De-thatched my lawn----good seat time

[sixdogs]

It started out as a plan to break up the winter's dried dog droppings--we have six dogs--and turned into a two acre scratch and burn extravaganza.
A few years back I bought one of those chain harrows--8 ft--to smooth a small field. It also broke up dried dog doo so that became the primary use.
Yesterday I started dragging the 2 acre lawn and just kept going until I went both ways. It was plenty dry enough.
The lawn did not tear up at all but all the thatched and dead grass pulled up in a spectacular fashion. The results were truly impressive so I decided to rake with my lawn sweeper and finish the job.
The grass and thatch pile was so huge--see photo--I had to burn it to dispose.
The results look impressive with no more patches of dead grass or bare spots with packed grass.
Here are photos of my chain harrow, the way I hitched it with a chain, the lawn before and after and the impressive pile that burned furiously for an hour and smoldered for 24 hours.
Hope this helps someone.

 

[Topkicker]

Wow. That's a huge pile. Looks like it done a great job.:thumbsup:

 

[sixdogs]

Wow. That's a huge pile. Looks like it done a great job.:thumbsup:

You bet...When I have to rake after a thick mowing job in the spring I get a few bins of grass. I figure I got nearly 20 bins of dead grass from this job!
May I highly suggest this to any TBNer with a tired lawn. Most all the dead patches of dead grass and bare spots covered in dead grass came up.
A little fertilizer and I think I'll be on Easy Street.
It worked way better than expected and I got productive seat time.
Just my two cents.

 

[Mpking]

Wow, that's awesome. Did the chain harrow disturb the soil at all? Supposedly one of the benefits of using a power dethatcher is stirring up the surface of the soil in addition to getting rid of the thatch.

 

[Perplexed]

the impressive pile that burned furiously for an hour and smoldered for 24 hours.

Did it smell of dog poo as it was burning?

 

[unbidden]

sixdogs, you've answered a question for me with your dethatch story and pic's. I'm on-line looking at drag harrows now and was wondering if one similar to yours would dethatch my lawn :thumbsup:

 

[sixdogs]

Wow, that's awesome. Did the chain harrow disturb the soil at all? Supposedly one of the benefits of using a power dethatcher is stirring up the surface of the soil in addition to getting rid of the thatch.

Well, it scuffed the dirt pretty well where the existing grass was not too high.
Where the grass was higher and there was a pocket of dead grass in the middle it was not as good. Still, look at the pile picked up.
I feel real good about the results.

The dried dog doo was fine, smell wise, but when I ran over anything fresh, I knew it right away.

Regarding where and what to buy, I just went and bought what a local guy had in an eight foot width.
I recall the one I bought was heavier than the other. Mine is 8' and is two 4' sections with an eight ft "drawbar".
My guess was just normal short line stuff. I don't recall a "brand" name.
If you want more, I'll get what I can for you.

 

[CompactTractorFan]

sixdogs, you've answered a question for me with your dethatch story and pic's. I'm on-line looking at drag harrows now and was wondering if one similar to yours would dethatch my lawn :thumbsup:

I was searching TBN last night about using a drag harrow for dethatching. :thumbsup: Seems like there are not a lot of attachments for dethatching for CUTs...

 

[CompactTractorFan]

sixdogs, what size lawn do you have that you got that much thatch out of it??? :confused2:

 

[sixdogs]

sixdogs, what size lawn do you have that you got that much thatch out of it??? :confused2:

It's a little tough to measure because I avoided odstacles and just stayed in the open but my guess is probably 1 1/2 acres and possibly 1 3/4 acres.
Most came up on the second time of dragging.
I dragged it Friday and was going to call it good but after I looked on Saturday, decided to drag again and then rake.
That second drag, maybe combined with the extra drying of overnight, mattered,
I don't know. I did what I did and got what I got and didn't expect any of it. Go figure.