Anyone got one?
Both of my lawns have undergone a conversion to mossaries, and while I have hand raked the moss before, it's blooming hard work.
Electric lawn rakes come in a wide range of prices and the DIY shed lists most at price of about £150-200. Not the cheapest place to buy though, although it's useful for comparison purposes. I had rather though the Bosch ALR 900 would be the one, although I wondered about the durability of the tines.
So, any thoughts?
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Yes, buy one. Very effective and the best way to improve your lawn. Hand raking is really hard work. Not sure what brand but mine is at least 20 years old.
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Checked min out . It's an ATCO and I don't think they make them any more. The Bosch one looks OK though.
you will be amazed how much moss and thatch a lawn scarifier will remove.
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>> Borrow some chickens.
and end up with foxes
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>> >> Borrow some chickens.
>>
>> and end up with foxes
No moss though:)
But I should mention that chickens aren't ideal for anyone who is very lawn-proud.
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Let the grass grow longer. The main cause of moss is cutting the grass too short.
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I could could get you an ox, cheap too...but you'd have to collect.
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For the amount of use it will get rent one for a day.
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For the amount of use it will get rent one for a day.
You've not seen my mossary! Borrowed one before and really, it needs doing repeatedly throughout the season.
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Mrs K was given a Flymo Lawn Rake as a birthday present about 4 or 5 years ago. It lasted just over a year before it made all the correct noises but didn't pick anything up. Out of warranty, I took the thing apart and found that they had used a nylon gear wheel on the end of the motor shaft to drive the business end. The heat from the motor had melted the nylon so the rotor was just spinning.
I sent a 'Disgusted of Basingstoke' email to their customer service folks pointing out their poor choice of materials fully expecting them to reply with a 'Sorry, but..'.
To my surprise they replied straight away asking for a few details and had a replacement delivered within a couple of days. The replacement has been fault-free, so full marks to Flymo.
It seems to be available for ~£75 on a certain auction site and the thing I like about it is that the tines are easily replaceable little springs.
tinyurl.com/j2xwguz
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>> I sent a 'Disgusted of Basingstoke' email to their customer service folks pointing out their
>> poor choice of materials fully expecting them to reply with a 'Sorry, but..'.
>>
>> To my surprise they replied straight away asking for a few details and had a
>> replacement delivered within a couple of days.
It was a sympathy present, they thought you wrote "disgusting in Basingstoke"
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...surely, simply the word "Basingstoke" would have been enough for a sympathy present.
(and I know I shouldn't keep calling you Shirley).
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If (probably a big "if") you have a powered cylinder mower you may be able to buy, reasonably cheaply, a scarifier which you can swap with the cutting cylinder.
I used one of these for a few years and it was very effective; all the moss was collected in the bin normally used for the grass cuttings.
Last edited by: Focal Point on Fri 19 Feb 16 at 23:34
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>> If (probably a big "if") you have a powered cylinder mower you may be able
>> to buy, reasonably cheaply, a scarifier which you can swap with the cutting cylinder.
>>
A few years ago I tried a cheap law rake but it quickly burned out.
I have a scarifier " cassette" which swops with cutting cassette on my traditional petrol roller mower.
It was and expensive item but was part of the S/H deal when I bought the mower.
I have yet to be brave enough to try it.
Qualcast /Atco now known as Allett
tinyurl.com/zlsyn4m
Gulp! had no idea re current price.
!4" is the smallest now made and EBay scarifier cassette is £100
Installed it looks like this
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/petrol-qualcast-scarifier-hire-in-dorset-areas-can-deliver-or-can-be-collected-/221303245007?hash=item3386b388cf:g:7VIAAOxyHNdSZ6nJ
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Try it - the swapping is not that fiddly. When in use, set the machine much higher than you would to cut - try the highest setting first and check the results before lowering.
To be thorough, do the lawn twice, the second time at a different direction, preferably at a right angle to the first.
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p.s. New cassettes since I got my mower :-
Grooming brush £130
Verticut £185
Aerator £109
Dethatcher £???
Gulp, Gulp!
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I share a scarifier with a friend and neghbour. After various rubbish models we bought 7 years ago a Wolf (German made) which has outlasted most things garden and is built like a Mercedes before the accountants got in on the process.
The current models appear almost identical to our existing one.
www.wolfgarten-tools.co.uk/power-tools/scarifiers/1600w-fixed-knife-electric-scarifier
But we certainly did not pay that much!
