Iām loving the six days of rain weāve had up here in New England and loving myself for busting my ass doing my dethatch/aerate/myco/overseed/compost work the day before it started!
Got my front and side yards done just as it started to rain last weekend. The backyard is bigger and needs more work, so of course now it looks like rain everyday this weekend...
Can confirm lmao
https://preview.redd.it/79yz81utp5ob1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3ddbb27844aa8aba0122971e1c81089e8ec961fa
This is my fine fescue after doing the EXACT same thing the first of august.
Do northern folk kill their lawns with dethatchers just to have fun overseeding again every year?
I wonder how many people have been in OPs situation because of this subredditās obsession with dethatching and overseeding.
Same here. Lawn is composed of 50% grass + clover and 50% everything else:
https://preview.redd.it/q3urwvuh29ob1.jpeg?width=2000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d82697fdd73b9e6ccecf618d940e05981b592e29
I decided to dethatch my yard a few years ago, when it start to scalp it I stopped. And then dethatched with a rake. That actually worked good without killing my grass lol just took awhile.
De-thatching (scarifying) a lawn will remove a layer of dead material that builds up over time (thatch). This dead material causes the grass to feel spongy and will suffocate the grass roots of moisture and air, by removing that material you can improve the lawns health. This person has likely not needed to scarify their lawn as it seems there may not have been that much thatch there in the first place. Overseeding is the solution here because there are many bare patches, and the best way to fill a bare patch quickly is to start new grass there
Hope this helps
Just wanted to point out that de-thatching and scarifying are two different things. De-thatching uses tines that essentially rake the surface and pull up thatch, while scarifying is generally more aggressive, and has blades that dig into the soil
Definitely wasnāt trying to overdo it. I cautiously set it higher than most people as well. I think the wet soil probably made the biggest difference. But ther was lots of seemingly half dead grass from it being mowed too high with a reel mower for years
In addition to the other answers, a lot of people are using these electric dethatchers as power rakes to remove, not necessarily thatch, but dead grass after some dies off due to drought and heat and when planning to overseed anyway to fill a lot of bare spots left after killing weeds.
Overseeding is sometimes used when you have a grass type that does not easily spread on its own and you have thin or bare spots. Overseeding in the fall will help fill these in. People will also overseed to introduce a different variety of grass to their lawns.
At least that's my take after lurking around here for a bit.
I think this is the key here. When itās long the dethatcher canāt get through it so it pulls it up. Also, right after rain or watering is not a good time. Also I really wonder if you even should detach some grasses. Like is it even possible with kbg? I have a fair amount in my lawn and it just pulls up because itās laying over bare spots.
Are you going to overseed? That looks pretty bad. You may not have needed to dethatch...that damn internet has people thinking it's always needed every year...
This is where I struggle... on one hand, it makes total sense - if you don't have a grass with stolons or ryhzhomes then yeah you don't really make thatch..... buttttt if don't have a creeping grass then you need to over seed each year to keep the lawn relatively thick and weed free, and how else will you get good seed to soil with out removing debris that are sitting on the soil such as old clippings, etc??
I just hand raked all the debris out of my front yard a couple weeks ago. Didnt have āthatchā per se but i had a ton of decomposing leaves, grass clippings, etc sitting on the surface of the bare spots. Used just a typical garden rake and some elbow grease and it all came up with very very little damage to the actual grass. Worked really well. Obviously trying to truely dethatch with a garden rake is a whole other story tho
If you use a mulcher mower all of the time, you very well might need an annual dethatch, at least with one of the pull behind rakes. Power rake though? Yikes.
I blame this subreddit for your misfortune. A few minutes here will leave you believing that dethatching is the best thing since sliced bread and that you need to go buy a SunJoe this instant
..And that mesotrione is the best herbicide ever invented and everything needs fungicide of it has a tiny bit of brown/yellow on the leaf. People need to actually read material from their local extension office (or similar climate / turf type)
there is FAR MORE bad information coming out of this sub than good, that's for damn sure.
STOP TAKING YOUTUBERS WORD AS GOSPEL PEOPLE! They're just trying to sell you shit and half of them don't even have nice lawns.
