Scarify lawn before weed feed'n mosskill?
 

My lawn is in a total state; needs scrapping and returfing but I'm not
about to do that now - just want a quick and dirty solution to make it
look a bit better for this season, So I'm going to give it a dose of
weed feed and mosskill (ie, all one dose), after which presumably it
will need scaryfing to get rid of all the dead stuff.

Question - would it be a good idea or not to scarify before dosing? I'm
thinking yes to get rid of as much biomass as possible first, but no
because maybe the moss etc all needs to be intact for the killer to work
properly?

Thanks
David

Scarify lawn before weed feed'n mosskill?
 

Lobster wrote:
My lawn is in a total state; needs scrapping and returfing but I'm not
about to do that now - just want a quick and dirty solution to make it
look a bit better for this season, So I'm going to give it a dose of
weed feed and mosskill (ie, all one dose), after which presumably it
will need scaryfing to get rid of all the dead stuff.

Question - would it be a good idea or not to scarify before dosing? I'm
thinking yes to get rid of as much biomass as possible first, but no
because maybe the moss etc all needs to be intact for the killer to work
properly?

Thanks
David
I applied Feed &Weed first, waited for rain, then a few days later
it all came away easily.

Sam

Scarify lawn before weed feed'n mosskill?
 

"Lobster" wrote in message
...
My lawn is in a total state; needs scrapping and returfing but I'm not
about to do that now - just want a quick and dirty solution to make it
look a bit better for this season, So I'm going to give it a dose of weed
feed and mosskill (ie, all one dose), after which presumably it will need
scaryfing to get rid of all the dead stuff.

Question - would it be a good idea or not to scarify before dosing? I'm
thinking yes to get rid of as much biomass as possible first, but no
because maybe the moss etc all needs to be intact for the killer to work
properly?

Thanks
David

I had heard that scarifying helps spread the moss when it's alive so you're
better to wait until the mosskiller has had it's effect before scarifying.

Whether this is true or not I'm not sure but there's certainy no harm in
scarifying afterwards.


Stephen

Scarify lawn before weed feed'n mosskill?
 

Stephen Stewart wrote:

I had heard that scarifying helps spread the moss when it's alive so you're
better to wait until the mosskiller has had it's effect before scarifying.

I hope that's not true because I expended much effort on Saturday
scarified my extremely mossy back lawn on Saturday before mowing it. I
was intending to weed & feed it today, but didn't get round to it. So
much to do at this time of year!

Whether this is true or not I'm not sure but there's certainy no harm in
scarifying afterwards.

If nothing else, it's very good exercise.

Peter

Scarify lawn before weed feed'n mosskill?
 

Peter Robinson wrote:

I hope that's not true because I expended much effort on Saturday
scarified my extremely mossy back lawn on Saturday before mowing it. I
was intending to weed & feed it today, but didn't get round to it. So
much to do at this time of year!

I have the box of pellets, and am now working out exactly when I
am allowed to use it.

Not within three days either side of mowing.
Not when the grass is moist.
Not when the soil is dry.
When rain is expected (otherwise have to water in)

I can see that I will have to sneak up on it ;-)

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Have dancing shoes, will ceilidh.

Scarify lawn before weed feed'n mosskill?
 

"Peter Robinson" wrote in message
...
Stephen Stewart wrote:

I had heard that scarifying helps spread the moss when it's alive so
you're
better to wait until the mosskiller has had it's effect before
scarifying.

I hope that's not true because I expended much effort on Saturday
scarified my extremely mossy back lawn on Saturday before mowing it. I
was intending to weed & feed it today, but didn't get round to it. So
much to do at this time of year!

I think the theory behind it is that when the moss is still alive the
scarifying spreads the spores.

Oohh that's a tough job doing it by hand though.

My dad has a powered scarifier that I borrow when needed.



Whether this is true or not I'm not sure but there's certainy no harm in
scarifying afterwards.

If nothing else, it's very good exercise.

I did it entirely by hand once and it nearly killed me. :-)

Mind you I did go over it about five times before I was happy.


Stephen

Scarify lawn before weed feed'n mosskill?
 