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We got Lawn Master to scarify our little patch of greenish grass for £25, including removing the detritus.
I think it was a bit cheaper than their usual charge, as they used it as a sweetener for us to sign up for a regular maintenance deal.
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Leave it and you'll save even more money roger. And i know you'll love that ;)
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The scarifier / aerator/ moss rake situation seems to be a little confusing ( to me).
My scarifier has a lot of wire tines that pull the moss out like a rake and fling it into the grass box.
There are also units with lots of pointed knife like vanes that make holes in the lawn to aerate and improve drainage.
It seems to me these are two distinct processes and maybe a lawn should be given the double treatment.
I always understood that lawn sand should be applied a few days before raking to kill the moss before that dead moss is then raked off.
I am only allowed to treat part of my lawn as I have to retain some clover for our resident pet.
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I leave the moss. Its green, green is what you look for in a lawn.
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"Anyone got one?"
Yes I have. I own a Bosch ALR 900 and confess to not having used it much despite having a large lawn riddled with moss. My wife was the last person to tackle the moss (Spring 2015) and used a scarifying rake? we have had for ever instead of the Bosch (she likes a good workout!)
Currently the moss is back with avengeance so I will soon be dusting off the ALR 900 again. It works very well and takes me approx 50 minutes to go over our lawn. I expect it to rake off approx 8-9 boxes of 'thatch' which approx 400-450 litres worth.
I have no idea how long the tines last but if it helps, we also have a Bosch Rotak 40 mower which has been in regular use for 9 years and continues to perform as new (only need to change the blade occasionally).
Bottom line - buy the ALR 900.
Last edited by: gramar on Sun 28 Feb 16 at 07:40
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I have a Draper electric scarifier, not sure of the model as I have had it for several years.
It works well ,is currently sitting in the shed and is about to be put into service again ......when the weather is better.
Thursday saw the first mow of the season ,revealing moss aplenty but I did not have time to give the scarifier a run out as well.
It really amazes me how much moss is lifted by one run , enough to fill out the garden bin to the brim even when well compressed.
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"Anyone got one?"
Having realised that overwinter our moss mass has overtaken the grass mass, I reckon we need a scarifier/lawn rake device.
Did you settle on one, Slidingpillar?
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Yup, bought the Bosch ALR900. Works, looks well made, but only a brief test so far as other things got in the way of actually using it. Soon though.
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"Yup, bought the Bosch ALR900. "
Ah - thanks. I see there is a AVR1100 as well, with 'verticutter', which I assume is some sort of cutting device to improve drainage. Did you consider that one?
I'd be grateful to know how you get on with yours; I don't have to be in a fantastic hurry as a friend has offered to loan me his scarifier to see what sort of job can be done on our thatch patch.
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We had a Qualcast model, it worked OK but you will be doing it every year. Far better to deal with the cause of the moss so that it doesn't get so much of a chance to get established in the first place.
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" Far better to deal with the cause of the moss so that it doesn't get so much of a chance to get established in the first place."
Unfortunately, the grass to the front is in the shade of the house and the lawn to the rear is shaded by the council-owned jungle. I would take great delight in felling the council's trees, with the associated joy of renewing my satellite signal, but I draw the line at knocking the house down ;-)
Alas, the soil under the lawn is badly compacted as, I'm told, the patch was much-driven on during construction of the house. The best results could only be obtained by ripping the whole lot up, cultivating to some depth, and starting afresh. It's a pity that initial soil preparation was so slap-dash because, as I recall, the new turf was very good quality.
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I did my lawn with my ageing ATCO the other day. You will be astonished by the amount of moss/thatch these things remove.
Just a tip. Don't forget to wear safety glasses. Fortunately had mine on and a piece of gravel hit me foursquare in the middle of one of the lenses
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"Just a tip. Don't forget to wear safety glasses."
Thanks - I'll dig them out - they are buried somewhere deep in the garage.
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Ah - thanks. I see there is a AVR1100 as well, with 'verticutter', which I assume is some sort of cutting device to improve drainage. Did you consider that one?
Costs more is the simple answer! Although I found a cheaper source than Amazon and DIY sheds which were about £145, I still shelled out about £123 including carriage. I think my basic problem is the original grass was of the type that looks brilliant if you fuss over it (which I haven't). The bit I seeded and used the type that kids tend not to wear out is moss free and looks fine.
Last edited by: Slidingpillar on Thu 24 Mar 16 at 17:56
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Electric lawn rake/scarifier - CGNorwich
