Purchasing a dethatcher/scarifier

almighty1

Hi,

Myself and my father have identical 36" Castelgarden ride-on lawnmowers. We wish to purchase a scarifier to remove dead moss (pre-treated with sulphate of iron) and thatch between us.

Has anybody here ever attached one to the back of a lawnmower? I'm specifically looking at this item. Any comments or suggestions?

http://www.amazon.com/Agri-Fab-40-Inch-Tine-Dethatcher-45-0294/dp/B0000CBJGC

Agri-Fab 40-Inch Tine Tow Dethatcher 45-0294
Tine de-thatcher uproots dead, matted grass and dislodges hard-packed dirt for planting
Penetrates and turns up dried grass, weeds, and soil in 40-inch wide swathes
Rust-proof and replaceable spring-loaded tines are heat-treated for greater durability
2 7-inch diameter semi-pneumatic wheels with a width of 1-1/2 inches traverse most any terrain
1-year limited warranty

bbam

Been wondering about one of those myself. Surely a small bracket below the switch for the grassbag full would work.
May I ask where you're thinking of purchasing?

Qwerty?

I bought that exact one 2 years ago, from Mowdirect
They do the job, but are no where near as good as a petrol one. But I don't fancy using a petrol one on a lawn my size.;)

Delivery was £30

http://www.mowdirect.co.uk/acatalog/AGRI_FAB_TOW_BEHIND_DETHATCHING_RAKES.html

bbam

Qwerty? wrote: »

I bought that exact one 2 years ago, from Mowdirect
They do the job, but are no where near as good as a petrol one. But I don't fancy using a petrol one on a lawn my size.;)

Delivery was £30

http://www.mowdirect.co.uk/acatalog/AGRI_FAB_TOW_BEHIND_DETHATCHING_RAKES.html

Do you reckon it will keep the lawn thatch and moss free?
How often would you use it ??

almighty1

From what Ive read so far, it requires 2 passes each way.

I'd reckon that if you do this twice a year then that should suffice, it all depends how bad the thatch/moss in on your lawn I suppose.

A bit more reading says they can be towed by any ride-on lawnmower, I might bite the bullet and purchase one. I have around 3/5's of an acre to do so I dont fancy the petrol one either.

bbam

I see from the website it can be towed when cutting the lawn without the grass box on. At least your not doing extra running , with the price of petrol going one way only, I managed to get €9.50 into the galon drum yesterday and that only does the lawn twice, maybe a third time.
My lawn is only two years old so was thinking of not letting moss get established at all, there is a fair tatch already.

almighty1

bbam wrote: »

I see from the website it can be towed when cutting the lawn without the grass box on. At least your not doing extra running , with the price of petrol going one way only, I managed to get €9.50 into the galon drum yesterday and that only does the lawn twice, maybe a third time.
My lawn is only two years old so was thinking of not letting moss get established at all, there is a fair tatch already.

Yes it certainly seems good preemptive work on a lawn. I'm unable to source this product in Ireland but I've emailed around 5 UK companies querying delivery costs to ROI. This is the cheapest I've found with delivery.

http://www.gardenmachinesltd.co.uk/agri-fab-45-0294-40-spring-tine-dethatcher-3688-p.asp £79 + £18.99 delivery

Qwerty?

bbam wrote: »

Do you reckon it will keep the lawn thatch and moss free?
How often would you use it ??

twice in the spring, and maybe twice in the autumn. It will keep it thatch free, This is teh first year I've suffered with moss - and it came with a vengance :mad:

I just connect it to my hitch tow it when I'm mulching the lawn. I also bought there Aerator, but I am not very impressed with that at all.

almighty1

Qwerty? wrote: »

twice in the spring, and maybe twice in the autumn. It will keep it thatch free, This is teh first year I've suffered with moss - and it came with a vengance :mad:

I just connect it to my hitch tow it when I'm mulching the lawn. I also bought there Aerator, but I am not very impressed with that at all.

So when did you start using the detatcher?

henrythecat

Was looking at dethatchers for Castelgarden ride on and was finding hard to locate same in Ireland, so thanks for info

Came across
http://www.amrentals.ie/Ride_on_Lawnmowers/ride_on_accessories.htm
Awaiting prices and delivery costs

I have no tow hitch where are these available ?

almighty1

henrythecat wrote: »

Was looking at dethatchers for Castelgarden ride on and was finding hard to locate same in Ireland, so thanks for info

Came across
http://www.amrentals.ie/Ride_on_Lawnmowers/ride_on_accessories.htm
Awaiting prices and delivery costs

I have no tow hitch where are these available ?

I have a Castelgarden too, on that website you posted they have Castlegarden hitches, what model do you have?

I ended up buying the Agrifab 40" from here.
http://www.gardenmachinesltd.co.uk/agri-fab-45-0294-40-spring-tine-dethatcher-3688-p.asp

totalled €120 inc VAT and delivery. Still waiting for it to arrive.

progarden

oregon make a blade for a lawnmowr, which turns your standard lawnmower into a scarifier. the balde kit is 50
its available form the store in the arboretum in leighlinbridge carlow, also the main agrifab dealers for ireland

ABEasy

almighty1 wrote: »

I have a Castelgarden too, on that website you posted they have Castlegarden hitches, what model do you have?

I ended up buying the Agrifab 40" from here.
http://www.gardenmachinesltd.co.uk/agri-fab-45-0294-40-spring-tine-dethatcher-3688-p.asp

totalled €120 inc VAT and delivery. Still waiting for it to arrive.

Was on to them today, they are out of stock with no idea of when they'll be back in stock. Anyone buy one of these elsewhere? And how much was it?

