Dethatcher Aerator Combo Rental Vs Purchase

A  lawn dethatcher is also known as a power rake or a lawn sweeper. By any other name it does just what the name implies. It removes harmful thatch build up out of the lawn. This thatch layer can be made up of dead grasses, dead sod or moss. When this debris builds up in your lawn, it can block sunlight, water, air and nutrients from reaching the areas where they can provide the greatest benefit to your lawn. Thatching can tear out this lawn debris without tearing out your lawn. This is the reason why dethatching is popular. If you have clay-like of hilly soil, lawn aeration should be preformed once every two years. Thatching should be preformed on as needed basis. Whether or not you need to dethatch your lawn will depends a lot of what type of grass you have and whether you have moss growing in your lawn.

A dethatcher aerator both dethatches and aerates your lawn.  This is comes in a combo kit or can be done buy renting a thatcher and an aerator and doing each activity separately. The purpose of buy a combo kit is to save you the expense and trouble of renting an aerator and thatcher on a regular basis

 Some of the best and most expensive dethatchers and aerators can be rented for between $30 and $60 each for a 2 to for hour period.  Dethatcher rentals are usually 10 to 20 less then aerator rentals.  Having aerated and thatched over 6,000 lawns, I would not recommend paying extra for insurance coverage with most brands of rentals. 

Buying a lawn aerator or a thatcher separately can be very expensive. A good quality aerator will cost over $2000. A good quality thatcher will cost $1000 to $1500. A good strategy may be to look for them used or buy less expensive substitutes. Some tillers for instance come with different aerating and dethatching kits. These kits can be attached to give you three machine for a little more then the price of one. Another alternative is, if you own a riding lawn mower, you can get a towable aerator or dethatcher for a few hundred extra buck to go with it. A third alternative is to spend a few bucks on a lawn mowing thatcher blade and at least $150 on a rolling lawn aerator or $30 on a hand and foot aerator. This third going to be the most time consuming and will not give you the best results.

The best time to use and dethatcher aerator is any time your lawn in actively growing or about to start growing.   Some lawns will look better after getting dethatched, but most lawns will look worse.  It normally takes 2-4 weeks for lawns to recover after being thatched.  When they recover, they should look better then they did before.  Thatching allows you to remove bad grasses.  Aerating lawns helps reduce compaction and improve water penetration.  Aeration can be done just about anytime, but the most popular times are during the Spring, and Fall.  Winter Aeration is popular in warmer areas of the country.