20 Year Old Lawn Gets DETHATCHED FOR THE FIRST TIME

[@alishakellert]

Can't be bothered to deal with my own yard this fall, but I'll watch with fascination as others do their own yards. So satisfying

[@JimmyLewisMows]

Thanks for watching!

[@MichaelCampbell01]

Pro-tip; dethatch/scarify FROM the outlet to the extremities of the lawn so you don't have to constantly manage your cord; it's always "behind" you.

[@JimmyLewisMows]

That is a good tip. Thanks!

[@mikecee3058]

Real pro-tip: professionals use gas, not a cheap little electric. Cords aren't a problem.

[@906MediaProductions]

@@mikecee3058 My 40V and 80V tools put my gas tools to shame and a pair of batteries last all day with fast charging. Gas won’t be king for long.

[@sirhc221]

grass: the ultimate time, money and water waster lol

[@metallicakid83]

I’ll never understand it

[@kyedankurz2783]

Fun fact: lawn grass is the most grown crop in the US, second place goes to corn which takes up 4 times less land then lawn

[@br9760]

@@metallicakid83 Humans love to "tame" nature. An attempt to make the wild...orderly. To make an "uneven" lawn as uniform and dark green as possible. Its lowkey arrogant lol. Its a game of control, and very expensive to do. "I CAN CONTROL THESE DARNED WEEDS. I'LL MURDER THAT MOLE! WHO DO THEY THINK THEY ARE, I OWN THIS LAND!" "Get off my lawn" energy extends to everything, not just kids...

[@Aeriant.]

Moss lawns is where its at

[@stonkpuppets6393]

Money maker if you’re smart

[@ProfJermZ]

I've never heard of this process before, but we soon as you started and stuff was just piling up immediately I was hooked!

[@Lunchpgap]

had no idea what dethatching was until now. this explains a lot about the lawn i used to have.

[@yaboifiredogz]

Same bro

[@MikeDraenix]

Same, my lawn is basically just moss up until spring/summer when the grass grows in between.

[@tcmtech7515]

Out here in the midwest, we just wait until it gets really dry and call up the local fire department and tell them we are burning our yard off so don't come if anyone calls in. If you supply the right beer they might do it for you, even.

[@SpydersByte]

same, and I think the other 700k views also clicked for this reason alone :'D

[@kchal0]

Same! lol now I feel like I need to do this to my yard.

[@specialagent1868]

That's a lot of great material for composting.

[@ginsengjin]

We also did a dethatching last year for the first time in like 17 years lol. We did it 3 times and it pulled out nearly the same amount each time we went over it. Lawn this year though looks perfect though.

[@FlyingSquirrelTony]

Thatch is no joke! I thought it was for years until I watched one of these vids. I bought a dethatcher from Amazon and have detached and scarified both my lawns 3 times in the last month to prep the ground to over seed and prep for winter just in time for our recent rains in the Seattle area. This will prep the lawns for better success in the spring.

[@shelbygtrag5859]

Best lawn thing Ive bought in 20 yrs, do this every spring , great tool and lawn looks great!

[@JamieHarveyJr]

It’s amazing how much ‘lighter’ it feels to walk on a lawn after it’s dethatched.

[@JimmyLewisMows]

So true

[@brycerush98]

Love the look of a well maintained lawn, this one looks great. Grass lawns were still one of our worse ideas though

[@Key2TheBasement]

Agreed. Wish we focused more on lawns made of native plants and/or moss. Much better all around.

[@FullmetalAngyl]

@@Key2TheBasement Or crops. You bring over some grandfather from the old world and he'll be ripping what's left of his hair out wondering why we're not growing crops with all this land. Lawn grass is the world's most useless crop and with my property I would be able to feed my family almost entirely with food grown on my own land. My property is a weird 25' wide by 200' long and between the house, patio and driveway more than half of that is useless lawn.

[@JEK]

This was a satisfying dethatch. Would be nice how it looks in another month or so.

[@Xlatty]

Before and afters are always good!!

[@calebwiebe7826]

If you're looking to save on space, you can shrink it down by putting a vacuum attachment to the bag opening after its full, it will vacuum seal and shrink it down to half its size, allowing for space saving dump run if there is a lot!

