Thatch is the layer of organic material between grass and soil. It is usually made up of dead grass, roots, stems and other turf scraps. Thatch builds up and becomes harmful to your lawn when your lawn produces this debris faster than it can be broken down. Heavy thatch in your lawn can cause a lot of problems.
Water will be trapped in the thatch layer instead of drenching deep into the soil where it should go. Without proper seepage, this water can cause root rot in the grass as well as promote fungal diseases. Also, water trapped in thatch keeps the grass roots from absorbing enough water to hydrate the plants and it promotes shallow root growth. In some cases, the entire root system is only as deep as the thatch instead of growing long and deep into the soil. The deeper and thicker the root, the more it can retain water and prevent drought stress in the lawn. Much like water, nutrients can get trapped too. Essentials applied to your lawn like fertilizer, potassium and lime may all be ineffective if the thatch is thick enough to form a barrier to the soil. Grass can starve and become malnourished without regular, properly consumed minerals.
The best way to prevent thatch buildup is to accelerate the process of breaking it down. Lawn Doctor’s Soil Enrichment Plus Program includes organic ingredients that boost the microbial life in the soil. The naturally occurring microbes in your soil feed on thatch and with increased activity, they will break it down faster. To break up thatch mechanically, an annual or bi-annual dethatching may be beneficial. For Lawn Doctor customers, we recommend our Core Aeration. Core aeration, as opposed to spike aeration, actually removes thatch and compacted soil from the lawn instead of just poking holes in it. The machine powers through the thatch layer and into the soil, removing 2 inch deep and 1 inch wide cylindrical plugs. Besides disrupting and cutting away sections of thatch, the aeration will make more room for oxygen, water and nutrients which will increase the microbial activity of the soil, allowing for more biological breakdown of the thatch as time goes on. We recommend all Lawn Doctor customers have their lawns Core Aerated every fall as preventative maintenance against thatch and other common lawn problems.