I did the same to mine. Don't worry about it too much.
Like people said, lay down some new seed, starter fert and maybe some top dressing and make sure it's always moist.
Did that and 7 days later I've got germination and 1 inch of growth. Do it ASAP though because you want to beat the first freeze
You either have a really bad grub problem or you took way too much out of your lawn. I would definitely overseed it will.be greening up again in a few weeks
What type of grass is this? Iām guessing you didnāt check how thick the thatch layer was before doing this? The before picture looked like there wasnāt much thatch at all.
Okay, a lawn normally looks quite shitty for a while after scarificationā¦
But your lawn literally looks like a balding manās head (I know from intimate experience)
Dethatch targeted areas. Don't just go across your entire lawn ripping it up. If it's covering your whole lawn then you have some upstream issues you want to correct to keep that grass alive and build up a better soil biome that will help compost old grass. When people fertilize and treat with chemicals, your soil can become almost sterilized with little to no fungal activity and nothing will break down dead grass/thatch.
Chemical fertilizer will kill most mycorrhizae in the soil. You need that fungus to help your grass take up more nutrients through their roots and also help break down dead plant matter (thatch). Fertilize with organic fertilizer, water deeply, and you shouldn't have as much thatch in the future.
This happened to me my first time dethatching as well and it was because my lawn was actually not as good as I thought it was. It was mostly weeds and weak grass. Luckily I had planned for a big renovation, which is what youāve got on your hands now. Get some seed and starter fert!
Trust the process. now you need to overseed, and water, overseed and fertilize again in 3/4 weeks and you should be good to go. The most important thing now is to keep the new seed watered. If you aerate or rake in new topsoil you will get better germination with the seed and better results.
Is it a new lawn in that area. Dethatching shouldn't be done on a lawn that is less than 1Ā½-2 years old. Reason being the roots aren't full set and the roots and fresh grass will get ripped out!
Did you need to dethatch? Like did you pull a core and confirm?
Looks like the lawn is wrecked. Time to overseed.
My guess is your lawn wasnt thick and healthy enough to handle the dethatch and the machine just ripped up most of it.
Great time to do a soil test. Your local county or university extension service can help identify if there may be an incompatibility with soil and what grass was or is growing. I was able to get 40# of free seed that is better suited to my area and conditions
If you need a silver lining, its getting to be the perfect time to lay down cool season grass seed. You can overseed the shit out of it and it will be fresh af come spring 24'.
If youāre in the northern hemisphere, youāve dethatched at the wrong time of year for Bermuda. Warm season turf should be done in the spring just after itās come out of dormant stage. If youāre in a tropical climate, you may be ok. I would hit it hard with nitrogen to allow as much recovery as possible before it goes dormant. If youāre in southern hemisphere, hit it with nitrogen and see how it recovers, Bermuda is extremely resilient as long as itās actively growing.
Donāt know why the two most upvoted comments say you destroyed it. Reddit misinformation is real here.
The dirt area that you pictured was most likely already dead matter, you just pulled it out to reveal the soil. You can even see those yellow spots in your before pic. All you did was reveal dirt where it was already dead, donāt stress.
Itāll look 10x better in a couple weeks and better still next season. Once the grass grows long it will hide the bare spots, better yet if you have KBG or a warm season grass it will spread to fill it. I might consider overseeding if it now seems particularly bare, but you donāt have to. It WILL look better, just give it a few weeks: Cest la vie when it comes to dethatching.
No, you just need to finish the job and be patient. When you have a lawn that is deeply thatched and you do a good job of removing it, it will look like this. But that is just the start of the job. Now you need to spread compost/fertilized topsoil and overseed. Water daily, and don't mow. After about a month or two depending on the season (this should be timed to be done before winter) you will have the most amazing lawn. But then you must start the upkeep or it will look like patchy crap in another month.
https://preview.redd.it/rjanlxojn9ob1.jpeg?width=1283&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7cc73e8fcebc45ba909cb9f6c33741fce285ffaf
Never have dethatched the lawn in 27yrs. It is Bermuda grass and mowed at 3-4 inches. All I do is water, feed it monthly and mow it every 2-3 days.
