Moss Removal
Rolling Lawn Scarifier
Rolling Lawn Scarifier & Raker
*The above Lawn Care Products are available in the Lawnsmith Shop and discussed below:
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Raking is the preferred method for removing moss. For small lawns a wire ‘spring bok’ or fan rake will do but it's much easier with a hand pulled rolling lawn scarifier*. For larger lawns a powered lawn raker or scarifier with wire tines would be best.
Good Timing helps Lawn Recovery
Moss produces spores generally in April. In Eastbourne it will be early, in Lanark it’ll be late and in Malvern the middle part of the month; as a rule, but not guaranteed! It spores again in September. Therefore, doing the business before sporing, if possible is generally a good idea.
‘If possible’ can be a problem though. When performing any ‘invasive’ treatment to the lawn we need the lawn to be able to recover and repair itself in as short a time as possible afterward. If it doesn’t then you may swap a weed problem for your moss problem! Not a good idea, so this means warmth, fertiliser and moisture must be available to get the grass recovering.
Therefore, leaving the raking until April (but before sporing) allows things to warm up a little. There is usually plenty of moisture around and the timing will be right for a fertiliser application afterwards.
In autumn, just wait until the rains start. This will fire off the moss but will also mean the grass can recover with the rain and September sun.
Moss Tip
The most common procedure is to apply a ferrous sulphate based moss killer to kill the moss, wait a couple of weeks and then rake it out. The reasoning is that you can spread the moss to other parts of your lawn as you rake if it is alive thus causing an even bigger problem.
I don’t go with this line of thought because:
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If you have a moss problem then the chances are good there are spores and possibly moss all over the lawn, so raking isn’t going to spread it to new areas
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Applying your preferred moss killer product to the lawn will never kill ALL the moss. Some moss may be too deep for the treatment to penetrate all the way
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When you rake you will now spread this remaining live moss around defeating the object or spraying the lawn in the first place!
My preferred order is:
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Rake out the moss. You will not get it all
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Apply your preferred iron sulphate based moss killer to the moss that remains after raking. The moss will now be thin enough to allow complete penetration of the moss killer
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This method will get in excess of 95% of the moss
Perhaps the real benefit of applying a moss killer prior to raking is that the moss killer will desiccate the moss to some degree thereby reducing its bulk. So, if you have a bad enough problem applying a moss killer before and after raking may be beneficial. Be careful to ensure your moss killer is low on fertiliser (nitrogen) content as a double application may cause growth or disease problems. Straight iron sulphate based moss killer would be the preferred choice in this instance.
For detailed information on raking or scarifying see Lawn Scarifying & Raking. If you just need to know how to help the lawn recover see Post Scarifying Lawn care
