Lawn Moss Removal Guide

Like all lawn diseases and fungi, Moss can be a real pain in the ass to deal with. It gives your garden an untidy and messy look, it makes the lawn uneven and spongy to walk on and if you’ve had it once then chances are you’ll have it again. It’s definitely not something I would look forward to dealing with but considering everything it does to your garden, I still think it’s worthwhile learning how.

Below I’ve laid out everything you need to know about removing moss from your lawn to help you combat it now and in the future.

Causes

There are loads of different things that can cause moss growth, which is why it is so common and difficult to deal with. But it is usually a good indicator of bigger and important problems with your soil such as; infrequent mowing; poor vigour; acidic soil conditions; lack of feed; insufficient aeration; too close mowing; and over-use to name a few.

To help you better identity why exactly it has popped up in your garden I have below listed all its possible causes and the factors they come under.

Growing Conditions:

• Poor grass cover
• Worn away areas, especially in areas of excessive use
• Compacted soil
• Drought stressed lawns
• Infertile soil

Lawn Care Practices:

• Taking too much off the lawn because of wrong mower setting
• Taking too much off the lawn because of uneven ground
• Mowing infrequently
• Not aerating when needed
• Improper use of fertilisers
• Not repairing damaged areas
• Leaving leaves to sit on the lawn
• Not dethatching

Environment:

• Shaded lawn, beneath tress
• Soil with poor drainage
• Poor circulation
• North facing lawns
• Acidic soil

Climate:

Ideal or moss growth – wet climate; excess rainfall; and cloudy & cool summers.

Poor lawn conditions – long, hot and dry summers; and cool, dry spring.

Even though this list is quite substantial, maintaining your lawn properly, i.e. consistently watering, mowing and fertilising, is still the best practice for preventing the presence of moss.

Getting Rid of Moss

There are three main ways you can deal with moss on your lawn: just scarify/rake the affected area, applying a moss killer before OR after scarifying/raking, or applying a moss killer before AND after scarifying/raking.

It really depends on your situation for which one you choose, some are more invasive than others, which for heavily affected can be very beneficial but for less affected areas, it can actually be damaging.

1. Just Scarifying/Raking – Least Invasive

For smaller areas of affected lawn you can do this by hand with a spring-tined rake to rake out all the moss and for bigger lawns a mechanical scarifier is probably best, although you’ll probably have to hire one.

Make sure you wait until April before you rake as this gives the weather to heat up a bit. For the lawn to repair and recover quickly you want to provide with as much warmth, fertiliser and moisture as you can. Which make spring the best time to do this, providing you also fertilise.

2. Using Moss Killer

Before

Make sure you are apply a ferrous sulphate based moss killer and do so a couple of weeks, about 7 to 14 days, before you intend to rake the affected area. If the moss is still alive when you rake it, then you could spread it to unaffected areas which would just cause more problems.

Also try to apply it on a damp day as this improves penetration and make sure you apply it uniformly across the entire lawn, otherwise you will create soil variations which can affect soil growth and can actually increase the amount of moss. I recommend using a hand held or push along spreader to ensure an even spread.

After

This time you would apply an iron sulphate based moss killer, instead of ferrous sulphate, to the remaining’s after raking affected areas. This way is probably more effective as the moss will be much thinner now which makes for better penetration into the soil for the moss killer, killing about 90% of what’s left.

Make sure that you apply the moss killer straight after raking and clear the ground of any extra debris, which is easily done using a rotary mower.

For both of the above make sure when you do rake to do it on a dry day, either in April or early May as the grass will be noticeably growing or in late August or early September if you want to do it at the end of the season. Also, give your lawn a mow before raking as well to better expose the moss and to reduce resistance for the rake.

3. Before & After Moss Killer

This should only be used in very bad situations as you’re putting your lawn under twice as much stress as the others, which will be really damaging if it isn’t really needed. The application before would reduce the mosses bulk and the application after kills the majority of what’s left, so in the right situation this would be very effective and beneficial.

Make sure you wait a good few weeks in between applications, spray 3 weeks before raking and 1 week after, and aim to apply them during cool and wet weather, otherwise you could start blackening your grass. Also avoid any moss killers with added nitrogen as the double application will cause a big jump in growth and disease problems.

Repairing Any Damage

It’s likely that there will be a few bare patches on your lawn after treatment so you’ll probably have to do a couple more things.

First I would apply a fertiliser to the entire lawn, this helps the grass fight off the stress of raking and helps it against disease, and will also promote grass growth over weed growth on the bare areas.

No more than a light sprinkle of grass seed across the lawn will be needed to grow the grass back. If you’ve done a heavy de-mossing and de-thatching then it’s very unlikely that this will grow back evenly so like the fertiliser, I would apply this across the entire lawn.

If you’ve used an iron sulphate fertiliser then wait a couple of days after to apply the seed, but if you’ve any other kind then feel free to apply it at any time (preferably just before or during seeding).

Also to help with grass growth, if you haven’t had any rain in a couple of days then you’ll want to get the sprinkler out.

Future Prevention

As I said before the best way to tackle and prevent moss is to keep your lawn in the best condition possible. The main things you want to focus on are mowing frequently, watering whenever the lawn needs it and feeding it properly, this encourages proper grass growth and helps it fight against not only moss but other diseases too.

In saying that there are a few other things you can do too:

• Thin out any overhanging trees to prevent shade on the lawn
• When seeding or laying new turf in a shaded area, make sure the grass seed mix is specified for shaded lawns.
• On heavy compacted soil use either a manual or mechanical hollow tined aerator to aerate the lawn and do so every 3 to 4 years. They remove plugs of soil which you should fill with a mixture of 3 parts sandy loam, 6 parts sharp sand and 1 part peat.
• Avoid mowing too short.
• If you have a very acidic soil then try applying garden lime to slightly reduce acidity and discourage moss.

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If you found this post interesting then maybe you’d like to see some of my other content, like my robomower reviews? If so then head over to my Robot Lawn Mower Review Page, I’ve reviewed various models all designed for different purposes so if you’re in the market there won’t be a better place to go than here!