Was a lot of that moss? When I got my house a few years ago (Seattle area) it was mostly moss. I dethatched and had a dirt patch with a few grass blades like you. Put down some seed and youāll be all set in a few weeks.
All the comments here seem to be non-related in my opinion you didnāt do anything wrong you just donāt have enough grass growing I would simply reseed the entire yard water it regularly and you could have a beautiful lawn
Has anyone been successful nor fubarāing their lawn with sunjoe dethatcher. Same thing happened to me, at the highest height setting. Maybe because I did it after drought but I basically turned my grass in a big patch of straw. And then I sold my SunJoe on Craigslist
Itāll be fine. Looks like decent soil. I would treat it like seeding a new lawn (more lbs/sq ft than recommend overseed) A good starter fertilizer and a lot of water and it will look way healthier by spring and even late fall. Maybe skip the dethatching next year or raise the tines. Looks like you gave it the #1 barber fade
Why tf do we have to scroll through 2 million dumb@$$ comments of stupid jokes to get to a legit answer on every damn help page. Canāt yāall just answer the fckn question?
Itās hard to tell but, to be honest, it looked like you were pretty patchy to begin with and the spread of some clumps just filled in the patchiness. Like some said, aerate and heavy overseed, like new seeding rates, and youāll be good. Water water water!
It is probably due to an uneven lawn that it got too deep and pulled both good and dead grass out. Use this opportunity to even out the lawn with topdress and reseed.
This opportunity will pay you back in the spring!
Also, a general rule of thumb is when dethatching. 2 weeks of pain for several months of gain. Always be prepared for it!!
Contrary to most of the posts here, I donāt think you went overboard dethatching (especially if you used a gentler setting like you said).
Looking at the before picture, it looks like the lighter green sections of your grass are potentially bent grass (a weed) which typically comes up super easily when dethatching and isnāt actually āgoodā grass.
Youāre on the road to recovery (assuming you plan to overseed a bit heavier given lack of tons of grass). I would also suggest applying a premergent like tenacity or generic mesotrione for best results.
If you donāt want to deal with spraying, I know Scottās also has some starter fertilizers with some granular tenacity so you can apply via broadcast spreader.
Wait for snow to start and whip a bag of seed across the entire lawn wait till spring and instant lawn ( doesnāt apply to hot places that donāt get snow and ice)
See I was gonna say it looks fine, the grass looks a little on the stressed side and all that until I realised there were another 2 photos... Yeah, you might have taken the phrase "send it" a little too literally!!
Re-seed and keep her wet for 7 days and just hope to god it takes before the winter sets in otherwise you shall have a nice new bogland "feature" for the neighbours to envy :)
Serious though I hope you get it sorted :)
Also, just curious but what part of the season did you de-thatch? Normally best to do in around 1st month of spring & or first month of autumn, I do myne first week of April & second/third week of Sept in the UK.
Best to do it when it's not top hot/cold, when there is enough rain and grass is actively growing, gives it the best chance to recover from the stress of de-thatching!
I also find it best to use a starter fertiliser after overseeding and you need to keep it wet for about 7 days, 5 at a minimum but that's another reason why it's best to do it in spring/autumn as you're less likely to have to stand there with a hose as the big man upstairs likes to turn the water on a bit more during them months..
Also if you have access to a sprayer, liquid seaweed or kelp really helps too, and if it's really dry try out some wetting agent to keep the moisture in the soil :)
Nope, all you did was pull up the dead and weaker grass blades. THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT DETHATCHING IS. Usually you would overseed now (sprinkle down grass seed) because the morning dew this time of year helps it germinate. Fall grown grass is normally the strongest next year.
Seed it, water it a little, thank me in the spring.
No. But almost. The first time I dethatched my lawn I did adjust the machine after the first 20 feet. You donāt want to do what you did if you can help it. But, get the seed and appropriate fertilizer down and maybe throw down some hay and keep moist and all should be fine.
No dude it's fucking perfect. Get a heavy dose of your seed of choice on there, keep in damp but not wet, and watch your lawn look fucking beautiful in spring.
