Okay. You’ve had a little time to settle down after seeing the results of scarifying. Don’t worry about the way the lawn looks. It is more than certain that your lawn will be even better and healthier than it was.
A scarified lawn and the gradual recovery.
(Courtesy: Alan at flickr.com)
Still, you will have to be proactive in the healing process and hope that nature will assist in providing warmth, sun and rain to make the recovery speed along.
First activity you need to perform is to apply ferrous sulfate based moss killer if your lawn has a history of having moss issues. The moss killer should be applied using a watering can or sprayer to kill any remaining moss. The substance will no doubt penetrate deeply into the moss because of the heavy thinning resulting from the scarifying.
Next, do some seeding. If damage is sporadic, then a light sprinkling of seed should suffice. That would be 10 to 20 seeds per square inch on to the marred area.
However, if the de-mossing or de-thatching is very thorough, then you probably should not expect a full and uniform recovery. If this is the case, experts suggest that you seed the whole lawn.
If you intend to apply iron sulfate or an iron fertilizer as well as over seed, do the seeding a couple of days after the fertilizing. You can use other types of fertilizers at anytime, but apply it just before or at the time of seeding.
Next, get some fertilizer containing potassium into the lawn. This helps the grass battle the stress of the scarifying and will help prevent disease. Since scarifying is done in August or September, a good fall fertilizer will suffice.
If you perform the scarifying in the spring, use a high iron lawn feed as an alternative to ferrous sulfate. This will also help deal with any remaining moss. Make sure that the soil is moist before applying. Keep in mind that this type of feed is not sufficient enough for feeding new seedlings or helping in the total recovery of the lawn. You will also need spring and summer fertilizer for sandy soil even if you have clay soil because the fertilizer includes the proper balance of nutrients for new and old grass.
Finally, you will have to put your trust in nature to provide gentle rain. You should also be ready to use your sprinkler if nature does not heed your call.
