Scarifying
Scarifying (minor form: Vertikulieren ) is in horticulture scribing the sod a lawn mentioned. With its help, mulch (old clippings) and moss are to be removed and the aeration of the soil promoted. The original English word is from the words vertical ( vertical, perpendicular ) and to cut ( cut ) composed. The associated garden tool is Verticutter called.
History and more details
The process was developed in 1955 by Thomas Mascaro, who had already invented aerating , which is related to scarifying, in 1946 . The devices used for this are exhibited in the Mascaro-Steiniger Turfgrass Museum at Penn State University ( USA ).
Scarifying is recommended in spring between mid-April and early May, as the lawn is very capable of regeneration after this time . However, it is also possible to scarify the lawn until autumn. Only if the ground is frozen should you not scarify. The lawn should be mowed before scarifying and fertilization is usually recommended after scarifying . The ground should be scratched, but the roots of the grass should not be removed entirely.
In the case of gaps in the sward, re- sowing may make sense. In very rainy summers, the lawn can also be scarified a second time in late summer (late August to September), then a little less intensively.
The point of scarifying is to encourage the lawn to grow more quickly by scratching the sward. However, scarifying is not a panacea if the lawn is damaged for other reasons (e.g. insufficient fertilization, heavy weeds, drought, waterlogging, shady areas).
Scarifying is counterproductive even when there is heavy stocking of weeds that shoot runners, such as B. Gundermann : The flat-growing runners are cut up by the knife roller and thus multiplied and stimulated to grow.
Often it makes more sense to "brush out" the lawn, e.g. B. to work out moss or thatch. Such devices are often referred to as "lawn aerators". In contrast to the rigid blades of the scarifier, there are flexible spring steel tines attached to the rotating roller, which clean the sward of foreign bodies without damaging it.
The associated garden tool is the scarifier . It cuts vertically into the ground with a rotating spring steel knife or with springs. The scarifying material (moss, dead grass , etc.) is deposited behind the device or collected in the collection bag. The shaft is usually driven by an electric motor , in larger models by a gasoline engine . For small gardens, hand scarifiers without a motor and cable are also ideal.
The cutting depth can either be adjusted via the height of the wheel or by changing the knife shaft. The cutting depth should not be more than 2–4 millimeters, depending on how thick the lawn is. That is enough to remove the felt layer. Scarifying is also possible with a narrow-tooth rake , but with some effort and a less uniform result.
There are big differences in quality with scarifiers. In the test by Stiftung Warentest in March 2012, only every third device received the quality rating “good”, four of the fifteen devices tested received a “sufficient”, two even a “poor”. Some scarifiers quickly broke, clogged or damaged the lawn in the test.
Combed out moss is very suitable as a moisture-retaining mulch material for vegetable beds or as a loosening additive to self-mixed balcony potting soil.
Demarcation
Scarifying is not to be confused with aerating . While scarifying treats the surface of the lawn, aeration treats the soil. The aim of aeration is to aerate the roots of the lawn by loosening the soil. The lawn is usually scarified two or three times a year. The lawn is aerated at more regular intervals (larger green areas , e.g. on sports and golf courses , every six weeks in March and September).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Stiftung Warentest: Only every third scarifier scores “good”. Press release from March 29, 2012.