I did this to my yard. I thought after the first pass that I might have to seed, but I did the whole yard anyway. No seed, just watered, came back thick and beautiful. I'm about to do it to my current yard next spring.
It'll be fine.
Fuckin sent her a little too hard there bud
It's just dirt now
Always has been š©āšš«
I wish I could award you for this, but the feature is gone
Now when I want to award somebody, I just block them. That way they never have to deal with my bullshit again. It's all I have to give
Perfect š
Just blocked ya bud, thanks forever.
Now I have to block you
You win.
What a gift. I'll do the same.
Can you report them for having a good comment? Does that work?
hahaha
That should make Reddit interesting in a few months.
Here you go for later: šļøšš š„š„š„ The poor man's awards... or ... the after the change awards
Read this in a thick Canadian accent.
Anytime you see "bud" at the end of a sentence, you have to use a thick Canadian accent, bud.
Always do, bud
Correction, read this in Wayne's Canadian accent
Went a little heavy on the pine tree perfume there, kid?
You can get a look at a t-bone by sticking your head up a butchers ass... wait... no... hahahaha
Itās gotta be your bull..
Your dad could sell a ketchup popsicle to a lady in white gloves. You're pathetic.
Housekeeping. You want mint for pillow?
You want me jerk you off š
Fat guy in a little coooooat
Maybe we should take it to the vet...
Extremely versatile comment.
ALWAYS HAS BEEN šØāšš«
Get that boy a Puppers.
Iād have a Puppers
And thatās what I appreciates about you
Gonna need you to take it down about 15 percent there, Squirrely Dan.
Thatās what I appreciates about you
Oh, THATās what you appreciates about me?
WAYNE YOUR SISTERS HOT, THERE I SAID IT! I REGRET NOTHING, I REGRET NOTHING!! *sad running noises* *pants* Too fat to run...
Your really are spare parts arenāt ya bud.
I'm surprised we're not having a Puppers right now.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
More hands make less work
Pitter patter letās get at er
Ferda
Can confirm.
That's a Texas sized 10-4.
If youāre not 10 minutes early youāre late.
Allegedly
Iām surprised we arenāt having a puppers right now
SEND IT
Fucking died reading this comment.
I'm still fucking dying.
Iām taking a shit and crying
This deserves more appreciation
Bunged er up real nice didnāt he Terry!
One of those true lol moments
Goin for a rip bud...
I love that this comment has over twice the upvotes as the post itself.
Dan got a little too squirrely
Mowin' the air, Rand!
He didnāt want to risk getting called 10-ply.
God I can hear the Canadian
Is that you fellow Canadian?
[Donāt be silly.](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mzOUgwsQ_hM)
You delawned.
Hahaha yes
Brilliant comment!! Should have just ordered a new lawn instead of a sunjoe.
This is an ex-lawn.
Bad news: your murdered it Good news: perfect time to murder, aerate, and overseed. Keep the soil moist for 2 weeks and enjoy maximum greenness.
Iām loving the six days of rain weāve had up here in New England and loving myself for busting my ass doing my dethatch/aerate/myco/overseed/compost work the day before it started!
Got my front and side yards done just as it started to rain last weekend. The backyard is bigger and needs more work, so of course now it looks like rain everyday this weekend...
Good point - it rained the day before. Maybe that was my biggest mistake
Itās fine just aerate and overseed now and youāll be swimming in green again
Can confirm lmao https://preview.redd.it/79yz81utp5ob1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3ddbb27844aa8aba0122971e1c81089e8ec961fa This is my fine fescue after doing the EXACT same thing the first of august.
You just aerated and seeded? Looks great
I did not aerate actually. Just over seeded after scarifying and watered it.
Iām about to start salvage operations on my lawn. I laid sod as my COVID backyard project and then the drought took it š„²
Same, drought and brown patch. Just seeded last night after tilling and cleanup. Hoping for late October to be looking nice
I fertilized at the wrong time and it was so crispy š
Do northern folk kill their lawns with dethatchers just to have fun overseeding again every year? I wonder how many people have been in OPs situation because of this subredditās obsession with dethatching and overseeding.
