Scarifying and moss raking is an essential part of lawn management. It is ideally carried out during spring and autumn, when the lawn is growing or is going to grow actively.
Scarifying
Scarifying is a vigorous raking process using a powered machine, fitted with knives, that removes thatch, debris and decaying matter, all of which have an adverse effect on the health of a lawn. Depending on the level of thatch in the lawn at the outset, a certain amount of seeding and repair work may be necessary following the work. Once the job is done regular, thorough watering will be necessary if there is no rain, otherwise the lawn will not recover properly.
It is important to time scarifying so that the lawn can take advantage of a period of growth in order to recover from the work, so most scarifying work tends to be done in the autumn.
Moss Raking
This process is more commonly used in spring. We use the same type of machine to rake the lawn as when we scarify but it is fitted with wire tines rather than knives. This operation is less stressful for the lawn than scarification as it does not cut into the thatch layer but mainly rakes moss out. You can see this in the picture above, which shows the large amount of moss being removed from this lawn, whilst causing relatively little damage to the grass itself.