My lawn killed my mower! Any recommendations for a replacement please?

Hi Sandy Ground, thank you for the suggestion

 

That was daft of me. For whatever reason, I didn't think spares would be that easy to come by. Lesson certainly learnt for next time!

 

That's not going to do masses to solve the problem, is it? Maybe spread them out a little, especially if they're worm casts. If you top dress with topsoil and use the back of a spring rake to shuffle it into the dips though, it'll get a whole lot flatter without impacting on the grass root structure.

 

It will do a lot more than expected, as long as the type of scarifier used is the one that cuts about 1/2" into the lawn. The trick is scarify then to remove the debris. If its felt that the lawn is still uneven, then by all means use top dressing, but spread it out properly with a lute. Even if many do use the back of a rake.

Having said that, after this winter, I really need to level off my own lawn, and do some over seeding. I'll not be using top dressing though, just some of the nice fine compost I've been keeping to one side especially for this purpose. In the past, I have had problems over seeding top dressing.

 

Bosch spares are readily available. I replaced the speed controller in my Bosch jig saw last year and there were plenty of sites with the parts breakdown to identify the correct part.

 

HI Sandy, I don't have a scarifier, but am thinking of buying one (when then shops open again!) is there a reasonably priced one you would recommend that does whay you said about cuttinginto the lawn please? I have read loads of reviews and most don't seem to work that well

Thank you.

 

Might be worth hiring one? That would most likely be a machine with plenty of grunt, so would do a good starter-for-ten job, and give you some experience of one before deciding if you need to own one?

 

Thank you Kristen, I thought it might be an expensive way of doing it, but then as you say I can decide if I do actually need to buy my own. Just looked on HSS and they are about £65 per day, probably plus VAT, which is a lot but if I only need to do it once a year, then perhaps that might be a better way of doing it thank you.

 

yes, it is a bit ... but can offset a bit for not having the hassle of maintenance of the kit etc. and (my assumption) it will be far more beefier than a home-model, so get the job done better and faster ... but how about:

£74.92 weekend rate. Split with a neighbour maybe?

 

How uneven is your lawn ? I have a camon scarifier and use it every year, cutting into the soil and I would say that it doesn't level the lawn up much. It will knock the tops off mounds but that's about it.

 

The market here is very different as regards which brands are available, so I cant really say which are good or bad that are found on the UK market. All I would recommend is a petrol driven one

My tendency would be to agree with @Kristen when he suggested hiring one. If its a decent company, then you should get a pro machine that are more robust than some I could thing of...

 

Out of curiosity I did a Google. I just cherry-picked the first "Comparison" site, and took its Top Pick



1300 watt motor (seems quite beefie), 38cm scarifying width, 55L collection bin £149.00

LawnSmith website says "Many Electric so-called scarifiers just have wire tines and are lawn raking machines at best"

and "If your lawn is much over 300 sq.m. and needs scarifying then the only way of making the work less arduous is to use a petrol scarifier. If you’re caring for a fine or ornamental lawn only a good quality sharp petrol scarifier will be able to cut through the thatch cleanly without excessive damage. Petrol powered scarifiers start at £300"

and also "Atco, Qualcast and some other cylinder mower manufacturers produce scarifying cassettes for their cylinder mowers. These are excellent for light raking or de-mossing the lawn and are a good way of getting additional use from your mower. They are no substitute for a scarifier if de-thatching the lawn is your goal but it does mean a simpler and perhaps cheaper choice if a scarifier is also required."

and for light work, smaller lawns, they reckon a manual "rolling lawn scarifier" is OK - change from £40-quid


The HHS Petrol model says

Rake width 38cm, Penetrate depths of 5mm, 45L collection box

I have a spring-tine tow-behind for my RideOn. I make around half-a-dozen passes, at right angles, to shift the thatch. So a glorified lawn-rake isn't going to be a one-pass solution (but perhaps a beefie Petrol jobbiscarifier would be)

 

John Deere grönytemaskiner, en gräsklippare för alla.

Lawn care the Swedish way….

 

that’s right scarifies are not levelling machines and most hire machines will be free swinging blades that are meant to touch the soil surface. Most domestic machines don’t have the blade design or guts to cut down into the soil and normally rip the turf creating more work.

a lute is a good tool to take small high points out and to apply lawn dressing as you can work the soil in or drag nets but I like a lute.

It’s one of those jobs where a good machine and correct use makes a huge difference in keeping costs down and the recovery of turf.

 

I have a lute, and it is excellent, but I had a struggle to find one when i bought it ("in this day and age" maybe?)

Similar might be achievable with a short-ish ladder. Tie a rope to each end, and repeatedly tow the ladder up-and-down and side-to-side. Blocks of some sort (heavy/light) can be put on the ladder to give it more / less "bite". Probably need a fair bit of "bite" to start with, and then not-so-much for the finishing off.

its goign to need some dry-ish topsoil / similar to drag about and have the towing-ladder deposit in the hollows.