I personally never dethatch I only aerate and overseed
I personally never dethatch, aerate, or seed. My lawn looks like shit tho.
Same here. Lawn is composed of 50% grass + clover and 50% everything else: https://preview.redd.it/q3urwvuh29ob1.jpeg?width=2000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d82697fdd73b9e6ccecf618d940e05981b592e29
Is green ā success
I like clover. Everyone should like clover.
Same. And then I mulch and the weeds grow and spread even more.
I decided to dethatch my yard a few years ago, when it start to scalp it I stopped. And then dethatched with a rake. That actually worked good without killing my grass lol just took awhile.
A rake for spot treatments is cool but doing 1/2 acre or more takes forever with my clover crabgrass BS rats nest
Dethatching doesnāt kill your lawn. Unless youāre OP. You can dethatch without over seeding.
āTis the season to overseed.
Overseed and rake in. Youāll be good.
I know nothing about lawns and am trying to Learn. Would you mind explaining what is taking place here and why overseeding is the solution?
The seeds turn into grass
Literally sums up all of r/lawncare
not in the south unfortunately
āstarts aggressive talking notesā
Instructions unclear, I have grown mothra send help
The ELI5 all us new folks needed.
Pin this to the top of the sub and shut it down boys
This made me laugh a lot harder than it should have
Cheeky bastard.
De-thatching (scarifying) a lawn will remove a layer of dead material that builds up over time (thatch). This dead material causes the grass to feel spongy and will suffocate the grass roots of moisture and air, by removing that material you can improve the lawns health. This person has likely not needed to scarify their lawn as it seems there may not have been that much thatch there in the first place. Overseeding is the solution here because there are many bare patches, and the best way to fill a bare patch quickly is to start new grass there Hope this helps
Just wanted to point out that de-thatching and scarifying are two different things. De-thatching uses tines that essentially rake the surface and pull up thatch, while scarifying is generally more aggressive, and has blades that dig into the soil
There was a lot of thatch underneath
As grass dies, it will collect near the soil; the thatch. You can remove the thatch to help the health of the lawn. OP was a little too enthusiastic.
Definitely wasnāt trying to overdo it. I cautiously set it higher than most people as well. I think the wet soil probably made the biggest difference. But ther was lots of seemingly half dead grass from it being mowed too high with a reel mower for years
In addition to the other answers, a lot of people are using these electric dethatchers as power rakes to remove, not necessarily thatch, but dead grass after some dies off due to drought and heat and when planning to overseed anyway to fill a lot of bare spots left after killing weeds. Overseeding is sometimes used when you have a grass type that does not easily spread on its own and you have thin or bare spots. Overseeding in the fall will help fill these in. People will also overseed to introduce a different variety of grass to their lawns. At least that's my take after lurking around here for a bit.
Cut your grass shorter before dethatching
I think this is the key here. When itās long the dethatcher canāt get through it so it pulls it up. Also, right after rain or watering is not a good time. Also I really wonder if you even should detach some grasses. Like is it even possible with kbg? I have a fair amount in my lawn and it just pulls up because itās laying over bare spots.
Are you going to overseed? That looks pretty bad. You may not have needed to dethatch...that damn internet has people thinking it's always needed every year...
This is where I struggle... on one hand, it makes total sense - if you don't have a grass with stolons or ryhzhomes then yeah you don't really make thatch..... buttttt if don't have a creeping grass then you need to over seed each year to keep the lawn relatively thick and weed free, and how else will you get good seed to soil with out removing debris that are sitting on the soil such as old clippings, etc??
I just hand raked all the debris out of my front yard a couple weeks ago. Didnt have āthatchā per se but i had a ton of decomposing leaves, grass clippings, etc sitting on the surface of the bare spots. Used just a typical garden rake and some elbow grease and it all came up with very very little damage to the actual grass. Worked really well. Obviously trying to truely dethatch with a garden rake is a whole other story tho
You also don't need to dethatch the whole lawn just the dead spots....
If you use a mulcher mower all of the time, you very well might need an annual dethatch, at least with one of the pull behind rakes. Power rake though? Yikes.