[@fprintf]

And if you are looking to actually get rid of the stuff, put it in paper bags and compost it instead.

[@toyman9642]

I purchased a Sun Joe this past spring and I love it. I had always tried dethatching my lawn with a rake. It never did a good job. But the Sun Joe? WOW! I went over the lawn twice. Once at setting 0 and once at setting -1. I didn't use the scarifier, just the regular tines. One thing I did do. I removed the bagger. The machine worked better.

[@JimmyLewisMows]

Yeah that bagger is pointless. Glad to hear it's working out well for you!

[@Yutani_Crayven]

I've never even heard of this process before and so, needless to say, the sheer amount of stuff that you pulled out of it blows my mind. There's like two lawns lying there…

[@jbeezy126]

start where the extension chord begins and work your way out. that way you don't have to keep moving it as you go.

[@rhysbertrand8903]

Gotta love a mansplainer. He started at the fence so his dad could use the mower to clean up without running over the cord. Also makes it easier for his dad to clean-up without the cord in the way.

[@kylenelson944]

@@rhysbertrand8903 did anyone ask for your womopinion?

[@jaydeleon8094]

@@rhysbertrand8903 wow, you actually use mansplaining un-ironically.

[@hkoizumi3134]

I had no idea this was a thing and yet it makes total sense. Thanks for educating me.

[@jakeshaffer9176]

I’ve never heard of dethatching but I’ve looked at my lawn like “wtf is your problem?” many times. Now I think I’m gonna make a trip to Home Depot

[@gblan]

If you have a small yard to can use a dethatching rake. Inexpensive, easy to use and very effective.

[@jakeshaffer9176]

@@gblan it’s big enough for a riding mower, not enough for a zero turn. Gonna check these out online 👍🏻

[@crexvy3277]

@@jakeshaffer9176 tell me how it goes please

[@kimlindseyOH]

2 years ago I manually de-thatched the big part of my front lawn (Groundskeeper rake - great tool) - thanks for confirming I did it at the right time: mid-Fall. I got 12 bags out of a smaller area than what you worked on here - the poor lawn hadn't had any TLC in probably a decade when I bought the house & it was a total mess: 90% weeds & moss. Last year it looked better, but this year I am really seeing the improvement. Next task needs to be levelling (when I have the time, LOL).

[@Ms.NoNo2]

Your parents have so much space in their backyard. They should watch James Prigioni and turn their backyard into a food forest.

[@walleyeye]

Got mine delivered by mail today, put it together and WOW!!! Does this thing work GREAT!!! I have a crappy lawn and hopefully this will help with seeding and fertilizing. No more raking for this guy.

[@mikeb6300]

I watched your video a couple months ago and I bought the sun Joe dethatcher and it worked great could not believe the amount of dead grass came off my lawn I have about 2000 sq foot front lawn and I filled 3 - 55 gallon black garbage bags on 1 pass. Will do another couple of passes in the fall. Thanks for the info

[@JimmyLewisMows]

Love to hear it!

[@jlucas42]

I had no idea this was a thing. Definitely doing this next spring!

[@legless4767]

My lawn is 6 years old and I had so much dead grass. Best investment I have made in a long time. Don’t put the bag on. Just rake it up lol

[@stebaann]

You could sell this idea and make a killing in your area if u put in the work i never even heard of this

[@toddbod94]

It’s not a thing. If you watch American DIY KZbin you’ll see a lot of stuff they do is just not done anywhere else on earth because they’ve invented a bunch of things that corporations can make money from.

[@justinhudson3851]

@@stebaann that's only if you live somewhere with many shallow people who's worth is based on their yard.

[@bobmeeks96]

This is the first year I’ve used one of these and I was very impressed. I haven’t used the scarifier yet, so this video is helpful to get an idea of what results to expect.

[@DeekerJones]

This is the sort of thing that nature sorts out with fire!

[@micah_lee]

I don’t think there is much fire where turf grass comes from. Like at all. Grass that grows in the americas is not a turf grass, it is mostly bunch grass, stuff that grows in prairies. (Which, prairies were only a big thing because of fire. Also, there is a chance that native americans were a big part of the fires, because they would use it to clear land. So there is a chance that they affected the ecosystem by continually putting fire on the landscape when there may not have been a fire that often. Anyways.)

