How to remove thatch on buffalo lawn?

[gkmsyd]

I am new to maintaining lawns and hired an Airtasker to cut overly grown buffalo lawn when rain gave a break last Saturday before it started raining again. It seems cut grass was left on lawn, which formed a thick layer of grass that looks very dry. Can we leave that as is or should we dethatch our lawn, and if we need to dethatch is there anything that we can buy from bunnings such as rake other than hiring an expensive dethatcher. The lawn is pretty new and was laid last november. I am posting pictures of how green it was before turning dry.

Community manager's note: Check out How to dethatch your lawn for expert advice.

BeforeAfter Cut in wet weatherCloseup of dry grassCloseup of dry grass2Closeup of dry grass3   

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @gkmsyd. It's brilliant to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about de-thatching a lawn.

This looks like a simple case of cut grass left on the lawn and not a de-thatching issue. After many years of growth, a lawn becomes thatched, and a build-up of dead material gets stuck within the grass blades. In this case, the dead material is simply sitting on top of the lawn and would be easily removed with a plastic rake. Just give it a bit of a rake over, and your lawn will be fine. 

Secondarily, you'll find your lawn is quite brown now. This happens when the lawn is let grow long, and a hard cut back is done. Only the growing tips of the grass blades are green, and anything overshadowed underneath goes brown. To prevent this, make sure to mow your lawn regularly. However, I appreciate that this weather event has made that tough—just a tip for the future. I suggest you consider purchasing a lawnmower so you can do this yourself. I'm sure you'll find this Best Advice article helpful: What lawn mower do you recommend?

It will take several weeks for your grass to be back to normal. You can apply some Seasol 2 x 2L Ready To Use Lawn Fertiliser during this period. You might also be interested in reading through this advice on keeping your lawn healthy.

Please let me know if you have any questions or need further assistance.

Mitchell

[gkmsyd]

@MitchellMc Thanks Mitchell for your advise.

I was thinking it is all gone and have to repatch it again,I am so relieved now.

Couple of questions though:

1) Would it grow back up if I leave the dead grass as is or do you recommend raking and removing all dead grass on top?

2) I will purchase a lawn mower as per your suggestion. I need to carry down lawn mower via steps in the backyard and can't lift/handle bulky lawn mowers, found Ozito 1500W 360mm Lawn Mower a bit lighter to handle in the store, can this cut buffalo grass?  I was also looking at PXC 18V CYLINDER LAWN MOWER – SKIN, which looks a bit lighter but it is out of stock in all stores. Are there any mowers that are lighter around 10kg mark(corded or battery but not petrol), or will one of the above suit my purpose. 

[MitchellMc · Accepted solution]

It will grow back up @gkmsyd. It might be worth removing any thicker clumps as if the grass can't see sunlight above, it could die off in patches. It's pretty common to not run a catcher on a lawnmower and mulch the grass back onto the lawn. Generally, when doing so, you'd use a mulching plug in the lawnmower, which assists with the cut grass circulating a couple of times and getting double-cut before being deposited back on the lawn. If you just run a lawnmower without a catcher and no plug, you get results like this.

The Ozito 1500W 360mm Lawn Mower will work just fine on Buffalo if you mow every couple of weeks in the peak growing periods. If the grass gets long like it was, then the mower might struggle a little bit. Still more than capable, though. The Ryobi 18V ONE+ 4.0Ah 33cm Lawn Mower Kit would be another option around the 10kg mark.

Please let me know if you have more questions.

Mitchell

[gkmsyd]

@MitchellMc Thanks a ton Mitchelle, very glad I chose to be part of this community, you guys are really helpful.