Chaps,

any green fingered folks about?

I need to get a decent moss killer and pretty sharpish too, the moss has kind of taken over part of the lawn and its a bitch to cut now.

Any ideas? good / bad experiences? i dont want to kill the little grass that is in amongst it though if it can be avoided.

Cheers

Buy a lawn raker...give it a few damn good rakings in multiple directions and it will get rid of a lot of it. Also use an airator (sp?) [one of those things with spikes] and it will let the ground drain a bit, reducing the damp thereby reducing the amount of moss that grows.

A lot of the weed killers will kill moss, but it turns brown when its dead so you will end up with a brown lawn if you have a lot of moss (unless you lawn rake it).

Take a look in B&Q they tend to be quite resonably priced for lawn care stuff.

David

just read on the net that raking it about makes it worse!

It says to use a killer then once it goes black to rake it out.

I just dont want to kill what little grass is there too

get a garden fork and wal up and down putting holes evenly all over it then (i think its this) get sand and grass seeds and sand over the whole lot this provides drainage and then replaces the moss with grass seed

some tv program sometime said you shoul d feed the grass you have and that will kill the moss but i think thats for the little bits of moss



Tri

ferrous sulphate is one way of killing moss, when its brown remove it.

Takes a lot of effort to get rid off, getting rid of it for good is another thing all together. I Gave up battling it at home and just live with it, it reaches a setain level but never swamps the grass.

Thought you had 200 sq ft of turf going spare , can't help with the moss, sorry

Moss is usually caused by a combination of lack of nutrients and cutting too short.
Several ways of getting rid of it easy way is just treat it with a feed weed and Moss Killer - use a proper spreader otherwise you get a patchy lawn, water in then let the grass grow a bit and cut it to leave a decent ammount of growth --- usually setting 3 on the lawn mower. After a week cut again prick the affected areas with a fork and use the spreader to spread a mixture of ordinary sand, John Innes Compost and grass seed on then water in. Leave for a week to 10 days then for the next couple of months cut it very regularly but not too short.
The idea is the the longer grass cuts off the light from the moss. Apply granular Autum lawn food at the end of August.

If that dosen't work use Lawn sand mixed with ordinary sand and some light compost -- again use the spreader to spread it evenly water well in and after a couple of weeks watch the moss turn black.
Then follow the first method.

For lawn weeds use the first method but spot treat the dandilions with a spray on lawn weed killer.

To get rid of couch grass apply Feed & Weed & Moss killer, after a weeks prick and over seed then cut on short (setting 2) every 2 -3 days for a couple of months.

[Edited on 21/4/05 by britishtrident]

Sharp sand... as BT says. Dont waste your money on expensive chemicals, when a bit of blackpools finest will do it!

opps, that's not environmentally acceptable is it?...

But here in the hollers we just pour a little of granny's tonic on it.....that is what don't make it down out gullet.

D.

We can't afford to pour petrol on things over here David.

There are 3 good solutions that spring to mind;

1. Dig some footings, remove turf for concrete floor and biuld garage.
2. If garage is too severe, remove lawn and pave it,
3. Raker, aeration, mix of good top soil / sand / seed to drain and get new growth going.

My father in law is very keen gardener. He always says that to get a decent lawn you need to regularly treat and pamper the area for 3 years minimum to reap the rewards. AKAIK there is no quick fix. A good lawn is the result of dedication.


This year he used a cement mixer (new and clean) to mix the soil / sand and seed (big lawn!) to get an even mix then carefully sprinkled it out to get it even. Thats a bit more dedication than i can stretch to. Mind you he is retired and also gardens for other people.

[Edited on 22/4/05 by DarrenW]