[@micah_lee]

Also, in nature this grass wouldn’t be constantly cut (although I am not totally sure of that.) So the grass would be growing up tall, making seed heads, dying and doing it all over again. It would be a much longer process and it woukd be its own ecosystem.

[@darint07]

You're an earth hater. I can't believe you would say that! How dare you talk about mother nature and the way she actually works. ha.

[@micah_lee]

I am actually wrong about saying it wouldn't get cut, it would be eaten and trampled by animals.

[@paulm5762]

You do realize his comment was sarcasm... right?...... right??

[@trevormuggeridge4560]

First Aussie 😁. Jimmy , a great job on your parents home lawn , I am hoping you can work your magic and make that lawn pop like yours . Family time well spent with your father, great memories made. 😎👍👍

[@chrisryan8863]

I don't think I have seen a video with that much thatch coming out just from one pass. That lawn is going to look a lot better after getting that out.

[@tunstall429]

5:24 "but hey" *points at dry grass* Made a funny and didn't even realise it 🤣🤣🤣

[@rickbartunek4220]

When I read the caption “So Much Junk”, with you kneeling next to a SunJoe, I honestly thought this was a really negative review of this wonderful machine! I was so relieved that you were referring to the junk (thatch) in your lawn as I am very pleased with the job my SunJoe always does in thoroughly cleaning out my dead grass. Unfortunately, there may be others who just see the headline and gain an unjustified negative opinion of this machine.

[@benharrison1069]

I was going to suggest to clean up the debris and then do a second pass in a perpendicular direction, but you mentioned that in the video. Good job, Jimmy. Enjoy a beer with your Dad. 😁🍺

[@dimfre4kske67]

So when your dad says I want to dethatch my lawn what he really means is I want you to dethatch my lawn lol.

[@wyatteveland3632]

thats what it always means with parents

[@canygmail2631]

and no pay

[@johnmccallum8512]

@@canygmail2631 He got fed and watered did he not?

[@davejohanson4951]

That was awesome! Love seeing all that stuff come out of there.

[@thehellsage]

I've never seen or heard of this process before... but now I want to do it. Too bad it's so late in the season.

[@jenniferobrien6570]

growing up we had to go out every spring and rake the dead grass out of our yard. It was huge, but it did the same thing. Just more work in the raking.

[@almirria6753]

this is why I burn [prescribed burn] my yard every couple of years

[@Magny80]

Soo thats why I always saw a ton of that in the grassy areas of the school grounds when I was young lol

[@ahnilatedahnilated7703]

De-thatching is great. You should then aerate the lawn and put your your fertilizer. You can even do fertilizer before hand to help the lawn recover from the damage of de-thatching.

[@Zeeb2880]

It's like running a nylon brush through an old carpet

[@TnT_F0X]

Me: What does de-thatched mean? My yard is 4 different grasses with lumps and divets... mowing the lawn is like playing minesweeper.

[@br9760]

Its like deep cleaning a carpet, but with grass. Too much dead material, and we (weird) humans don't ALLOW the dead grass to decompose like it should. We don't want patches. So much maintenence keeps the lawn fragile and easy to "fail" to our standards. Lawn industry likes this. I give my bermuda tough love and little maintenence, which makes its roots grow deeper. Moles can't kill it as easily JUST because of this.

[@br9760]

Instead of allowing decomposition, we use *chemicals* to nourish the hyper-aggressive grasses. Said chemicals from average lawns are *more* harmful than farmers using pesticides and herbicides, and we often let it drain into our water systems.

[@Youtubeuser1aa]

@@br9760 and I love it

[@Chickenworm9394]

@@br9760 Dang you are scaring me, even though I know it's true

[@maxvarjagen9810]

@@br9760 I dont understand lawn culture at all. This looks like a handy tool for generating a bunch of compost material. Not sure if I see the point if you're just gonna toss it.

[@HomegrownHowTo]

Just did my lawn as well. Mine is only 3 years old but couldn't believe how much I got up. Check it out. Congrats on hitting 10K, brotha!

[@JimmyLewisMows]

Thanks!