Bald? er, dash!

I got delivery this week from this crowd http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp?PID=180246 so was just over £80 delivered, cheapest I could find. It's flat-packed and took about 1 hour to put together, could be quicker if a three year isn't "helping" :P

bbam

Bald? er, dash! wrote: »

I got delivery this week from this crowd http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp?PID=180246 so was just over £80 delivered, cheapest I could find. It's flat-packed and took about 1 hour to put together, could be quicker if a three year isn't "helping" :P

Do let us know how you get on with it

Welease

almighty1 wrote: »

Yes it certainly seems good preemptive work on a lawn. I'm unable to source this product in Ireland but I've emailed around 5 UK companies querying delivery costs to ROI. This is the cheapest I've found with delivery.

http://www.gardenmachinesltd.co.uk/agri-fab-45-0294-40-spring-tine-dethatcher-3688-p.asp £79 + £18.99 delivery

I rang Ruffley's in Kildare looking for a price for similar.. None in stock but estimated the cost at about €350-400 if I wanted to order one in.. :eek:

I'll be ordering from the UK also.

ABEasy

Bald? er, dash! wrote: »

I got delivery this week from this crowd http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp?PID=180246 so was just over £80 delivered, cheapest I could find. It's flat-packed and took about 1 hour to put together, could be quicker if a three year isn't "helping" :P

Cheers, just ordered! Delivery is v reasonable!

Welease

ABEasy wrote: »

Cheers, just ordered! Delivery is v reasonable!

Sold out now Just tried to order...

Edit - Rechecked and now says they will be available again on the 29th.. accepted the order.

Edit - Back in stock.. Just got an email mine's been shipped .. Just need it to stop raining now

almighty1

ABEasy wrote: »

Was on to them today, they are out of stock with no idea of when they'll be back in stock. Anyone buy one of these elsewhere? And how much was it?

Yeah I ordered 4 weeks ago and there still isnt a hint of it arriving. Absolutely ridiculous to be honest. Gonna cancel and order from tooled-up.com

Welease

Just a quick update in case anyone was interested.

Received my order from Tooled Up.. Took about 40 - 60 mins to assemble.. Pretty simple. Unit is pretty solid.. Seems like it should hold up well for a few years.. and for the price yery happy.

The de-thatch springs didnt reach the ground when connected to the mower.. So had to make some adjustments to the angle screws (detailed in the manual), but it was still not sitting as low as I would have liked..
As I was running short of time, the problem was solved by putting some heavy stones on the unit to weigh it down.. I'll have a look next week to see if I can adjust the angle further.

I did a couple of runs over out front lawn (which has a major thatch problem), and it pulled up a considerable amount of thatch and scarred the top of the soil lightly.. Very happy with the initial results (the lawn looked like an old bobbled woolen jumper when finished with all the thatch pulled out).. but it looks as though it will need to be a weekly event for a while until I remove a lot more thatch.. A quick mow of the lawn afterwards left it looking in great shape..

Overall very happy with the purchase.. but it will be more than a 1-2 times a year until the lawn gets back into some sort of decent shape.

ABEasy

Welease wrote: »

Just a quick update in case anyone was interested.

Received my order from Tooled Up.. Took about 40 - 60 mins to assemble.. Pretty simple. Unit is pretty solid.. Seems like it should hold up well for a few years.. and for the price yery happy.

The de-thatch springs didnt reach the ground when connected to the mower.. So had to make some adjustments to the angle screws (detailed in the manual), but it was still not sitting as low as I would have liked..
As I was running short of time, the problem was solved by putting some heavy stones on the unit to weigh it down.. I'll have a look next week to see if I can adjust the angle further.

I did a couple of runs over out front lawn (which has a major thatch problem), and it pulled up a considerable amount of thatch and scarred the top of the soil lightly.. Very happy with the initial results (the lawn looked like an old bobbled woolen jumper when finished with all the thatch pulled out).. but it looks as though it will need to be a weekly event for a while until I remove a lot more thatch.. A quick mow of the lawn afterwards left it looking in great shape..

Overall very happy with the purchase.. but it will be more than a 1-2 times a year until the lawn gets back into some sort of decent shape.

That's some going took me nearly 2 1/2 hours to put mine together!

Looks good & solid, very happy with price and delivery (very quick), hope it gets rid of the moss now!!!

bbam

Hi guys...
Any chance of a photo of the detatchers in use??

Welease

bbam wrote: »

Hi guys...
Any chance of a photo of the detatchers in use??

I have dethatched a couple times in the last week.. if I get time/weather this weekend I'll do it again and take a couple of photo's for you (if not, then definately by the following weekend).

almighty1

Mine just arrived from tooled-up. Now for the assembly which sounds lengthy by all accounts. Will take a few pics if Welease hasnt.

almighty1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9BGAPCBFb0

Here is me just after assembling it and testing it on the lawn.
The only gripe I have with it (and you'll see at the end) is that my lawnmower hitch was too high and I had to contrapt something temporary to lower it.

Other than that you can see the results for yourselves. Alot of thatch pulled up on just 1 passover.

almighty1

One major downfall of this type of design is storage. Its a real bastard trying to find a decent place to store it with the handle arm causing the major problems.

Qwerty?

I remove the handle arm off both the scarifier and aerators, and hang them on the back of my garage doors using the hitch holes.

almighty1

Qwerty? wrote: »

I remove the handle arm off both the scarifier and aerators, and hang them on the back of my garage doors using the hitch holes.

Yeah true, I suppose its only gonna be used 2-3 times a year max so its not a big deal removing a few nuts.