How To Reduce A Lawn Thatch Problem In Your Lawn

I wanted to talk about lawn thatch buildup today because it is one of the top 5 reasons why home lawns look poor, brown and thin. Yep, that’s right, excessive thatch in your lawn is a huge problem and will cause all kinds of issues down the road if you don’t get it under control. So let’s talk about it and how we can take care of it. Good news: it’s an organic process!!

What Is Lawn Thatch?

The thatch in your lawn is a layer of organic materials that reside just above the soil line at the area of the grass crown. (grass crowns are the part of the plant where the blades grow from, like your hair grows out of the crown of your head ) Thatch is a GOOD thing in the lawn if it is managed properly.

Thatch is good because:

1) it shades the root system of the turf, helping the roots stay cooler in the dead of summer

2) it prevents soil erosion during heavy rains

3) it helps retain soil moisture, thus making your irrigation more effective

3) houses organisms that are healthy for lawn soil

So you can see that thatch in the lawn is good, but keep in mind you guys, only if it is managed and kept in proper levels. What that means is we want the thatch layer to remain thinner than 1/2 inch in the lawn. Any thicker and you are gonna have issues that will continue to build.

Too much thatch is bad because:

1) too much thatch makes the lawn spongy, meaning there is no room for grass to grow. In other words, the thatch layer competes with the grass itself, causing the lawn to thin out.

2) to0 much thatch means water (from rain or your sprinkler) cannot penetrate down into the soil. The water sits in the thick thatch layer. Grass roots will actually turn upward to get that water, meaning the grass roots are actually growing in the thatch layer and not the soil (shallow rooting) making the problem compound very quickly!

3) a thick thatch layer will harbor disease and fungus that can harm your turf.

How To Manage Your Lawn’s Thatch Layer

I recommend that everyone of your reading this have your lawn aerated every single year in the fall. Aeration is a mechanical process (no chemicals!) that punches holes in the lawn. This loosens soil and allow root expansion, but for our purposes, it also punches holes in the thatch layer. Remember, some thatch is good, so we don’t need to remove it all if we are just managing it at a reasonable level. Aerate in the fall and you should be good.

However, if you already have a major thatch problem (your lawn is very spongy) then you need something more drastic. We call this de-thatching or power-raking and it is done by a machine with a roller and tines. The tines can be set to a depth that will literally scrape out the thatch. You can do this in the fall or in the spring. Just be careful not to remove ALL of the thatch. You should also be prepared to do some major cleanup after de-thatching.

What Causes The Thatch Layer To Get Too Thick?

I figured I’d throw this one in here at the end in case any of you are wondering. Thatch usually gets way to thick in lawns that have been freshly sodded in the last few years. Sod takes some time to create a root system. In addition, if you have a sprinkler system and set it to water only 10 minutes per day per zone, you are contributing to the problem. Ten minutes of water only makes the water sit on the surface of the lawn thus meaning the shallow sod roots stay above ground, causing thatch.

To prevent thatch, you need to water deep when you do! Your questions are welcome in the comments below.

Tagged as: lawn thatch, shallow roots