[@jillthompson6110]

@@JimmyLewisMows Do you recommend doing this once a year or twice a year? How often should this be done?

[@JimmyLewisMows]

@@jillthompson6110 Best way you know when to do it is to dig your fingers into the lawn and see how hard it is to get to the soil. If there is a lot of material preventing you from finding soil then water and fertilizer will struggle too.

[@jamzach4]

It seems like a cheap plastic toy but once you use it, you realize the SunJoe is no joke ! Nice job Jimmy....and your father too.

[@DavidGarcia-zu3hl]

Hope they composted what they pulled up and spread it back on the lawn. That stuff is how your lawn perpetuates organic matter and creates a healthy bio system under the soil (presuming you don't kill everything with herbicides and pesticides). That thatch also helps retain moisture reducing your water bill. City and suburban people don't understand how soil works and what it needs.

[@pelomalo68]

I just thatched and use a typical gas unit I rented. Huge work hard to handle if not going straight. Never knew there were electric models , has to be easy to handle.Thanks for the video ...

[@MrTyroneweaver]

I recognize that lawn. I used to dig sugarbeets in that field back in the 60's

[@NeillWylie]

woooow! So much came up!!!

[@PathanPhoto]

I am amazed that despite such a big lawn, there is not a single flower! Is this normal for America? We, here in the UK, take great pleasure in having flowers in our, relatively, tiny gardens.

[@byronc8986]

Get your ass over here and plant some flowers for we barbarians.

[@Akuma122887]

No that is far from normal. In my area the entire fence line about a meter out would be turned into a garden bed. Also around the tree again a meter out. The shed would have at least some flowering bushes around it.

[@jaredflurry937]

Many American home plots were farm or ranch land just a few years before. As a result, there are no or only very young trees and little landscaping. Strangely, because many Americans have become familiar with the look of new developments, some never adjust the landscaping to make the yards/lawns pleasant places to be in.

[@cassinihuygens]

depends on the person and where they live

[@cassinihuygens]

@@jaredflurry937 it’s not that they’re used to new developments it’s that people don’t have the time or money… and some just don’t want to deal with the upkeep. It depends on the person and place.

[@liquidsteel8131]

Im going to buy that dethatcher you have and go to my parents place. Dad planted zoysia grass back in the 70's and it has only been dethatched ONE time. ANd that was back in the mid 80's. The yard does look pretty bad, and yet all the lawn services I have had look at it never recommended dethatching. I should probably make a before and after video for this project.

[@kellynolen498]

i never knew dethatching was a thing my dad always had us working in the yard but the only tool we had was a mower and a weedwacker for edging it was not fun

[@EmmaSimard]

There’s no compost available in your town? I can’t get my head around putting dead grass into plastic bags…??! 😣

[@loripoythress8414]

That's alot of gunk. Have you considered using paper yard bags to collect the debris versus plastic? The paper decomposes with your yard clippings.

[@mircomuntener4643]

Earthworms eat my thatch, and fertilize the grass in return. Rain waters it, all I gotta do is mow it, mulching the clippings in place. There's lots of different flowers for the bees, I leave what few leaves drift in until it starts growing in the spring, mulching most of them in place. Lawns can be as green as they are green.

[@kevinoverholtzer3126]

i thought the lawn looked great before but now that you dethached it i bet it is a lot nicer to walk on and mow

[@JimmyLewisMows]

So much better. It's amazing how much different the lawn feels when you walk on it after doing this.

[@mml1224]

great job, dad & son always make s it better, tot u were gna seed/moss while it was sort of bare , maybe next vid? thanks!

[@johnnelwhite]

I just picked up a sunjoe dethatcher, landzie peatmoss spreader and a pull behind dethatcher all for 125.00 on offer up. I can't wait to use the sunjoe dethatcher my grounds keeper will only be for spot dethatching.

[@-AnyWho]

i bought a brand new blade dethatcher for my lawn mower, I haven't used it yet ...

[@philboyer1840]

Perfect amount of grass for the turbo burn barrel

[@robertthegrowguy7115]

I've thatched my lawn 3 years in a row and pulled tons of thatch or old clippings out each year

[@davechapman7735]

well done video and great info as here in NZ we are nearly at Spring and our lawn needs same treatment. cheers for the tip. NZ

[@MrSaemichlaus]

That is crazy. The ants must have gotten everything stuck against the clutter, now they can haul bigger stuff around :)

[@shocker14369]

Nice job man!! Great video!!!!

