Should you dethatch or aerate your lawn?

If your backyard looks dull or patchy, you may need to change tack. When it comes to looking after your lawn, there’s much more to it than mowing it shorter. At Hirepool, we’ve got heaps of lawn and garden hire equipment to lend a hand. 

If you haven’t heard of a lawn aerator or lawn dethatcher, don’t worry; you’re not alone. Some homeowners aren’t familiar with these pieces of gear, but they’re well worth a look. Dethatching and aerating your lawn both help to level up your lawn. So, what’s the difference between these pieces of kit? And, if you had to pick one, which should it be? This blog will weigh up the pros and cons of each. After a quick read, you’ll be ready to get on the tools this weekend. Here’s what we’ll cover: 

What is dethatching?

The benefits of dethatching your lawn

When to dethatch your lawn

What is lawn aerating?

The benefits of aerating your lawn

How to decide between dethatching and aerating your lawn

The benefits of both dethatching and aerating your lawn

The range of dethatchers and aerators for hire at Hirepool

Let’s rip into it. 

What is dethatching?

It may seem obvious, but a dethatcher removes thatch from your lawn. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, what actually is thatch? To get to the long and short of it, thatch is a layer of dead plant matter that sits between your grass and soil. It could be made up of a few things, including:

• Dead leaves
  
  
• Roots
  
  
• Other green waste

There are heaps of different lawn types in New Zealand, but nearly all have thatch. To be clear, some thatch is ok. It’s when it gets too thick it causes problems. 

Pro tip: A lawn dethatcher is sometimes called a scarifier.

[Hirepool to supply image of DIYer using a dethatcher]

The benefits of dethatching your lawn

There are heaps of easy things you can do on a sunny weekend day to get your lawn looking great, including dethatching. But, what happens when you get rid of thatch? Is the effort of tracking down a lawn dethatcher to hire worth it? Here are a few benefits. 

More nutrients for your grass

When thatch gets too thick, it prevents water and air from getting into the soil beneath. This stops oxygen, nutrients and water from feeding your grass. Like how you’d whittle away if you stop having smoko, your grass won’t grow without proper feeding, either. 

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Prevent waterlogging

If you’ve ever accidentally stood in a puddle, you’ll know how annoying it is. When you dethatch your lawn, water drains a lot easier through to your soil when there’s been a lot of rain. Especially if you live in an area prone to flooding, dethatching is worth keeping in mind.

Prevent diseases

Your grass can catch diseases and get sick just like us. Unlike us, your grass won’t start coughing or get a runny nose. Instead, it will fade in colour, droop and grow slower. The kind of diseases your grass may get can come from fungal infections and moss. Both of these like to grow in water that sits on top of your lawn for too long. 

When to dethatch your lawn

Most of us work and don’t have much time to spend on lawn maintenance. So, when’s the best time to have a go with a dethatcher? To start with, you can dethatch your lawn any time of the year. But, we reckon spring or autumn is the best time to do it. This is because your lawn will grow faster during these periods, and there may be more thatch. 

If you need pointers on where to get started, we’ve got a simple guide on how to use a dethatcher. It’s really easy to follow, so you can get stuck in. After you’re finished, you may want to give your lawn a tidy-up with a mower as well. 

What is lawn aerating?

Yep, dethatching and using a lawn aerator both help to make your grass healthier. So, we understand how some DIYers may get the two confused. But, a lawn aerator is a different landscaping tool altogether. The long and short of it is that a lawn aerator makes small holes in the soil beneath your grass.

The benefits of aerating your lawn

There are loads of perks to getting at your lawn with an aerator. As you’d guess, there is some crossover with the benefits of using a dethatcher or scarifier. But, there are heaps of unique benefits to aerating your lawn too.  

Your fertiliser works better

Not everyone fertilises their lawn, but they should. We won’t get too in the weeds with the pros of using fertiliser, other than it helps your grass to grow. If you do use fertiliser, you should probably aerate your lawn before you do. 

