One solution if you have the time, energy and a little excess $$ is to put down a top dressing of compost. The microbes and organic matter will help degrade your thatch a little bit faster. Keep up the organic gardening, have some patience and it will get better without doing anything.

Aereate and compost are the best soultions for the thatch problem.

I've read that sugar may help increase the microbes. Any truth to that?

Also, what type of 'compost' do folks put on their lawns? I've seen a few postings about it, but never any details on what the compost contains.

Thanks!

The easiest solution is actively aerated compost tea which is the fraction of the compost cost and much less labor work...

You can spray UNSULFURED blackstrap mollases on the lawn to dramatically increase microbes population along with soybean, alfalfa, corn gluten meal, whichever you want.

Hi habiem

Welcome to the forum.

Excessive thatch is usually a result of over watering and/or over fertilizing. The simple fact that you've now switched to organic fertilizing & decreased your frequency of watering will get your thatch under control given a little time.

The only other thing to do is mow often & mulch mow (which is also returning organic matter back to the soil.) I know it sort of sounds as if mulch mowing would seem to contribute to your thatch issue, but surprisingly, it'll help.

There's a long list of reasons to mulch your grass clippings.

1) Grass clippings are 80% water and decompose quickly releasing nutrients into your soil.
2) Mulching provides up to 1/3rd of the lawnÂs yearly fertilizer needs providing nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and trace amounts of micronutients.
3) Mulching reduces the amount of time you spend bagging and fertilizing.
4) Grass clippings donÂt cause thatch. (over watering and over fertilizing do)
5) Mulching reduces yard waste by 20-40%.
6) Mulching reduces the amount of water your lawn needs.

Further, I'll agree with lou_midlothian_tx that for the express purpose of increasing soil microbes, an ACT spray would be a much more efficient inocculant than to attempt to topdress with compost. (Topdressing your lawn with compost is a relatively expensive and definitely backbreaking proposition.) To learn more about making ACT, you can look at Compost Tea Basics from the Soil, Compost & Mulch Forum's FAQ's, and you should also check out the easy to build Deuley's Little Texas Tea Brewer.

And finally, if you're just really impatient, go rent a power rake (AKA dethatcher) from your local Home Depot & you'll have the thatch gone in a morning or afternoon. It's still plenty early enough in the season to do this, while it's true that it will stress the lawn a bit, it'll have plenty of time to recover nicely before the heat of summer kicks in.

I Hope my 2 cents helps out some.

Good day, Dan

I've read that sugar may help increase the microbes. Any truth to that?

Well...it worked for me, which is not proof. As a recovering Scotts' addict myself (Hi, my name is Morpheus and I've been Scotts product free for one year), I used it to bounce some carbon into the soil fast.

Just using organic feed (soybean meal and Milorganite in my case) would probably do the trick by fall but you can certainly use ACT if you want. It sure can't hurt and with a low-microbe lawn will get things started back up a bit faster.

The purpose of ACT is to re-introduce wider range of microbes including protozoa, nematodes, bacteria, fungi, etc. I don't think you can get this way by just providing soybean meal, etc. If I were to make ACT, I'd make sure it has a high count of fungi in it. You can't get enough of it. They are very fragile and takes a while to get the fungi population in the soil to where you want it to be unlike bacteria.

For lawns that have been chemically cared for, it's pretty good idea to use ACT few times a year for several years.

This may sound completely retarded, but is it feasible to buy compost? I have none, have no compost pile, not sure I really want one in my yard (unless I can make it look attractive in some way). However, it seems that the compost tea is a great solution.

If starting a compost pile is really the only way, I can try to figure something out. I, of course, woudl like the quick fix, rather than waiting for my own compost pile to get 'ripe' and ready to use. If you haven't noticed, I have a bit of a patience issue :) I know, I know, give the organic method some time. I'm committed to trying this for at least a year to see how it works out. I have high hopes!

You can buy compost in bulk from nurseries, and garden centers. Look in the phone book or online for local bussiness. You can also buy it in bags from any of the big box stroes. The problem with buying is you never really know what you're getting.

So, just to play devil's advocate on my own question, if you buy it in a bag from a store, are the beneficial micro-organisms present, or will they have died off? There is a feed store about 1/4 mile from my house that sells bagged compost, but my thought was that the beneficial little guys would have died off somewhere between the packaging and getting it to my house. Is that correct?

Habiem, that's the problem with buying bagged, you never know what you are getting. It's organic matter, so it can't hurt.

If you happen to live close to undisturbed forest, you can just dig up compost and take home with you. Should be excellent due to high fungal count.

So once I get my compost tea made, how do I spread it on the lawn? Can I use a tank sprayer? If so, I assume I should get a new one that has NOT had chemicals used inside it, correct? No matter how well it has been washed out...

No, just wash it out well with ammonia and hot water. I think that common instruction relative to not using a container used for chemicals is WAY overblown.

