Test Drive: Ryobi Dethatcher Attachment

[@orrgazmo]

11:59 the site safety officer enjoying the shade had me 🤣

[@thelionlawn]

He's a good helper!

[@Starfable]

The Ryobi is a great little unit, had it for about 2 years and used it to finish up a few renos. Cost value is pretty spot on for the a house hold lawn enjoyer. I’d only suggest get bigger amp batteries to keep it running for longer and forget the bag and pick up the clippings with the rotary mower.

[@thelionlawn]

Absolutely mate. Ditch the bag and just tidy it up seems to be the way to go!

[@truckingdownunder4149]

Another good vid Mate. I have been toying with the idea of buying a Ryobi scarifier from Bunnings for a while now. Thanks to your vid My mind is now made up I’m going shopping. Cheers mate have a good one 👍👍

[@thelionlawn]

Awesome mate, so glad to hear! Ryobi should be giving me kick backs at this stage! 🤣. Would love to hear your thoughts after you've had a crack with it. 🤙

[@brettellis3948]

I got one of these with the grooming attachment and it's great. Filled my green waste bin to the brim with thatch

[@thelionlawn]

Great to hear another success story for it!

[@daza2020]

Thanks for that excellent to follow and something I want to do each month to my lawn, I’m up the coast a little more than you say 4 hour drive warm here too 😂😂👍🥵

[@thelionlawn]

Mate she was a scorcher! Ended with a thunderstorm just after I'd packed up, so cooled it all down. Haha. Glad you enjoyed the video, and yeah, doing it that often would be beneficial, just keep an eye on it to make sure it isn't causing any damage to the canopy and it'll be sweet. 🤙

[@jennyallen23]

Thanks so much for posting! I bought this attachment a couple of months ago but hadn’t used it as I wasn’t sure. Now I will. Much appreciated and great video!!

[@thelionlawn]

Thanks for the feedback! Glad you enjoyed it. 👍

[@craigmonty]

Did you pick it up from Bunnings? They don't seem to sell or stock them anymore. :(

[@jennyallen23]

@@craigmonty I got it from Amazon, approx $65 shipped to Aus from England

[@craigmonty]

@@jennyallen23 Thank you - will check that out and see what I can find. The few i've found online so far would end up costing me close to the $200 delivered mark. Might have to dig a little deeper.

[@stefanharasymow989]

Great vid, just tried the scarifier on SLB (setting 1) and was wondering how aggressive the dethatcher is. Now I know, cheers!

[@thelionlawn]

It's not a bad little bit of gear! Cheers 🤙

[@woofa159]

Did you get it from the big green shed? They seem to be pretty scarce online.

[@thelionlawn]

Yeah mate, they had a few on the shelf at my local a few weeks back. 🤙

[@UTPP]

Hey mate, Question... my lawn looks amazing but it's really spongie, I'm thinking it's got a build up of crap underneath. Do you think it could be thatch build up.

[@thelionlawn]

Hey mate, yeah definitely could be. Jump down and pull the canopy back a bit and see what's under it. You'll probably find a good thick layer of dead junk that you could get out of there!

[@UTPP]

@thelionlawn cheers mate, how would the ryobi go on Sir Walter?

[@thelionlawn]

@UTPP I loaned mine to a mate with SWB, and he used it only with this dethatcher attachment, not the original "nasty bastard" fixed blade attachment. It worked a treat for him. He filled a few Otto bins with thatch he pulled up, and it was gentle enough not to rip the lawn right up. If you use the same, spring loaded tyne attachment like in this video, I reckon you'd be fine. 🤙

[@thewholls7176]

Good job mate, what do you think about the Ryobi machine for Buffalo grass?

[@thelionlawn]

Hi mate - a good friend of mine uses one on his buffalo lawn, with the tine attachment (a bit gentler than the standard attachment) and it works absolute wonders for him. Well worth the purchase, as it has improved the water and fert intake for him by getting out all of the build up. 🤙

[@rossthefiddler5890]

Thanks for that. I've just spent more money on a self-propelled AEG lawnmower (same company that produces Ryobi) & I have (mostly) buffalo grass. I have to be careful as there are a couple of spots where a bit of rock protrudes (mower goes over it) & should dig it out (it may need a spud bar to remove though). I'm definitely going to look into this Ryobi unit though.

[@thelionlawn]

Awesome mate, glad to be of some help. How do you find the AEG mower?

[@rossthefiddler5890]

I started out with a 36V Ryobi mower about 10 years ago & it was a little under powered when tackling some heavy buffalo growth & after getting the AEG 58V line trimmer 7 years ago I also bought their 18" 58V mower. It held two 58V batteries & was quite good but there was some room for improvement, which they did with later releases, but just recently I bought the 21" self propelled model & it auto switches between the two 58V batteries (8Ah or 4Ah) & is a good basic mower with efficient grass catching. It runs with a 1200 watt motor (same as before) compared to the top Ryobi 53cm (21") model using a 1000W motor, but it isn't fancy in features etc like that on the Ryobi such as top displays & alloy handle bar system etc, as it is sold as a commercial model. For my place it is overkill, but I got it at an extra good clearance price & with two 8Ah batteries. So far I am quite pleased with it. It uses a single bar blade & not this new 'Crosscut' blade system on the Ryobi (& other brands like Honda).

