Any beyonders doing Aeration and Dethatching?

[Ven]

Any beyonders doing Aeration and Dethatching? I've got a little front and back yard that could use treatment. :thumbsup:

[freshprince1]

It's too late for dethatching, you'll just rip up all the new growth. Do an aeration instead; it's good for the soil, increases your grass count and adds a nice soil boost to the grass. Leave the plugs on the lawn, they'll break down and disappear after a week or two. Green Drop will come and do it for you for like $75. Or you can rent one from home depot for like $65 I think.

[Tik-Tok]

Rent one for the day, then when you're done yours, go door to door charging $10/yard.

[nonofyobiz]

$10 yard!?!? a kid came to my door and said he'll my front and back for 50 (very small yard!)

I just dethatched my yard last weekend then overseeded and fertilized. so hopefully it'll come in nice and thick this year. The problem is my neighbor has like the PERFECT lawn so if mine isn't decent then it looks even worse lol gotta try and keep up.

I de-thatched with my lawn mower and that dethatching blade and it really raped my lawn, i think i'll just put in the work an do it manually next year. I ended up doing that with the rake anyways bc the mower missed most of it....:dunno:

[HomespunLobster]

Depends on the dethatcher you use. The crappy lawn mower ones will kill your yard at this point, a proper power rake is what he'd need, very minimal damage. But it's starting to get to the warmer weather so the sooner the better

[Masked Bandit]

Lawnmower dethatching, it's what I like to call suburban haying. I ended up with seven or eight garbage bags when I did my a couple of weeks ago. It looks good though.

[Graham_A_M]

^ You can buy a de-thatching "blade" for your lawnmower for $10-20 at most any lawnmower repair/supply shop such as Arn's Equipment.

You can rent an aerator for $30-50 a day or so, perhaps call around to who rents them, I think Home-depot might.

Their kind of overkill, we've NEVER used one and always have a very nice lawn. They run very quick, so you have to be damn fast with the controls otherwise you'll find yourself walking/("jogging") it through fences, patio's & sidewalks before you know it. Im serious.

[HomespunLobster]

Originally posted by Graham_A_M
^ You can buy a de-thatching "blade" for your lawnmower for $10-20 at most any lawnmower repair/supply shop such as Arn's Equipment.

You can rent an aerator for $30-50 a day or so, perhaps call around to who rents them, I think Home-depot might.

Their kind of overkill, we've NEVER used one and always have a very nice lawn. They run very quick, so you have to be damn fast with the controls otherwise you'll find yourself walking/("jogging") it through fences, patio's & sidewalks before you know it. Im serious.

Those dethatching blades will kill a lawn this late. He'd need to hand or power rake it.
And aeration wise, all lawns are different. Some need it, some don't. And as well, you can turn the engine speed down on the aerator and make it a comfortable speed

[colinderksen]

Any secrets you guys have for weed problems? Just bought a house and so far I've gotten the lawn looking great but I'm sick of weeding the dandelions.
Have a feeling the sod the previous owners got was shit and prone to them.
So far I have used spray weed killer, weed and feed fertilizer and gotten on hands and knees and pulled them. But new ones keep popping up everyday. Just wondering how well it works to have someone to come out and spray? Lawn is full and green but just a bit of a weed problem.
Any help would be great.

[The_Rural_Juror]

I use the stand up weeders on my side. Too bad one of my neighbours has a dandelion farm in their backyard. :thumbsdow

http://www2.fiskars.com/Products/Yard-and-Garden/Weeders

[colinderksen]

Originally posted by The_Rural_Juror
I use the stand up weeders on my side. Too bad one of my neighbours has a dandelion farm in their backyard. :thumbsdow

http://www2.fiskars.com/Products/Yard-and-Garden/Weeders

I read the reviews on it and they were saying that it left golfball sized holes in the lawn? Did you find that? Also, how deep does it go into the ground? I'm not sure how deep my sprinklers are buried. Need to figure that out too.
Ya my neighborhood is crazy too, everyone is farming those pricks.

