus electric scarifier and it’s not the greatest but all I could afford at the time and it does a decentish job. Gave it four passes and raked it up and while there was a lot to collect and bag up it was fine. Now one thing I was told is that when you’ve scarified, you really need to aerate the lawn to help with the seeds setting and water getting into the soil, but do I have an aerator..do I hell. So it was the garden fork……..im telling you now if there is a hell one of the punishments is to fork a lawn for eternity, cos that what this felt like. Two hours it took me to create what must have been 15000 holes. I’m not an old man but sat here on the settee I feel it. Every part of my body aches. My Fitbit tells me I’ve done 25000 steps and burned 4600 calories. I’m sat watching some nonsense on the tele and Match of the Day is on but I can’t bear to move to get the remote to change the channel. When I finally overseeded, put on the top soil (£2.50 a bag on offer at Wickes at the moment down from £4.00) and watered I was in such a state of delirium I collapsed into a chair. So the moral of this story is, if you’re thinking of buying a Scarifier…..get one with an aerator. You’ll thank me I promise.

Thank you for this very informative tutorial! This systematic approach gives me a lot of much needed information.

I bought a scarifier and it's the most satisfying thing ever. I did about ten passes and the stuff kept coming. My wife thinks I'm crazy as i was in the garden for 3 hours

Great video as per usual. We’ve missed you Matt!

Pretty informative video man! Thanks

Fantastic, very instructive

Great video as always! What heights? What height did you cut the lawn? Were all passes of the scarifier on the highest level or did you decrease the height and what to? I did mine with a similar device, cut on the lowest and scarified on the lowest, was savage, pre seed fertilised and then over seeded, came back amazingly, had a couple of patches. Did this in the spring so treated the patches accordingly.

Good to see you again matt 👍🏻

Great video Matt. It gives a very thorough explanation of why we need to do this. Keep the videos coming.

Could you explain as to what depth/height this should be set to. Also why’s the power life for the battery? Can it be used with a mains cable?

Espectacular, gracias por el video

Great video, i am about to do this myself. Can i ask is it ok to put a weed treatment down before i do this as i have quite alot of weeds on my lawn?

Hi I've purchased your dark green lawn feed and was wondering if I can use this directly after scarification,seeding and top dressing

What height settings are you using for the 1st and 2nd passes ?

Good to see you back chief, I rate the bigger Bosche electric scarifier, worth the extra £80 from a cheapo

After I scarify should I go over with the mower again? Seen several places saying you should does this also.

Is there a video by you on beginners guid to Lawn maintenance? I never had a house with Lawn until this year (apartment guy). I hired someone to get my lawn mowed this summer - He did it with strimmer i think. it looks yellow-green color now. But I now want to maintain the lawn .. have no clue. Any info appreciated.

Very helpful vid. I cut my lawn back and as in this video it doesn’t look great. I don’t have a scarification tool so I used a rake to get as much out as possible. I then went straight on with the American Dark Green Seed. Guessing I should have used fertiliser as well?

Excellent! 👌👌

Is it good for removing the moss?

In terms of scarifying, how deep should you scarify down with the adjustable height. Is there is a problem with scarifying too deep? Thanks.

What hight please do you do the scarifying on

Cobra seemed to collect pretty well and nice not to faff around with cables

Does this scarifier rip out moss? My lawn has nearly been taken over by the stuff!

Can anyone tell the me best way get rid of patches of tall fescue many thanks in advance small lawn approx 20sqm

Does it remove moss?

The Cobra machines are really good. I went for the larger electric model as it’s used less frequently than the mower so the benefit of cordless is negligible, however it does has a toolless cartridge change feature.

Hi Matt - Guessing your go to Scarifier is the Cobra and not the Einhell anymore regardless one has no cable to muck about with?

The one from Aldi (Ferrex) is loads better, no screws to change the cartridge, just release and swap, allows you to lean it back when turning so you don't get the bald patches like you got on the right side but is not battery powered.

Scarified for the first time yesterday and the lawn does not look good, I've heard it will look worse before it gets better. Done some over seeding and put some top soil over them, I know it's late in the year but here's hoping and if all else fails there is always next year. :)

I want to scarify then overseed but with clover. I’m in the south east, is it too late? It’s definitely growing right now

have u got a discount code for your grass seed looking to buy the American Dark Green Grass Seed 20kg today thursday

I struggle with terminology, but it looks like the lawn has been verticut

Waiting patiently for new content 😂

Weird for me the scarifying unit takes out way way less grass than the dethatching unit

Where the hell have you been 😂

Looking at the battery I assume you didn’t do all this on 1 charge.

That’s a dethatcher attachment not a scarifier

when should you scarify a lawn😂🤣😅😆😁

Why is the lawn so much higher than the walkway? 🤔