What is Scarification?
Scarification is a very important operation. There are three things that are massively beneficial to your lawns health and this is one of them (aeration and fertilisation are the other two).
The main purpose of scarification is to remove the organic material that occurs naturally just below the turf grass leaves, but above the soil layer. Scarification removes thatch and moss, allows the soil to exchange gases and helps promote a thick, lush grass surface.
What is Thatch?
Thatch is an organic layer consisting of dead, dying and living stems, roots and leaves, in fact, all parts of the grass plant. A thick thatch layer will have a number of detrimental effects on any lawn. The surface will feel spongy and can stay wet for longer. It prevents the infiltration of water and therefore affects the drainage properties of the lawn.
Thatch also acts as a harbour for pests and diseases to develop and feed in. It promotes the ideal conditions for weed invasion, mosses and undesirable grass species. Thatch can also trap within it any nutrients applied to a lawn resulting in a very shallow root system. Shallow rooted grasses offers poor drought resistance, colour and density and the plants ability to recover from wear will be drastically reduced.
Scarification should be carried out for a number of reasons:
• Reduces the amount of moss in the turf surface
• Increases the density of some grasses
•Removes undesirable thatch layers
•Allows water and nutrients and oxygen access to the soil layers resulting in a healthier more drought resistant turf surface
•Improves water drainage rates
•Creates the correct conditions needed for the germination of newly sown seed
• Reduces water run-off from the turf surface
• Prevents the formation of algae