Verticutting is exactly what it sounds like. A machine that is called a verti-cutter makes vertical cuts along the blades of grass. This primarily targets the base of the grass blades and is very useful when you are trying to remove the thatch layer from your lawn.
This article will take you through when you should verticut your lawn, how to do it, and the benefits. Once you know this information, you will be one step closer to the perfect-looking lawn.
What Is Thatch?
Thatch is a loose layer of decaying grass and organic matter. This is typically found just above the surface of the soil. It is made up of dead and living plant shoots, roots, and stems and is below the layer of the grass blades.
The thatch layer develops when the lawn makes more organic debris than it can break down. This allows the organic matter to accumulate, creating the new layer.
The thatch is primarily made up of plant stem nodes, the fibres of vascular tissues, the roots, and crowns of plants. These tissue types take longer to break down, and will often be interspersed with the occasional leaf clipping.
You will also find a compound known as lignin in the thatch layer. This makes up about one quarter of the overall layer and is very resistant to microorganism decay. This is largely responsible for the slow breakdown rate of the thatch layer.
When Should You Verticut Your Lawn?
There is no specific time that you should verticut your lawn. It can be done whenever and with whatever frequency you wish. You will know that it is time to verticut your lawn if it feels spongy as you step across it.
You should try to verticut your lawn at least once per year. The best results are achieved when you verticut your lawn in the spring or summer months. If you perform the verticutting before the growing season you will likely see improved growth and an overall more aesthetically pleasing lawn.
There are some specific species of grass that should be verticut annually each summer. These include Bermuda grass and zoysia.
Some people will verticut their lawns every fortnight between the months of April and September. This will almost completely eradicate the thatch layer on your lawn.
This is really useful if your grass is used as a pitch for sports, where a flat and even playing surface is vital. It will also make scarifying your lawn in the autumn easier and reduces the likelihood of your lawn sustaining any damages.
What Are The Benefits Of Verticutting Your Lawn?
Verticutting your lawn is incredibly important and beneficial to its overall health. As we have already established, it removes the layer of thatch from the lawn.
This increases the access of your lawn’s roots to water, nutrients, and oxygen. In turn, this can promote the healthy growth and overall aesthetics of your lawn.
Verticutting can also help to save water, which is especially useful in the summer months or during periods of drought. This is because any moisture that reaches the ground can more efficiently make its way into the root systems.
Verticutting can also help to prepare your lawn’s surface for overseeding. It can also promote the overall strength and health of your grass.
How Do You Verticut Your Lawn?
You should prepare your lawn for verticutting by watering it 2 or 3 days before you try to verticut. The increased moisture content of the soil will make the verticutting much easier to complete. If you do not want to waste water, wait for mild rainfall before verticutting.
You should then cut your grass. Set the mower to the lowest cutting section and get to work. If your lawnmower doesn’t automatically bag up the clippings, you should use a rake to remove them all from the surface of your lawn.
The next step is to remove all obstacles from the surface of your lawn. This could be litter, children’s toys, or other general debris.
Once you have removed all of these, check for immovable obstacles. Think piping, sprinkler lines and heads, and electrical cables. Mark the locations of these obstructions with baking soda so that you know to avoid these areas.
Set the blades of your verticutter to their highest setting. If your grass is sparse, we recommend setting the blades at a distance of approximately 3 inches apart. If the grass is thicker then use a distance setting of 1 inch. This is likely to take a little trial and error to master.
Turn on your verticutter and move it across the surface of your lawn as you would a lawnmower. Verticutters will typically propel themselves forwards as they are in operation, meaning your main role is to steer the machine.
We recommend starting in one corner of the lawn and working in a straight line towards an opposite corner. Try to work in vertical strips across the entire surface of the lawn.
Once you have travelled across the entirety of your lawn once, go back and start again. This time, start on an adjacent corner and continue to work back and forth across the whole lawn. If your first pass went from top to bottom, the second should be from left to right.
Once you are satisfied with your verticutting, you will need to use a rake to clear the thatch off of the lawn’s surface. The verticutter will have pulled it onto the top, making this task easier. We recommend raking the thatch onto a tarpaulin for easy disposal.
Once all the thatch has been removed, use a lawn fertilizer across the entire surface of your lawn. Feeding your lawn directly after verticutting will allow for the optimal absorption of nutrients into the roots of the grass.
Your final step is to water your lawn once again. This will help to jumpstart the growth process and improve the condition of your lawn. Make sure you water the grass very thoroughly.