[@SeanBaker]

I definitely need to do this in my front yard! My front yard is a mess. The backyard is lush and beautiful.

[@stephanieh7614]

Plant something useful instead and ditch the grass. Dandelions, thistle, clover, and anything not grass.

[@ShermanT.Potter]

I'm a farmer, which has done both organic and chemical farming. So you dethatch, which causes the soil to dry out because there isn't a protective layer, so then you have to water it. And you removed nutrients from the lawn, so you have to apply fertilizer. And weed suppression goes down because there is bare soil, so now you have to buy additional grass seed and herbicide. Brilliant! If the thatch is excessive enough that this needs to be done, someone royally screwed up the lawn maintenance to begin with. The thatch should degrade at the rate it builds up and reach equilibrium.

[@gbriank1]

Is that true for every zone in America?

[@ShermanT.Potter]

@@gbriank1 I can't speak for every grass species, but I would think dethatching may have merit in warm and damp climates where growth and chances for disease increase. Like when soybeans are planted in narrower rows, disease chance increases due to lack of airflow. So if there is a very thick layer of thatch in an area that always stays wet, I could see it helping there.

[@gbriank1]

@@ShermanT.Potter Here in Dallas with our garbage grass and wicked high temps, I imagine de-thatching would kill your yard. Jimmy just happens to be working on a great looking lawn.

[@sergeant_salty]

0:40 what a beautiful lawn😍 ok i'll listen to ya

[@hydroaegis6658]

This is why I always bag the clippings.

[@idiotburns]

This is not often needed in WA but people still do it, I thing because pine needles, but thats a whole different game truely!

[@johnmack1399]

SunJoe for life! Great video sir!

[@MarineRacingTeam]

I didnt even know this was a thing!!!! You learn something new everyday. I need to do this now LOL

[@djratino]

Dethatchers cost right much. I do one of 2 things in early spring. I mow it low to almost scalp the lawn, or I burn the brown/grey areas on a non windy day. When it grows back in, the yard looks much better. I reseed any thinned areas. Also that burning knocks out a bunch of weeds. A woman from Spain did this as a neighbor. She didn't check with the local fire burning laws and someone dispatched the fire trucks on her. Watch out, you can be fined.

[@gusmoney7828]

Great video short and sweet. 👍

[@Sjackson2369]

Really would love to see an Ego dethatcher/scarifier. Their electric lawn mower is great

[@JimmyLewisMows]

That would be cool

[@Urameshi_93]

Agreed

[@dhowting]

I was thinking the same thing!! Currently have an Ego mower, string trimmer, hedge clipper, blower and just picked up the Nexus power station!

[@katiejo1095]

Great product!

[@DyingDemon]

neither me nor my landlord even knew this was a thing (though my brother who works in landscaping did). but apparently, in 50 years my landlord has had this land and apartments on it, he has never needed to "de-thatch" it. and after my brother gave it a once over, he said it didnt need it either. my question is, are their certain grass types or lawns that need it? kinda curious on that

[@johnmicheal3547]

I've done a few and i don't see any different in my lawn. A lot of work and the lawn is the same. More and more i think this detaching is a gimmick.

[@fnnsjsnnejejdndnxhxjna]

@@johnmicheal3547 He explains it in the video. Dethatching is needed when the buildup of dead grass etc is so severe that it's preventing water and nutrients from making it into the soil for the grass to feed on.

[@mooch6666]

I did mine at the beginning of spring after the first cut. It cleaned my lawn up pretty good. Lots of green and a lot less thin areas.

[@maitreyas.4902]

Sometimes.

[@sminthian]

The grass is supposed to decompose and just turn into soil again, which is usually what happens. But if you put all kinds of pesticides and fertilizers on it, the chemicals mess up the decomposition process, and you end up with loads of grass that can't go away.

[@Whocares.........]

Well done!