[@thelionlawn]

@@rossthefiddler5890 Awesome, thanks mate. That's a good insight. In my last video I was talking about potentially making a switch from Ryobi to something else. At the moment, Greenworks are in the hot seat as they seem to have some really good gear coming out, but I'll have a proper look at AEG now too and suss them out. I appreciate the info 🤙

[@rossthefiddler5890]

@@thelionlawn Got to be careful not to have too many battery platforms as I now have Ryobi 36V & 18V plus AEG 58V & 18V. 😄

[@thelionlawn]

@@rossthefiddler5890 That's exactly my concern. Lol. I have Ryobi 18 and 36, and Greenworks 40v, so going to Greenworks 60v would be the logical step if I had to change up, but either way, I'm going to end up with more chargers and batteries than I can poke a stick at.

[@craigmonty]

Do you know if Bunnings still sell these? For $70 definitely worth a go but Bunnings website doesn't show stock or even availability to special order anywhere.

[@thelionlawn]

I'm not sure mate. They had several on the shelf at my local a few weeks ago when a friend picked this one up for me. I haven't seen them on the site at all though.

[@craigmonty]

@@thelionlawn So went and checked down at the big shed just for the hell of it and sure enough - one on the shelf. Grabbed it as it being not on the website anymore makes me think they wont be coming back for a while. Keen to see how it goes on the TifTuf at 12mm

[@thelionlawn]

@@craigmonty Excellent! Let me know how you go with it! 🤙

[@Aurora8783]

What is the difference between dehatching and scarifying?

[@thelionlawn]

Good question, and depending on where you look, you might get different answers. But my understanding is that "dethatching" removed the dead thatch sitting on top of your soil, and underneath the grass canopy, whereas "scarifying" takes it a step further and digs lightly into the soil and removes the dead material from within the top part of the soil profile as well. So, dethatching is a good maintenance activity that helps get sunlight, water and fert to the soil surface, and Scarifying will allow all of that, plus a deeper penetration of the soil which aerates and resets your soil profile.

[@jasonvarley4964]

Wonder if it’d work on a bent seed golf green

[@thelionlawn]

It would potentially be like taking a sledge hammer to push in a thumb-tack, but perhaps on the highest setting with a super gentle application it could be useful?

[@michaelbriguglio74]

Perfect mate, I’ve been wondering if it’s worth it! Will be down at the green shed at lunch to get one haha

[@thelionlawn]

Excellent! Haha. Definitely worth it! 👌

[@CamFromOz]

I might’ve missed it but was that on buffalo? My buffalo looks like it’s very thatchy and causing a few issues. This looks like a perfect addition

[@mattwright8264]

Hi Mate, no I have Kikuyu. A friend of mine has used it on his buffalo tho (albeit on the higher, lighter setting) and had great results. 🤙

[@TheDazza7777]

Another great vid , cannot buy them anywhere here in Newcastle even Bunnings can not get them , Anyone know where I could buy one?

[@thelionlawn]

Bugger! Sounds like they're selling out everywhere. Hopefully Ryobi get them back on the shelves soon!

[@mikeo8890]

The Liberty looks like it'll last 100 years

[@Deftone2k]

Mate.. so good. Was always a bit scared at just how hard the scarifier function went with the original blade. Great points on actually extending the use of the mower because I really havent used mine much being I haven't been ready to do a full reno due to time constraints. Would this even be good on the lowest setting for a mini reno on buffalo? Considering it could get pretty low (maybe low enough for buff?)

[@thelionlawn]

Potentially mate. I would just give it a go at each setting, dropping down incrementally and see what happens on each. If it starts yanking up all the runners, go one notch higher?

[@Deftone2k]

@@thelionlawn just to update on here as well mate, I didnt see it on the bunnings website but was at my local up here in Newcastle so picked it up! How low is your lawn at the moment (in the video). Wondering if I should take the batch down a level before hitting it with this. Keen to give it a go!

[@thelionlawn]

@@Deftone2k Hey bud, the lawn is somewhere between 12 and 15mm in this video. I've lifted the height a bit now at the back end of the season, but that's about the height it was through the mid season. The leaf length shouldn't matter *too* much for this jobby, as it's skimming through it, but just go incrementally with the machine so you don't pull your runners up too badly.

[@StephenPatiencePhotography]

Good to know how this can be used versus the bad bugger blades. Ordered mine. Anyway, does your dog kill your lawns ?

[@thelionlawn]

He burns it with his whizz, but we out Dog Rocks in his water bowl, and that usually reduces the impact quite significantly. But between that, and him running a track from the deck to the fence, he certainly does his fair share to keep me busy 😄

[@velcroman11]

Actually, it is a power rake attachment. The Ryobi scarifier comes with only the scarifier. You could describe it as a “lawn slicer”. The “power rake” attachment costs another $80+ dollars.

[@thelionlawn]

I just try to refer to it the same as when you'd guy and buy it. And that's what Ryobi call it. www.ryobi.com.au/products/details/dethatcher-attachment-rsca1

[@valentinasagdeeva7610]

The tines /springs on this attachment lasted just a few hours for me(((

[@thelionlawn]

Oh really? That's no good. What depth where you using them at? And on what grass?

[@smchauhan25]

Ohh, I thought detatcher and scarifier was the same thing.

[@thelionlawn]

The names are sometimes interchanged depending on the brand and whatnot, but definitely two different types of equipment! 🤙

[@runtr8389]

absolute piece of garbage , my kid bought me one , ussless,

[@thelionlawn]

That's a shame it hasn't been worth it for you, mate. I've had nothing but positive feedback from other guys who have used it. What grass type did you try it on, out of curiosity?