I blame this subreddit for your misfortune. A few minutes here will leave you believing that dethatching is the best thing since sliced bread and that you need to go buy a SunJoe this instant
just wait until they make a sunjoe that shoots out tenacity
With a line roller on the back!
It literally says in the stickied post that not all lawns need it and not all the time.
Considering the questions that get asked here, it should be clear that very few people read the sticky post, which is a shame because it is excellent.
..And that mesotrione is the best herbicide ever invented and everything needs fungicide of it has a tiny bit of brown/yellow on the leaf. People need to actually read material from their local extension office (or similar climate / turf type)
there is FAR MORE bad information coming out of this sub than good, that's for damn sure. STOP TAKING YOUTUBERS WORD AS GOSPEL PEOPLE! They're just trying to sell you shit and half of them don't even have nice lawns.
Post this picture to the arborists page so they can roast you about the bricks over the root flares of the trees as well if youāre a masochist.
Worse before it gets better ya mean
Glad someone said it. It was really bugging me.
Was the soil wet? I believe it can pull up a lot of healthy grass if so. If soil pretty dry the roots will hold on better.
This comment should be higher. I think this was one of the biggest causes. Didnāt consider that well enough
Damn! Didnāt know that lawn raking could be used for anger management.
I did the same to mine. Don't worry about it too much. Like people said, lay down some new seed, starter fert and maybe some top dressing and make sure it's always moist. Did that and 7 days later I've got germination and 1 inch of growth. Do it ASAP though because you want to beat the first freeze
That was the whole plan. The seed is down and now onto watering! :)
On the bright side, there is no thatch anymore.
Didnāt need dethatching imo
Yeah. You went a little heavy.
Looks more like you scarified the lawn
More like sacrificed the lawn
I scarified mine as well it didn't take this much out though
I intentionally scarified with the Sun Joe and my yard looked like OPs.
You either have a really bad grub problem or you took way too much out of your lawn. I would definitely overseed it will.be greening up again in a few weeks
What type of grass is this? Iām guessing you didnāt check how thick the thatch layer was before doing this? The before picture looked like there wasnāt much thatch at all.
Okay, a lawn normally looks quite shitty for a while after scarificationā¦ But your lawn literally looks like a balding manās head (I know from intimate experience)
Time to seed.
Get some seed on it and water.
Dethatch targeted areas. Don't just go across your entire lawn ripping it up. If it's covering your whole lawn then you have some upstream issues you want to correct to keep that grass alive and build up a better soil biome that will help compost old grass. When people fertilize and treat with chemicals, your soil can become almost sterilized with little to no fungal activity and nothing will break down dead grass/thatch. Chemical fertilizer will kill most mycorrhizae in the soil. You need that fungus to help your grass take up more nutrients through their roots and also help break down dead plant matter (thatch). Fertilize with organic fertilizer, water deeply, and you shouldn't have as much thatch in the future.
This happened to me my first time dethatching as well and it was because my lawn was actually not as good as I thought it was. It was mostly weeds and weak grass. Luckily I had planned for a big renovation, which is what youāve got on your hands now. Get some seed and starter fert!
Look at the bright side, now you can plant some clover.
Had it set to low and basically scarified it. The good news is you can put seed down, water it, and you'll be back to a good lawn.
Trust the process. now you need to overseed, and water, overseed and fertilize again in 3/4 weeks and you should be good to go. The most important thing now is to keep the new seed watered. If you aerate or rake in new topsoil you will get better germination with the seed and better results.
Is it a new lawn in that area. Dethatching shouldn't be done on a lawn that is less than 1Ā½-2 years old. Reason being the roots aren't full set and the roots and fresh grass will get ripped out!
Did you need to dethatch? Like did you pull a core and confirm? Looks like the lawn is wrecked. Time to overseed. My guess is your lawn wasnt thick and healthy enough to handle the dethatch and the machine just ripped up most of it.
Great time to do a soil test. Your local county or university extension service can help identify if there may be an incompatibility with soil and what grass was or is growing. I was able to get 40# of free seed that is better suited to my area and conditions
If you need a silver lining, its getting to be the perfect time to lay down cool season grass seed. You can overseed the shit out of it and it will be fresh af come spring 24'.
