I'm guessing the decomposing is a pretty slow process. The thatch material that is probably going so slow is likely the lignin that makes up the root material which is pretty tough stuff. Your allies down there are going to be the natural fungi and shredder arthropods. Is the compost tea you make made from the crap from walmart or some good stuff from a nursury or your own homemade batch? If using something like walmart brand you might not be ending up with as good an array of microbes. You can usually tell the good stuff from the fresh smell and the appearance is dark unrecognizable fibrous stuff. The stuff like walmart brand looks like black dirt. Not to knock too much on walmart but compost tea needs good stuff to start with so I would make sure that is what you are using (remember to de-chlorinate the water beforehand). Other than that you just have to give it good time to happen. More opinions are better so hopefully some others chime in.

I get my compost from Home Depot..........probably just as bad as Wal Mart huh? :) I will go to my local nursery when I make my next batch. Does the SBM that I am applying make it through the thatch layer if I water it in?? or am I just feeding the thatch?

I don't know what HD's compost looks like, I've gone there looking for some lately and they don't have any. The closest thing they had at my local HD was some compost/manure mixture which you don't want. Basically don't use anything that has to do with manure or animals as they may have a lot of microbes you really don't want much to do with like E.Coli. As for the SBM I'm guessing you shouldn't have much issue with that as either way it will be fed on by the microbial life that you are farming with the compost tea and whatever else is already there. The quality of your compost tea is probably your best offense for getting a start on that thatch but the SBM is a great food for helping feed the fungi & bacteria. Of course I'm no expert and this is just what makes sense from what I've learned during my short tenure of organic lawn care!

I wouldn't argue with any of the advice here.

But, this is kind of the way I'd see it, switching over to an organic program will solve your problem. A few things might make it go somewhat faster, like mechanical dethatching and earating, adding compost, feeding the soil and organisms with organic instead of chemical ferilizer, etc.

I would be careful not to add any liquid "dethatching" product that might harm the soil organisms. It would be my opinion that would be counter-productive.

When it comes to improving the soil and getting a natural balance back, sometimes it takes a little time and patience.

Simple sugar can get the process going a bit faster--common, cheap table sugar. It's sucrose, so it does have to break down to glucose before the bacteria can really get going on it, but it'll cause your bacterial populations to explode.

Other than that, you're doing exactly the right things! Don't bother spending any money on the liquid dethatchers. They do work, after a fashion, but your organic program will do the same thing.

Thanks for the info everyone............morpheuspa the sugar suggestion is very interesting, one question though.......Do I dilute it in water or do I spread the suger on with my spreader?

P.S. The liquid dethatcher I was considering is an all natural product(no chemicals) here is the website.......www.natureslawn.com

let me know what you all think!

Thanks,

Jim

Just spread it by hand (or, if you want, your broadcast spreader). Ten pounds per thousand square feet (or even less) would certainly help...that's...er...let's see... about 40% carbon by weight, so 4 pounds, figure 80$ gets lost as carbon dioxide...0.8 lbs of extra bacteria (temporarily) for each thousand feet.

That's a lot of bacteria working away hungrily. It did help my lawn, which didn't have much thatch.

Thanks!

I will give it a try. Hopefully I can get this problem under control soon