Every time a lawn is mowed, some or all of the clippings end up being deposited on the lawn. These clippings begin to form a layer that doesn’t always decompose and can start to build up over time. A power rake (aka rotorake) does the same thing that a person does with a manual rake, but does it hundreds of times per second. When a power rake is run on a lawn, part of the thatch layer is lifted up. This material is then vacuumed up and disposed of – we do this in two passes with our heavy duty bagging mowers. The result is that the root system of the lawn has access to air, water and nutrients that would have otherwise been blocked by a thick thatch layer. After power raking, the grass typically grows a bit faster and is visibly healthier. We recommend power raking in spring before the lawn suffers under heat stress. This is akin to taking off a wool sweater for your lawn – it’s best to do it before you’re way too hot. Ideally this work is done in April or May. Power raking also helps to “fluff up” the grass and break up any snow mold and matting you may see in your lawn. The only time we would caution against power raking is in the dead heat of summer – the mechanical raking does put stress on the lawn and when combined with hot days, the lawn can dry out.
Sometimes folks confuse power raking with raking up leaves. While the power rake process can help pickup leaves during the vacuum stage, power raking itself does not cleanup leaves. If you’re looking to cleanup a solid layer of leaves you’ll just need to blow out the edges and under trees/hedges and then rake up or vacuum up the leaves on their own. Leaf cleanup is a service Mow Town offers too.
Here is what excellent power raking looks like: Power Raking