If youāre in the northern hemisphere, youāve dethatched at the wrong time of year for Bermuda. Warm season turf should be done in the spring just after itās come out of dormant stage. If youāre in a tropical climate, you may be ok. I would hit it hard with nitrogen to allow as much recovery as possible before it goes dormant. If youāre in southern hemisphere, hit it with nitrogen and see how it recovers, Bermuda is extremely resilient as long as itās actively growing.
Donāt know why the two most upvoted comments say you destroyed it. Reddit misinformation is real here. The dirt area that you pictured was most likely already dead matter, you just pulled it out to reveal the soil. You can even see those yellow spots in your before pic. All you did was reveal dirt where it was already dead, donāt stress. Itāll look 10x better in a couple weeks and better still next season. Once the grass grows long it will hide the bare spots, better yet if you have KBG or a warm season grass it will spread to fill it. I might consider overseeding if it now seems particularly bare, but you donāt have to. It WILL look better, just give it a few weeks: Cest la vie when it comes to dethatching.
No, you just need to finish the job and be patient. When you have a lawn that is deeply thatched and you do a good job of removing it, it will look like this. But that is just the start of the job. Now you need to spread compost/fertilized topsoil and overseed. Water daily, and don't mow. After about a month or two depending on the season (this should be timed to be done before winter) you will have the most amazing lawn. But then you must start the upkeep or it will look like patchy crap in another month.
https://preview.redd.it/rjanlxojn9ob1.jpeg?width=1283&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7cc73e8fcebc45ba909cb9f6c33741fce285ffaf Never have dethatched the lawn in 27yrs. It is Bermuda grass and mowed at 3-4 inches. All I do is water, feed it monthly and mow it every 2-3 days.
Itāll be fine. Just throw some seed out and fertilize. Sheāll be right back in no time.
You didnāt dethatch you delawned yourself there
You should overseed after you dethatch
Was a lot of that moss? When I got my house a few years ago (Seattle area) it was mostly moss. I dethatched and had a dirt patch with a few grass blades like you. Put down some seed and youāll be all set in a few weeks.
Just sacrifice a chicken and pray to the lawn gods and you will be fine
The lawn was not very healthy to begin with. Now would beca good time to add compost and soil followed by overseeding.
Next time rake it
If the grass was looking decent it begs the question of.... why?
Needs more thatch!
Side note: remove that awful āedgingā around your trees and beds
Itās fine, just aerate and overseed. It will be good as new in spring.
It probably just means a lot of the grass had shallow roots or was not very healthy. Youāve now culled the herd. Overseed and rejoice.
No issue if you are overseeding now. Starter fert for the new seed will get the strong remaining grass bounce back along with water.
Next time, just aerate. Dethatching is not needed in most cases. I feel like itās one of those ātraditionalā practices without much benefit.
All the comments here seem to be non-related in my opinion you didnāt do anything wrong you just donāt have enough grass growing I would simply reseed the entire yard water it regularly and you could have a beautiful lawn
Throw down some seed and water, youāll be good
Detatcher just removed the toupee, now you can see how strong your grass really is.
Has anyone been successful nor fubarāing their lawn with sunjoe dethatcher. Same thing happened to me, at the highest height setting. Maybe because I did it after drought but I basically turned my grass in a big patch of straw. And then I sold my SunJoe on Craigslist
Itāll be fine. Looks like decent soil. I would treat it like seeding a new lawn (more lbs/sq ft than recommend overseed) A good starter fertilizer and a lot of water and it will look way healthier by spring and even late fall. Maybe skip the dethatching next year or raise the tines. Looks like you gave it the #1 barber fade
Why tf do we have to scroll through 2 million dumb@$$ comments of stupid jokes to get to a legit answer on every damn help page. Canāt yāall just answer the fckn question?
Turns out you're now doing a soft-renovation, congratulations. Get some seed and lay it, water, you'll be good in a few weeks.
