By hand or machine?

louise pope wrote (see)

 http://www.djturfcare.co.uk/products/MO-Bacter-Organic-Lawn-Fertiliser.htm   

 

yvonne parsons2 wrote (see)

help! My lawn is covered in moss, from a distance it looks green and normal but as you get nearer you can see its just covered with dense moss. When you walk on it it's like walking on sponge. Now I know I need to aerate it and scarify it but wondered what people thought about which was the better method. I don't want to put anything on the lawn to kill the moss as such ( don't want black patches) so wondered if anyone could advise on what they have found to be the easiest/quickest/more effective method. Thanks everyone

hi ,the above web site may be able to help you

Derek

Good Morning Yvonne, Sorry misunderstood. its just I read the earlier thread and thought that the advertised product might be suitable .my own experience is that I once used a moss remover and the grass turned black, yeach .so now I do not allow my lawn to grow moss ,I Rake it every other week when mowing I cut my own and my next door's grass it gives me the illusion of a bigger garden

Derek

Good morning  I found that scarifying worked for me.

Not easy or a pretty sight but once the moss revealed bare patches...I then sprinkled not-peat compost on those parts (looked good - black against the green!) and carried on with the lawn as usual (mowing, edging and feeding - lawn food). It took two seasons, spring to spring, but didn't look too bad in subsequent summers. Now down to a small patch of clover - where that came from is a mystery.

Just back in for a cuppa from an early morning session as it looked like rain - trimmed lawn edges and hope to mow later today... if it doesn't rain.

Good luck. keep in touch as to how things work out.

hi, if you Google "mo Baxter" that should get you the page

Derek

sorry wrong spelling "bacter"

Yvonne, first I will tell you there is no easy fix either with chemical or by hand.
The moss needs to be got out as the grass under it will be strangled.
You can hire a scarifier if you do not have one and go over the lawn at high then keep lowering the blades this will remove a lot of the top growth, it will also scatter it about and regrow so it has to be swept off and bagged up, some will go in the compost well mixed.
You will be left with a really patchy lawn if there is any grass left under the moss, now is the time to Aerate, you can hire a machine to do this or using a garden fork start one end and methodically push it into the lawn every six inches or so, good exercise and I put my brain out of gear and listen to the bird song whilst doing that.
You now need to make up a mix of compost washed sand and lawn seed to spread on the area's where the grass has gone and gently rake it in. or sweep it in with a hard brush.
Let that grow which means not cutting the grass for a while then after a cut redo any bare patches with more of the mix.
Come the Autumn you will have a sort of lawn spread a winter feed and weed and leave after the last cut, make sure you water it in if it does not rain at the time.
Spring start to feed and weed about every six weeks or so and use the seed mix if there are still bare patches, two years from now you will have a good green lawn.
You could take off the old grass, (it makes good loam after standing in a stack for a year) and replace with rolls after preparing the soil to lay rolls. Modern grass rolls can come in fine medium and hard wearing so you take your pick.
I used to help look after our bowling green, there is nothing easy about caring for grass and it was very labour intensive and yes even with all the work we put in you would get some moss. I do not want to put you off Yvonne just wish you to know it is hard work.
Moss killer will knock most of it back, I hate chemicals although at times needed, then you will have the black patches to deal with and re-seed probably easier in time and effort it is up to you.
We are always here to help so ask if in doubt.

Frank.

One garden expert has suggested that a small dose of Lime would help a lot of lawns, after all the rain we have had the lime content could be low, and that locks up other nutrients.