We purchased our house two years ago and with it came a great lawn - with a huge thatch issue. The recommended thatch is 1/2 an inch or better. The thatch out there is upwards of three to five inches - So, nutrients, water, organic matter in and going into the lawn are suspect. The lawn looks great in the spring and fall, but as the weather turns, it browns out very quickly - I would think that this is normal dormancy, but the degree leaves me wondering. A few things that I plan to do: Aerate in the spring and fall De-thatch in the sring and fall Put down a 1/4" of compost in spring and fall - then overseed Questions: 1. Is there anything else that I can do to impove the qualitiy of my soil? 2. What is the recommended number of applications of fertilizer and lime during a year Thanks

Yikes. 3 to 5 inches is crazy - and that's real bad news for the turf.

I have no experience with de-thatching, but the aeration will help for sure. Maybe you de-thatch, then aerate, the add compost. That order makes the most sense to me. If you did that twice a year you'll be doing a lot for your soil. I know you can also spread gypsum, but you need quite a lot of it to make a difference.

Typically, any thatch layer 1"+ would be considered excessive. Even at that level, as a lawn care provider, I would recommend dethatching and aerating to reduce the thatch. Over 1", I would take a sod cutter to it, roll it up, discard, and seed from scratch. If it truly is a 3"+ thatch layer, it will take an awfully long time to remove all of it. Keep in mind, a healthy thatch layer is 2/10"-3/10".

Thanks again - I wonder if I tested out worm casings, an aerator liquid, organic fertiliers, and what not in an area to see what would happen.

The problem is...think of a thatched roof. They are really good at repelling water, and really thick thatch layer in your lawn will function in a similar fashion. You could put any number of things onto it, but unless you do some serious work to get rid of the thatch you aren't going to fix the problem. If you want to really do it up proper, follow Mike's advice and just get rid of everything. Then it's like Tabula Rasa and you can take the opportunity to really amend your soil and re-seed.

Mind you, that's an easy thing to say...doing it's another matter.