composting thatch

Rented a power rake yesterday - unbelievable how much thatch was down there.

Is thatch good for composting?

And, in mixing brown & green: on which side would you count thatch?

Thanks, Bill

Reply to
bill
Loading thread data ...

"bill" wrote in news:bRjme.7954$zb.2356@trndny01:

thatch is definetely brown. and I agree, it's always amazing how much comes up when a lawn has never been dethatched before.

Not to horn in where advice was not asked, but I would recommend overseeding soon after dethatching-- my experience has been that dethatching brings to the surface or make sunshine available to zillions of dormant weed seeds which spring up in the new bare areas. Overseeding will help crowd out these weed seeds.

Reply to
David Bockman

Not sure if I did thing right or wrong. A couple years ago, I tried to compost thatch. But after one year of having thatch sitting in a compost pile that I only turn every two weeks or less (and not enough water), I found that the thatch was not decomposed at all while the other things like leaves had decomposed. Consequently, I had to remove all the thatch from the compost piles (to make room for other stuff). Now, I am selective with what I put into the compost piles -- no thatch, no tree branches, no bamboo sticks ... no hard to rot stuff.

I am not saying that you cannot compost thatch. But you may not get the intended result given the amount of effort that you are willing to put in, or you may need to intensively turn and water the compost piles.

Jay Chan

bill wrote:

Reply to
jaykchan

If you run over the thatch with a bagging lawn mower before you put it in the compost pile you might be more successful.

Reply to
Travis

Throw in some dirt.

Reply to
Stubby

This may be the key. I didn't run over thatch with a lawn mower because I thought they were tiny enough. Now I think about this, those thatch were likely not tiny enough. Hopefully, the OP will find your tip.

Thanks.

Jay Chan

Reply to
jaykchan

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.