What is the best method of eradicating a severe infestation of moss in a
lawn?
--
Roy Bailey
West Berkshire.

"Roy Bailey" wrote in message
...
What is the best method of eradicating a severe infestation of moss in a
lawn?
--
Roy Bailey
West Berkshire.

(1) Apply moss killer with your spring and autumn feeds.
(2) Cure the conditions which are encouraging moss - usually too much shade
and dampness and too little drainage.

My lawn in West Berkshire was an uphill struggle - regular treatment reduced
the moss but the area shaded by the north fence grew moss much better than
it grew grass.

On Fri, 5 Mar 2010 11:33:35 +0000, Roy Bailey
wrote:

What is the best method of eradicating a severe infestation of moss in a
lawn?

Crazy paving ain't bad


--
(¯`·. ®óñ© © ²°¹° .·´¯)

On 5 Mar, 11:33, Roy Bailey wrote:
What is the best method of eradicating a severe infestation of moss in a
lawn?
--
Roy Bailey
West Berkshire.

Look at the position & aspect. North facing? Shady? damp? poorly
drained? etc - forget any thoughts of a decent lawn without a
struggle.
Otherwise given reasonable soil and aspect - improve drainage by
spiking, topdress with lawnsand (it contains ammonium sulphate which
damages moss & broad leaved weeds and coarse grasses and feeds the
grass also. Also contains Iron sulphate which is damaging to moss)
rake out the dead moss. A commercial moss killer will also do the job,
probably at greater cost.
Then during the growing season mow frequently - with a grass box but
set your mower a bit higher and feed the grass regularly - this puts
the grass in a better condition to compete with the moss and the moss
will also dislike the higher nutrient level.
Failing all this do as Sacha says and learn to love your moss. You'll
then have time and money to do something more interesting.

Rod

On 05/03/2010 17:32, Sacha wrote:
On 2010-03-05 11:33:35 +0000, Roy Bailey said:

What is the best method of eradicating a severe infestation of moss in
a lawn?

Moss killer and rake it out. OTOH, some people with shady, damp areas of
lawn actively encourage different types of moss to grow and make a
feature of it. Worth a thought, IMO. If you can't change the
shade/dampness, whatever causes the moss to grow, you may have to learn
to love it and its cousins. My own view is that it's green so that will
do nicely.

The mossiest area of our lawn has been colonised by cyclamen coum which
is a picture just now. Much better than boring old grass.
Paul


--
CTC Right to Ride Rep. for Richmond upon Thames

In article ,
Paul Luton wrote:

The mossiest area of our lawn has been colonised by cyclamen coum which
is a picture just now. Much better than boring old grass.

Boggle. Normally, moss thrives in boggy conditions and C. coum
in drought conditions. Mine has formed a carpet in a bed under
the eaves, which rarely gets any rain.

It can't take walking on, but I agree that it's a first class
ground cover when it forms one.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Vinegar will kill moss.

On 6 Mar, 12:13, wrote:
Vinegar will kill moss.

when we still had Gramoxone it was a great way of getting rid of grass
growing in Moss.
Remember Moss doesnt need cutting or feeding just watering in dry
weather.
David Hill

In article , Sacha
writes
On 2010-03-05 11:33:35 +0000, Roy Bailey said:

What is the best method of eradicating a severe infestation of moss
in a lawn?

Moss killer and rake it out. OTOH, some people with shady, damp areas
of lawn actively encourage different types of moss to grow and make a
feature of it. Worth a thought, IMO. If you can't change the
shade/dampness, whatever causes the moss to grow, you may have to learn
to love it and its cousins. My own view is that it's green so that
will do nicely.
This is my wife's attitude and she has objected to my proposal to
eradicate it, but it has got so bad that it needs doing. I think most of
the problem is cutting the grass with a Flymo for several years, in
stead of removing the cuttings.

Roy.
--
Roy Bailey
West Berkshire.

In article , Sacha
writes

Can you borrow an 'ordinary' mower for this season to see if that
changes things for you?
Yesterday I bought a ducky little machine from Homebase at £9.99,
knocked down from £14.98. It is actually an electric leaf sweeper, but
the little wire tines are doing a good though slow job in removing the
moss. A good dosing with lawn sand should improve things.

I think your wife and I should meet. ;-))
I don't think so. She has enough weird ideas with any encouragement!

Roy.

--
Roy Bailey
West Berkshire.

A lot of the moss in my lawn is yellow-green which isn't so nice. I'll be putting the moss-killer on again this spring, after a few years of not bothering.

People talk about moss it growing in damp place, but if so why does it grow on my south-facing, gently sloping (ie well-drained), drive? My experience is that moss will move in anywhere the grass isn't, so actually some of the places it grows are relatively dry places, because anywhere is damp enough for moss most of the year in England. Which is why it grows on gravestones, etc.

The trick to keeping moss down in a lawn is encouraging the grass to grow. That means using the spiking thingy, and may mean applying lawn feeds, much as I hate doing that.

I don't mind a mix of green plants on my lawn of various families, but I take an exception to a domination by any single non-grass plant. I'm none too fond of rosette-forming weeds, either, as they kill off other stuff. As a result of the drought of 2003, which killed a lot of grass and other plants, yarrow started to dominate parts of my lawn, and that wasn't nice. It wouldn't be killed by lawn weedkiller, so I substantially eradicated it by hand. If it's only a bit, it isn't a problem.