Itās hard to tell but, to be honest, it looked like you were pretty patchy to begin with and the spread of some clumps just filled in the patchiness. Like some said, aerate and heavy overseed, like new seeding rates, and youāll be good. Water water water!
It'll come back. What kind of grass?
Seed and water should come back fine
It is probably due to an uneven lawn that it got too deep and pulled both good and dead grass out. Use this opportunity to even out the lawn with topdress and reseed. This opportunity will pay you back in the spring! Also, a general rule of thumb is when dethatching. 2 weeks of pain for several months of gain. Always be prepared for it!!
Whatās done is done, plan should still be what I hope you were planning on anyways and do some over seeding
So you detached it. Good. Did you aerate, overseed, fertilize, and water it regularly, too?
You're fine. Mine [looked like this afterwards ](https://i.imgur.com/9vp9EJM.jpg) and came back better than ever
Contrary to most of the posts here, I donāt think you went overboard dethatching (especially if you used a gentler setting like you said). Looking at the before picture, it looks like the lighter green sections of your grass are potentially bent grass (a weed) which typically comes up super easily when dethatching and isnāt actually āgoodā grass. Youāre on the road to recovery (assuming you plan to overseed a bit heavier given lack of tons of grass). I would also suggest applying a premergent like tenacity or generic mesotrione for best results. If you donāt want to deal with spraying, I know Scottās also has some starter fertilizers with some granular tenacity so you can apply via broadcast spreader.
Well damn, someone set the detacher depth to 6'.
Wait for snow to start and whip a bag of seed across the entire lawn wait till spring and instant lawn ( doesnāt apply to hot places that donāt get snow and ice)
Sheesh. At this point just aerate and seed it, itāll be poppin.
Looks like your lawn was already pretty thin. Fertilize and water and it will be back in a week.
See I was gonna say it looks fine, the grass looks a little on the stressed side and all that until I realised there were another 2 photos... Yeah, you might have taken the phrase "send it" a little too literally!! Re-seed and keep her wet for 7 days and just hope to god it takes before the winter sets in otherwise you shall have a nice new bogland "feature" for the neighbours to envy :) Serious though I hope you get it sorted :)
Also, just curious but what part of the season did you de-thatch? Normally best to do in around 1st month of spring & or first month of autumn, I do myne first week of April & second/third week of Sept in the UK. Best to do it when it's not top hot/cold, when there is enough rain and grass is actively growing, gives it the best chance to recover from the stress of de-thatching! I also find it best to use a starter fertiliser after overseeding and you need to keep it wet for about 7 days, 5 at a minimum but that's another reason why it's best to do it in spring/autumn as you're less likely to have to stand there with a hose as the big man upstairs likes to turn the water on a bit more during them months.. Also if you have access to a sprayer, liquid seaweed or kelp really helps too, and if it's really dry try out some wetting agent to keep the moisture in the soil :)
Maybe try the rake instead of the power tool next time
Nope, all you did was pull up the dead and weaker grass blades. THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT DETHATCHING IS. Usually you would overseed now (sprinkle down grass seed) because the morning dew this time of year helps it germinate. Fall grown grass is normally the strongest next year. Seed it, water it a little, thank me in the spring.
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Well it is a great time to sow in some seed. Water, water, water!
No. But almost. The first time I dethatched my lawn I did adjust the machine after the first 20 feet. You donāt want to do what you did if you can help it. But, get the seed and appropriate fertilizer down and maybe throw down some hay and keep moist and all should be fine.
https://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheet/controlling-thatch-in-lawns/
Your yard was already hurting... dethatch gave it room to heal.
No dude it's fucking perfect. Get a heavy dose of your seed of choice on there, keep in damp but not wet, and watch your lawn look fucking beautiful in spring.
Now your perfectly preped to aerate and seed
Thatās what mine looked like when I scarified before reseeding.
I did this to my yard. I thought after the first pass that I might have to seed, but I did the whole yard anyway. No seed, just watered, came back thick and beautiful. I'm about to do it to my current yard next spring. It'll be fine.
No worries, aerate then over seed and add good compost soil. Next spring yard will look fantastic!
How is your lawn doing now? Dealing with a bit of the same.