Maybe so with weed killers because I've never used weed killers but if you washed that out well with ammonia and hot water and let it air dry, how could there be enough residual to do damage? I've never understood that cautionary statement to tell you the truth.

You can also buy a hose filter that removes most of the chlorine and use a hose end sprayer filled with undiluted compost tea. I use the Gilmour 6 gallon hose end sprayer alot with a hose filter attached at the faucet. (Dr. Ingham said that should be fine and it has worked well for me.)

If you are reusing a sprayer that you have used for weed killer, make sure you rinse out, not only the container, but hose and nozzle also.

habiem, I also was a user of Vigoro, in your case, it's Scott. It's just this April that I turned organic and am not going back anymore to synthetic. You just have to be patient. It takes 3 to 4 weeks before you can see the difference. I love my lawn now. I really like to squeeze the blades since they're so dense. I'm still working on some tough areas like the ones affected by powdery mildew.

Oh, about actively aerated compost tea(AACT), I made one too and applied it 3 days ago in the front. Hopefully, the beneficial organisms will come back and help with the feeding to the turf. Actually, I made a website of the ACT, I built, you can check it out at

http:// restricted. dyn dns. org/aactbrewinglog.html

Just remove the spaces on the link then combine them together since my site is being filtered. Don't know why. LOL.

So yeah, go ORGANIC and never go back!!!

Re compost:

In our nearby medium sized town our water treatment plant sells very inexpensively compost which is soft and brown and spreads like a dream. It has a very high rating (I confess, I don't know by whom...the state?) We have no industry so I am not concerned about things like heavy metals. It's a college town w. small business etc. Anybody think that using this is a bad idea? I have been putting it on my garden...about an inch in the spring and again in the fall...and around shrubs...and I cannot tell you what a HUGE change there is in my garden. My plan is to spread it on the lawn...it will be very easy to work with...I am following a link from a posting on the regular lawn site (sorry, I have it printed out so can't put it in here) but at any rate, you toss it on by the shovel-full and then use a push broom to spread it about 1/3 of an inch and get if off the grass blades and then water it in well. Anybody done this w. their town compost?

Also...and please don't take offense whoever is involved...I'd like to repsectfully suggest that when we are talking about things that are really dumb we don't use "retarded". It's so easy for us all to do...we grew up with this language. But it hurts feelings of people with retardation, their family members and friends. It's the "language shapes thought" thing and I am not saying this to be critical, because it was something I had to learn too. But I am trying to gently steer kids away from this and so, gulp, try and bring it out as something to think about whenever it comes up. Hope this is taken in the spirit of sharing in which it is meant.

anyhow...I know this isn't compost! ... but it is about life! I am very grateful for this Forum as I did not use chemicals but I do have a lawn which is a bit of a mess and I want to change that!

I was referred to this thread by a more experienced member here (from another forum) and find it to be simply fascinating. More importantly, it makes a ton of sense and helps fill in the gaps of my questions about my lawn quality.

My only concern is controlling for weeds. Is there a good organic way of controlling weeds, or does a more healthy lawn discourage weed growth naturally? Weeds were the very first result of kicking my Scott's addiction.

cultural practices can go a long way toward controlling weeds. If you let your grass grow tall (except for grasses that do best mowed really short like bermuda, bent and zoysia) and water deeply and infrequently, the weeds don't have a good chance to germinate and get established.

The only reason thatch would build up in a lawn is because the soil bacteria that would normally digest that have gone dormant or have been killed off, something that happens when synthetic fertilizers are used which also cause the homeowner to spend more money on "controls" for various pests and diseases that would not occur if the lawn was treated properly.
For someone coming off s regimen of synthetic fertilizing there may be a need to dethatch and aerate, but the most important thing is to start to build up the level of organic matter in the soil so the soil bacteria have a food source so they can feed the plants what the plants need. Cutting the grass high means more of the leaf is exposed to the sunlight so those grass blades can manufacture more nutrients to feed the crowns of the grass which then send out more grass blades which will thicken the turf and help prevent any "weed" seeds from germinating. Mulch mowing, sending the grass clippings back to the soil, will provide 1/2 the annual nutrients a turf grass needs which means that instead of applying 2 pounds of Nitrogen per 1,000 square feet each year you only need to apply 1 pound per 1,000 square feet to maintain a good healthy turf.

Wow, I can't believe all the people who had/have the same problem I did, and it usually comes back around to the soil not being "healthy" and by that I mean, having the right balance of biology/microorganisms. I tried lots of products, but, finally was listening to a local radio show with a guy named "Garden Rebel", and he recommended TurfPro. It was impossible to find, it seems its not in any stores, but, I found it on the web at www.turfprousa.com and they of course have lots of science, etc, behind why it works. All I can say is I used it, and it has worked great, and I continue to use it. I didn't expect to see so many with the same problem as me. best wishes,
WillieA

Here is a link that might be useful: TurfPro