Author |
Message |
Julieboo
Member
02-05-2002
| Friday, April 13, 2007 - 1:50 pm
Anyone have opinions on these? Should they be done every year?
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Friday, April 13, 2007 - 1:56 pm
Aeration like poking holes in your yard? What is dethatching? If aeration is what I'm thinking, we're about to do it, but we're also planting new grass this year. I've noticed though several of my neighbors doing it this year and that it's been a few years since they have done it (these are folks with goregous yards, not like mine all tore up right now with a bunch of damn trenches!)
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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Friday, April 13, 2007 - 2:27 pm
we have aerated our yard in the past. i honestly don't know if it made a difference or not. i know my yard looks lousy now, but don't know if it's cause we haven't in a while. if you do decide to do it, know that your yard will look like crap for a while before it gets better.
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Friday, April 13, 2007 - 2:33 pm
Yep, Annie. It's been such a shock lately to walk out and see two of the neighbors yards in particular looking like crap because usually they are so nice, neat and green. The only reason we are doing it (actually at this point I believe we are now going to rototil all of it instead) is because Darren decided to redo the sprinkler system. Then he decided to redo the pipes to the system and dug trenches throughout the whole front yard so now it needs to be redone from the begining. It kinda drives me nuts cuz he can only work on it on the weekends, so I've had trenches out front since last weekend!
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Julieboo
Member
02-05-2002
| Friday, April 13, 2007 - 2:36 pm
Aeration is only about $40 while dethatching is $140... I just wonder of the end result is worth it... Our yard is only about 7 years old, prior to that it was prairie/farmland...
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Hypermom
Member
08-13-2001
| Saturday, April 14, 2007 - 10:01 am
Dethatching is like using a heavy metal rake and pulling out all the dead grass.
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Julieboo
Member
02-05-2002
| Saturday, April 14, 2007 - 4:22 pm
Thanks Hyper! We really don't have a lot of dead grass, so maybe we'll just stick with aeration this year....
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Hypermom
Member
08-13-2001
| Saturday, April 14, 2007 - 10:05 pm
Your welcome, Julie. We do the dethatching about every 3 years because we don't bag the cut grass when mowing.
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Julieboo
Member
02-05-2002
| Sunday, April 15, 2007 - 6:46 am
Hmmm, we don't bag either. What kind of difference does that make?
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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Sunday, April 15, 2007 - 8:07 am
wow! wish our aeration was $40, we might do it more often! think we paid around $200.
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Hypermom
Member
08-13-2001
| Sunday, April 15, 2007 - 10:11 am
Julie, the mulched grass, while helpful for nutrients, ends up forming a dense mat on top of the soil. After a while, it doesn't let the living grass get water. If your yard isn't huge, it's not hard to do yourself.
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Sunshyne4u
Member
06-17-2003
| Monday, April 16, 2007 - 1:39 pm
Dethatching is like using a heavy metal rake and pulling out all the dead grass. and MOSS! aeration is needed supposedly to stop the ground from becoming packed solid roots. It also helps when you lay down your Weed n feed/ fertilizer as it gets right to the roots. Be aware that Aeration and Thatching (moss removal) makes it easy to rip you off! I was quoted a SIX HOUR job to do my lawns. I rented a machine, hired a guy to push it and we did the whole yard in less than four hours. My yard is 90x200 The lawncare guys also charge a ridiculous price like 40$ a hour .....because it is 'manual labout' and they cant use their ride on lawnmowers LOL Good old fashioned handrake is the only way. That and the drive to get the job done quickly. Someone could choose to drag it out for an 8 hr day. I know someone that it happened to. Anyways, Good luck!!
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Eeyoreslament
Member
07-20-2003
| Monday, April 16, 2007 - 2:10 pm
If you're going to get someone to do an hourly job, make sure they guarantee a MAXIMUM hours they can charge you, because some manual labor people drag stuff out. Happened to me when I moved last time...they dragged a 2 hour job into a 4 hour job. I was livid.
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Jagger
Member
08-07-2002
| Monday, April 23, 2007 - 9:41 am
I've been wanting to arigate my year for years now, but it does get pretty spendy. My neighbor has some one do his yard about every 3 years and his grass is much fuller, but that may be because he also fertalizes more than I do. I kind of do the dethathing myself, I just tie a 5 or 10 pound sand bag to my rake and go at it. It sucks big time but does get down in there and gets most of the loose dead grass. You can also arigate your own yard if you feel like working a bit. Just take a pitch fork, the ones with the wider blades and walk around the yard stabbing it, good way to let off some pent up steam.LOL
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Escapee
Member
06-15-2004
| Monday, April 23, 2007 - 10:00 am
Take a jog around the yard a few dozen times in golf shoes.
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Sunshyne4u
Member
06-17-2003
| Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - 3:23 am
hey you can buy a spikey sole to tie onto your shoes.... but the easiest thing is to get those spikey tires for your lawn mower.
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