St augustine removing thatch
 

I was told I need to remove the thatch from the st augustine grass. Is there a company that does that or is it a diy project?

I use Portillo's Lawn Solutions for aeration and thatching. He's always prompt and does a good job. Calls me every spring to set up an appointment if needed.

Office: 352-410-3361
Cell: 352-989-0371

Augustine grass, which tends to build thatch more quickly than other varieties, shouldn't need verticutting every year. One cultural technique to delay thatch buildup is to decrease the amount of water and fertilizer.Jul 29, 1995

Have had St. Augustine grass my entire life. If cut regularly and not much grass build up, probably very little need to remove thatch. Have had this grass in TV for 4 years and have not ever had to do this. Our lawn person does cut grass every week and very little cut grass can be seen.

Don't Bother De-Thatching!
 

Just an fyi, talking to the folks at the extension office, they don't recommend dethatching later than August but as warm as it is you may want to wait until spring. This would give the lawn much more time to recover. You can rent vertical mowers from Home Depot, I have a pickup and would be happy to help you if and when you decide to do it. PM me if you're interested.

Thank you for the advice and offer, I am not sure if it needs it or not, but I want to ask what is the extension office? Is that the Warranty department? This is in a patio villa that is 6 months old, by the way.

Try Oxford Lawn Service 352-446-3497

Check the Home and Garden section, page E4, of today’s paper for a description of some of the information you can get from the UF/IFAS Sumter County Extension Office that advises county residents on how to care for their turf and landscaping. BTW there’s no way a 6 month old lawn needs dethatching.

No way would a new home only 6 months old need to be dethatched. If needed at all maybe every 3 years.

Absolutely. Forget about thatch on St Augustine grass. Just water & cut it.

with St aug, you have to be careful - the Thatch machines around here are blades not tines. Blade dethatching will cause some damage to the lawn, airation does nothing by the way. We had gorgeous St Aug at our former house - amazing differece with tine thatching it got thick and deep green. Highly recommend.

If it's actually zoysia.... only tine otherwise you'll kill it with blade.

agreed.... maybe mention WHY you think it needs it. because it takes 5 years to need to dethatch St Aug.

So many things can be factors in your new lawn. What type of St Aug and how healthy was it?, how thick the soil was that came with it, and what type of soil, was it grown on? What type of soil do you have that the sod was laid on?

A pic and discription of your issue/s might get us in the ball park of a problem, but short of an actual pro standing on, and probing your lawn in person, I would not spend much time or money doing anything to your lawn besides watering and fertilizing.

That said, most St Aug problems are not enough water, and in new lawns, not enough soil was on the sod (spreading top soil on the bad area is the best bet).

NEVER de-thatch, but verti-slicing is helpful in certain situations, but ONLY if the blades are set very far apart for St Aug

Thank you for the advice. Here's some pictures that I took over the past 3 months. I think putting top soil down might be the solution and some people have suggested peat moss to absorb some of the water. the ground is always very wet, the roots are exposed, the grass won't grow. the first picture is the area that is bald and very wet.


My lawn is dying - Google Drive

bald lawn 20221121_093830.jpg - Google Drive

lawn 20221121_093813.jpg - Google Drive


lawn roots 20221121_093622.jpg - Google Drive


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