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Scarifier blades


Pierre ZFP

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First of all, my appologies to anyone with a 'Billiard Table' lawn if I offend with my industrial approach to gardening  ;-))

I think I need to scarify my lawn now as after a season of weed n' feed the grass has actually outnumbered the weeds and is starting to look OK.  Of course after many years of just being cut on an irregular basis the whole thing is like a trampoline due to all the accumulated thatch.  Tried raking by had but there is so much it nearly killed me!  So, I was looking at scarifiers.  The electric ones just won't hack it (sorry, pun intended) and the petrol ones are a bit expensive.  I know I could probably hire one from Castorama or similar but I have seen an alternative. 

I have come accross a scarifier blade which you fit to your rotary mower in place of the cutter and with the machine on a high setting, it whizzes round scratching up the grass with wire tines.  I am aware that I would have to go and rake up the loose grass but I wonder if anyone has tried this and if  works? or is just a waste of time and money ?? I have about .25 hectare to tackle.

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  • 4 years later...
Having blown the dust off this thread and brought it back up to the top, I too would like to know if scarifier blades really work on your lawn.

I have come to the conclusion that our lawn is more of 'a moss' now than a lawn, so something has to be done. I will say in my defence that we have only been in the property 2 years and the previous owner had let things go a little, in the scarifying department.

Having looked on the internet it would seem that you can pick up an electric scarifier for around 100 pounds, and the petrol ones start from about 400 pounds. I don't think the electric scarifier would be man enough for the amount of lawn we have, but I don't really want to shell out over 400 pounds for a petrol one at the moment. So back to the original question do scarifier blades really work?

Any feedback gratefully received.
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A bit of an off the wall suggestion. 

I have a gardener now (thanks to the lorry driver's insurance - it's not that I'm rich) and he does this job and has the right kit.  To my mind, a couple of hours' gardening from an agency once or twice a year just to do this one job would be more cost-effective than shelling out large amounts for good kit which one barely uses, or buying cheap stuff that doesn't work well.  Just a thought.

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Thank you both for your replies.

It seems to be the done thing in France to get somebody in so to speak Coops, both my neighbours have somebody to rotovate their gardens with a professional looking piece of kit, I have been struggling this week rotovating my garden with a normal sized rotovator, hard work but gets the job done. I will take onboard your suggestion, but I am going to try a scarifier blade for my mower first. I have found one on UK ebay for 15 pounds, although they won't deliver to France I can get over that problem.

I must admit I was tempted this week with an ex-display petrol scarfier in E.Leclerc, reduced from 395 euros down to 315 euros, but I am goint to try the cheap option first.
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We have our own Rasputin, a scary frier! It's an electric one and works very well.

Our 'lawn' is not fit for very much of a lawn, but then lawns down here are either watered every day or non existent. I never did like a lawn in England and it isn't a natural thing to have here anyway....

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As the one that started this thread, I can say that the scarifier that replaces the blade on a normal rotary mower works very well indeed.  Mine looks very similar to the one in Théière's picture above. Dead easy to fit, came with a a load of different size bushes so it sould fit any spindle and at around £15 an absoulte bargain.  Thoroughly recomended
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