I mow a few people’s yards and this is the first real Bermuda lawn I’ve seen, a lot of the lawns here are St. Augustine (in Texas). When I mowed I picked up a bunch of thatch and this seems really thick to manually dethatch with a rake. If anyone could tell me if it’s worth it to rent a dethatcher or if I can do something else with it thanks!
by MrMailbox22
9 Comments
Never dethatch Bermuda. You want to either A. Cut every few days to avoid clipping choking the lawn or B. Bag the clippings.
General rule of thumb on any lawn is to never cut more than 1/3 total height off with any mow. It’ll fill in itself and turn green with water and nutrients
That looks like you might have zoysia and not bermuda. They are pretty similar
People often scalp Bermuda as low as possible on the first mow of spring to clear as much of the dead stuff on top and make room for new growth. I don’t have Bermuda so I’m not certain whether that should be done this late into spring or not.
Soil test with local extension office is never a bad first step when trying to fix a lawn. Handling that is a service you can sell to homeowners who care about having a nice lawn.
I would give it a good rake
This isn’t Bermuda
Drop the mower a couple notches below your regular height, bag up the mess, and then go back to regular mowing height. Should look just fine.
This is Zoysia actually, whether or not you should dethatch is up for debate. Scalp to reset the height, then more frequent mowing will manage this better
Also it has been dry and not warm enough in Raleigh for zoysia to fully exit dormancy. On the coast it’s still pretty dormant.
Verticut