Chris J Dixon wrote:

Peter Robinson wrote:

I hope that's not true because I expended much effort on Saturday
scarified my extremely mossy back lawn on Saturday before mowing it.

Did I mention I did this on Saturday?

I was intending to weed & feed it today, but didn't get round to it. So
much to do at this time of year!

I have the box of pellets, and am now working out exactly when I
am allowed to use it.

Not within three days either side of mowing.
Not when the grass is moist.
Not when the soil is dry.
When rain is expected (otherwise have to water in)

Right you are, mine has similar conditions, so it's just as well I
didn't put it on yesterday. I should probably wait until after it next
rains. Shouldn't be too far away in April, but I think April was in
March this year :)

I can see that I will have to sneak up on it ;-)

Peter

Scarify lawn before weed feed'n mosskill?
 

Stephen Stewart wrote:

"Peter Robinson" wrote in message
...

Stephen Stewart wrote:

[...] you're better to wait until the mosskiller has had it's effect
before scarifying.

I hope that's not true because I expended much effort on Saturday
scarified my extremely mossy back lawn on Saturday before mowing it.

I think the theory behind it is that when the moss is still alive the
scarifying spreads the spores.

There does seem to be a certain amount of logic in that!

Oohh that's a tough job doing it by hand though.

My enthusiasm did wane somewhat a third of the way in!

My dad has a powered scarifier that I borrow when needed.

Luxury!

Whether this is true or not I'm not sure but there's certainy no harm in
scarifying afterwards.

If nothing else, it's very good exercise.

I did it entirely by hand once and it nearly killed me. :-)

Mind you I did go over it about five times before I was happy.

After mowing and picking up more moss than grass, it's quite depressing
how much there still seems to be left.

Peter

Scarify lawn before weed feed'n mosskill?
 

"Peter Robinson" wrote in message
...
Stephen Stewart wrote:
I did it entirely by hand once and it nearly killed me. :-)

Mind you I did go over it about five times before I was happy.

After mowing and picking up more moss than grass, it's quite depressing
how much there still seems to be left.

Peter

That was always my problem too.

No matter how many times you go over it with a rake if you rake it again
you'll still get more.

As much as I admire your stamina powered scarifiers do a far more thorough
job and are relatively cheap. :-)

Life's too short for some things but unfortunately as far as moss goes it
took me a while to find that out. :-)


Stephen

Scarify lawn before weed feed'n mosskill?
 

Stephen Stewart wrote:

No matter how many times you go over it with a rake if you rake it again
you'll still get more.

As much as I admire your stamina powered scarifiers do a far more thorough
job and are relatively cheap. :-)

Life's too short for some things but unfortunately as far as moss goes it
took me a while to find that out. :-)

You're probably right, but I've never had much of a problem with moss in
that lawn befo it's always been there, but never to such an extend
that there are whole patches of nothing but moss. I think it must have
been wetter for longer this winter.

I suppose I'm an optimistist, hoping I'd never have much use for a
powered scarifier. If it ever rains I'll try the weed & feed and see
what happens after that...

Peter

Scarify lawn before weed feed'n mosskill?
 

"Peter Robinson" wrote in message
...
Stephen Stewart wrote:

No matter how many times you go over it with a rake if you rake it again
you'll still get more.

As much as I admire your stamina powered scarifiers do a far more
thorough
job and are relatively cheap. :-)

Life's too short for some things but unfortunately as far as moss goes it
took me a while to find that out. :-)

You're probably right, but I've never had much of a problem with moss in
that lawn befo it's always been there, but never to such an extend
that there are whole patches of nothing but moss. I think it must have
been wetter for longer this winter.

I suppose I'm an optimistist, hoping I'd never have much use for a
powered scarifier. If it ever rains I'll try the weed & feed and see
what happens after that...

Peter

If it's as bad as that then you could probably do with aerating it and
putting down sharp sand.

That can be quite an arduous job though particularly if you've a large lawn.

I bought a hollow tine aerator quite cheaply over the Internet late last
year.

It hasn't been long enough yet to judge its effectiveness but I'm hoping
that the improvement will be noticeable this year especially after all the
effort I've gone to. :-)


Stephen