When will you guys start Autumn scarifying (in the UK)

I know it's already a bit early to be thinking about Autumn scarifying but a lot of the gardens I've taken over from another guy who got fed up with gardening, have serious moss problems. There is usually twice as much moss as grass if you're lucky.

A lot of reasons can cause the springy turf moss but for 75% of lawns to be affected, it seems it could be due to cutting the lawns too short in the summer and no after-care.

I'm investing in a petrol scarifier (not self propelled) soon but have been told to start early-mid September. Do you guys think this is too early?

Also, it has been advised to not use lawn sand but a chemical moss killer. Why should lawn sand be used in Spring but not Autumn? Don't they do the dame job?

 

Waiting for summer to start ! Not thought about autumn yet

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner Mowerman. Could you tell us approximately where you are please as different climates make a difference to how the problems are solved.

 

@Harry - it would be nice if summer EVER started Seems like we've skipped the best season.

@Sheal - I'm in the humber region. The place of eternal cloud and unforecasted rain as it seems just lately.

 

Thanks Mowerman. Most of us have put our area in our avatar boxes, it gives guidance when discussing suitable plants etc.

Hmmm, it sound like we're all lacking summer so far this year! Most of my home grown annuals are already in the compost bin, they've either been destroyed by the weather or just haven't performed but we have to take the rough years with the good I suppose.

Back to moss.......I have to be honest and say I've given up with my front lawn, the battle to keep moss at bay was to hard. I keep the weeds down and mow regularly but other than that it's left to do it's own thing. Having said that the moss hasn't got any worse, so perhaps it's found it's level.

Many people make the mistake of cutting lawns to short, could it be down to time? With most people working perhaps they think a shorter cut will give them more time between mowing. I think it's down to warmer, wetter winter months. Being of the older generation here on GC, I remember winters when we had snow on the ground nearly every year and we very rarely saw the amounts of moss we have now, that was back in Essex, I moved to the island 23 years ago.

I don't think early September is to early. There is very little time between then and the first frosts when lawn work should stop.

Yes, they do the same job and I don't know the reason but I'm guessing that during spring the lawn can cope with the sand when it's growing, during autumn it's almost at a halt and possibly may be damaged by it. I have sandy soil and would never use sand to kill moss, it would only add to my lawn issues.

 

@Sheal ..... Thank you very much for your response, it helps a lot. Sorry to hear your summer plants have given up the ghost. Nobody can blame them. The temps were hitting 10°C higher each day at this time last year. It's been 13-15°C on a number of days here which is freakishly low for this time of year.

I guess you're right about lawn sand as sandy soil can cause moss issues and it will probably grow better over winter than grass, even though it should be killed. But.... moss is weird stuff and eliminating the possibility of sandy soil reduces one aspect of the equation.

Looks like it's chemicals all the way and a scarifier to do the hard graft that Green Gingers are paid to take care of but don't want dirty hands on many of the higher-paying customers.

Thanks again for your input.

 

A number of gardeners use iron sulphate to control moss perhaps you'd like to check out the use of it and also compare the cost to other moss killing products.

 

Iron sulphate for me as it works a treat and is cheap. Blackens the moss and greens up the remaining grass. I used to have severe moss infestation with heavy shading and some poor drainage but the iron has been very good in dealing with it with a small electric scarifier.

 

I Scarifyed mine last week as they were forcasting rain, the gras look bad as it was dry, so when they said rain i done it, nice bit of rain and the grass is already green, i say it was good timming

 

Thanks for your input guys. Will check out iron sulphate as an alternative to the chemical that was recommended, which for the life of me, can't remember what it's called. And it's not in any of my books either.

Is iron sulphate in a decent seeder/fertilizer on wheels enough to kill off the moss a couple of weeks before the dreaded deed?

 

I dilute mine in a small sprayer. Lawn is circa 40m x 35m so it takes a bit of time .
Leave it a week then scarify it.

 

I think you'll find you have to water it in @Mowerman.

 

Thanks for the advice.

There's supposed to be 3 weeks of wet weather ahead but if I start now it's guaranteed to dry up with weeks of scorching sunshine and leave a right old mess.

Will get another sprayer and plenty of iron sulphate and decent seed because some lawns are in a shocking state that there will be hardly any grass once the moss has gone.

 

I've been scarifying for a few weeks now.

 

Far to early round my neck of the woods to scarify. Dry and hard with a forecast of warm weather again.
Good results this year with one type of fertiliser that eats away moss rather than the more hard core approach.
I will see what the weathers like in a few weeks before I start scarifying.