[The_Rural_Juror]

It goes in about 3 inches deep and leaves a hole in the ground. A friend of mine fills it with new soil and seeds, but I don't bother. It'll eventually fill out. Less real estate for new weeds.:D

[G-ZUS]

We've always had a green lawn until our current neighbour moved in next door. He couldn't care less about his lawn and now we got dandelions popping up all over our yard :(

[supe]

As far as the fiskars go, there is one where there is only 1 blade that clamps the weed, don't get this one its shit. The one in the link above is the higher end model which obviously costs more. Or you can get the hound dog. It actually works quite well. When I went to the store there is an upgraded model available too, its yellow but I have this one and it works quite well.

http://www.homedepot.ca/product/weed-houndltsupgtreglt-supgt-weeder/946999

But it will take some dirt with it so after getting a lot of the big weeds I've gone to hand weeding with a weeding tool that looks like a screw driver which costed $5. Also having the ground moist helps loosen the dirt which makes it easier to get the entire root.

[The_Rural_Juror]

Here you go. On sale for $32.

http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/HouseofInnovation/Backyard/PRD~0596744P/Fiskars+Deluxe+Telescopic+Stand-Up+Weeder.jsp?locale=en

Longer ones are much easier on your back.

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by colinderksen


I read the reviews on it and they were saying that it left golfball sized holes in the lawn? Did you find that? Also, how deep does it go into the ground?

I use a hand one similar to this one. (http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/2/OutdoorLiving/GardeningTools/ToolsShortHandle/PRD~0592788P/Yardworks+Aluminum+Weeder.jsp?locale=en) it still leaves a hole, but not nearly as big, and fills in by itself quickly. The only thing you can do is make sure you're pulling out the roots, and not just the stems. Leaving the roots means it'll grow back in a few days.

That being said. If you live in the North, you're fucked :rofl: . I thought my neighborhood was bad, but after visiting a co-worker in Coventry, I couldn't believe the amount of dandelions up there!

[BokCh0y]

Originally posted by The_Rural_Juror
Here you go. On sale for $32.

http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/HouseofInnovation/Backyard/PRD~0596744P/Fiskars+Deluxe+Telescopic+Stand-Up+Weeder.jsp?locale=en

Longer ones are much easier on your back.

i have one of these, leaves a big ass hole but i just let it fill it, kinda like my own way of aerating haha. Works great to be honest, i really like it.

Also i want to aerate my lawn, is it too late to do it or can i do it whenever throughout the summer? No specific time like dethatching?

[kenny]

Originally posted by colinderksen
Any secrets you guys have for weed problems? Just bought a house and so far I've gotten the lawn looking great but I'm sick of weeding the dandelions.
Have a feeling the sod the previous owners got was shit and prone to them.
So far I have used spray weed killer, weed and feed fertilizer and gotten on hands and knees and pulled them. But new ones keep popping up everyday. Just wondering how well it works to have someone to come out and spray? Lawn is full and green but just a bit of a weed problem.
Any help would be great.

If you have a ton of weed issues, focus on thickening your lawn instead of trying to battle the weeds. A thick healthy lawn will naturally keep the weeds out.

[Graham_A_M]

^ Word, we never have dandelions. For the best time to aerate, I think late summer/very early fall is generally the best.

[colinderksen]

Went to home depot and they had a few different weed pullers. I said to hell with it and went home and did it old school with a hand tool. Little grass seed after for the holes and cut it today and all is well. Can't even tell, just set my sprinklers to go off twice today and it's much better. Guess we will see what happens and if they come back.
If they do I'm going out to the farm and grabbing professional products.

Grass is super thick and green, just has a ton of weeds. Even more once you get down and start pulling them, then you see everything. Ha. All things considered, not bad for may.

[Boat]

I went with BokChoy & Rural's suggestion after checking out this thread.

http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/HouseofInnovation/Backyard/PRD~0596744P/Fiskars+Deluxe+Telescopic+Stand-Up+Weeder.jsp?locale=en

I'm 6'3 and its great.