The small holes an aerator leaves behind are perfect to double down on the fertiliser by letting in more oxygen and encouraging deeper grassroots. 

Better prepared for drought

It feels like these days the weather is more extreme. This includes droughts during summer. We love a hot Saturday in the sun as much as the next Kiwi, but sometimes it gets too hot even to play backyard cricket! If the sun keeps around for too long, it can lead to drought, which is bad news for your lawn. 

Aerating your lawn before a drought arrives means that the soil and grass will soak up more water to withstand the harsh conditions better. 

Encourage worms

If your mate told you he had worms, you’d run a mile. But having worms in the soil beneath your lawn is a good thing. Worms dig holes in the soil beneath the grass, which helps to spread water and nutrients through the soil. Using a lawn aerator makes holes that allow more oxygen for worms and other microfauna to flourish.  

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When to aerate your lawn

Chances are you don’t own one, so you’ll need to hire a lawn aerator for a day or two from Hirepool. But when’s the best time to do this? Just like dethatching, aerating your lawn is best to in spring or autumn. This is because your grass grows the most during these times. 

How to decide between dethatching and aerating your lawn

We reckon, in an ideal world, you’d both aerate and dethatch your lawn. There’s no harm in doing both straight after the other on your day off. In fact, it’s better! But let’s say you only had time and money for one piece of hire equipment. Here are some things to consider when choosing which gear to pick up from Hirepool. 

Whether you’re overseeding

Overseeding kind of sounds like a bad thing. Really, overseeding is just planting grass seeds over grass that’s already there. The idea is that it fills in any gaps and makes your lawn thicker. If you are about to lay seeds, it’s good to use a dethatcher beforehand. Dethatching loosens topsoil, which is great for seeding. 

Your soil

The soil varies depending on where you are in New Zealand. The soil in an Auckland backyard may be a lot different to soil in the backyard of someone that lives in Invercargill. If you have sandy soil, you only need to aerate soil about once a year. If you have clay soil, you’ll want to aerate it two or three times a year. Long story short, aerating may be a bigger priority than dethatching if you have clay soil. 

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The colour of your grass

If your grass looks yellow, brown, or just dull in general, it’s probably not doing too well. There are a few ways you could go about lending it a hand. One of these solutions is choosing to dethatch your lawn. Thatch is often brown, so getting rid of it can help your grass look greener and healthier. If your grass isn’t green, dethatching should be a priority.

Top tip: If your lawn is too far gone, you may need to start from scratch. If you’re doing this, read our guide on how to reseed your lawn like a pro. 

The benefits of both dethatching and aerating your lawn

Given that both a lawn aerator and lawn dethatcher get more air, water and nutrients into your lawn for better growth, we reckon it’s best to use both if you can. If you are using both, you’ll want to dethatch before aerating. This will get rid of thatch, so your aerator doesn’t need to work as hard and isn’t punching holes in the thatch as well. But hey, we’re not all made of money. So, if you can only do one, weigh up some of the considerations mentioned in this blog. 

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The range of dethatchers and aerators for hire at Hirepool

At Hirepool, we’ve got a Lawn & Garden Hub that’s dedicated to helping you tidy up your outside space this weekend. Many lawn and garden jobs are much easier than you think, and the reward is well worth the effort. In our Lawn & Garden Hub, you’ll find lots of handy advice and gear, including dethatchers and aerators. Our popular equipment for hire includes: 

• Lawn corer aerator

• Lawn scarifier/ dethatcher 

Level up your lawn with Hirepool

Tackling your backyard can sometimes seem like such a big undertaking that you don’t know where to start. Thankfully, you can break it down and tick off one job at a time. A great place to start is our lawn. Whether you need a lawn aerator or lawn dethatcher, hire the landscaping tools you need with Hirepool. For more advice, have a read of our guides, including:

• How to start a lawn from seed
  
  
• What equipment do you need for outdoor maintenance
  
  
• Best way to cut lawns and edges