[@alenzonk6014]

Just bought a Sun Joe, delivery next week and hope it will do a good job

[@no_lft_shft]

Ok, I have no idea how I ended up here. I don't have grass nor do I know anything about thatching. But yet I found this interesting and weirdly satisfying.

[@luckyfamilyman]

Detaching is as satisfying as rubbing out an old oxidized white hazed red car on a detail huge results

[@williamjohnson9727]

Holy smoke! That alot of material coming out that lawn.

[@jerseydevil1]

First time viewer (popped up in my recommended) and I’m only on the intro , but I must say You have an amazing lawn lol

[@adalbertojulia3448]

" he wants to look like he worked hard with his beer. Lmbo too funny

[@cliffharkreader3326]

I cut my lawn on a back wooded area about neck hight and it turned into hay...im trying to clean it up slowly...and get grass growing again

[@junkyardgamer911]

Hey the dog is fertilizing the yard that’s a start 😂

[@myyardsucks7964]

Can’t wait to see the update!!

[@pachajonathan]

Looks like you are in Orem. My Grandmother-in-law lives in American Fork. Only reason I can tell is from Tip in the background.

[@tomstanfield7102]

I enjoyed the video, however I would have loved to see a close up of the grass after you finished like the close up you did b4 you started. Other than that, thumbs up!

[@MplsLam]

Just got mine yesterday and did my front lawn. I was surprised you went with the scarifier attachment. It might not be the right time of the year for me to go that aggressive, but I kinda want to try it.

[@TheCort1971]

i live in florida. in a place known as the sand hills. if it did that to my lawn there would be only ten percent of what looks like lawn left.

[@Troy-Echo]

The SunJoe and other similar dethatchers do not remove thatch so much as do an amazing job removing debris. They do remove a little thatch, but if you truly need to remove thatch, you'd be better off renting a heavy duty thatcher from a big box store for a few hours to do a better job and cut down on time. I have a Zoysia lawn that I bag in the early spring and late fall when grass clippings do not break down as fast to help combat fungal issues, but this is on my list to buy before Spring 2022, and I mulch using my Honda HRN dual blade mower which does an amazing job of mulching straight out the box. Using this SunJoe dethatcher/scarifier also removes debris making pre-emergent applications more effective as the herbicide will not get bound up in the debris and actually reach the soil to inhibit annual weed root growth in the germination phase.

[@budj13]

Thanks for this very informative video! Amazing.

[@SarasotaBayOMC]

We dont have this problem in florida. The grass grows insanely fast during summer because its constantly raining. And the rain floods the yards which just lifts all of this stuff up and it floats away.

[@rogergflowers4082]

Nice work gentlemen

[@ithacacomments4811]

I use the grass clippings to mulch my flower beds.

[@tycox8704]

Technically, the dried blades that are still attached to the plant are not thatch. And there’s no harm in removing them regardless of the season.

[@nokiot9]

They freakin LOVE Bermuda grass here in Arizona. It’s a nightmare to get rid of though. Probably why it’s used so much. The crap can literally totally dry out and die but somehow the completely dead and dry parts go green again. Blows my mind.

[@coryCuc]

If you have a bermuda lawn you love it. If you have a different kind of grass, you probably hate it because it invades everything and grows in almost any condition lol. I have a bermuda lawn and wouldn't have anything else, but I live in the DFW area in Texas and it thrives in the heat and being cut super low.

[@nokiot9]

@@coryCuc yeah it’s a desert thriver.

[@shoaib1029]

Well done mate.

[@johncronin1082]

I love dethaching Thea lawn ..would be great to have a follow up video..great job on the lawn 👍☘☘

[@joemarchand8313]

Middle of Summer is actually fine for power raking, as long as your lawn is still actively growing and green/healthy. The sooner you get the debris out of there the better.

[@ThisReactiverse]

Did you mean: 4.6 Billion year old lawn? Sounds epic.

[@oliverryan2168]

I do this for work and we've gotten 157 bags out of a similar size lawn

[@JAquila18]

Love the fence your dad has.

[@jeffreymalone5986]

Always good to do some yard work with pops. I’m wondering if the spring attachment would pull out more or less.

[@JimmyLewisMows]

Quality time with pops for sure. I’ve found the scarifier to be more effective personally. But the spring one works good too. Just less aggressive.