If your lawn was very mossy, scarifying it will leave it looking patchy with areas where there’s little grass. Designed to help achieve optimal results on the lawn with a fully adjustable scarifying / lawn raking working depth. The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network. To make your scarifying efforts as effective as possible, it’s important to first prepare your lawn.

Working depths: 4mm to -4mm; -8mm to -12mm mm for the scarifier roller; 11mm to 3mm to -1mm to -5mm for the aerator roller. You can use a rake or a garden vacuum to do this and place any debris in a wheelbarrow to dispose of later, or directly in the green bin! During the growing season, it is very necessary to remove the thatch as it will help the new plants to grow well in an open space. A manual scarifier doesn’t use petrol or electricity but rollers activate the cutters when pushed along the ground. At 60cm wide it's one of the largest machines we tested, but is still easy to manoeuvre and comes with a 10m cable.As you can see in the picture above, it has 18 hardened steel blades that make light work of scarifying the lawn and with a 40cm working width, it does a great job at really getting into the lawn and removing moss and thatch without having to do too many runs up and down the lawn even on larger lawns.

This layer can prevent water, oxygen and nutrients penetrating the ground and reaching the grass root. My review will focus on both these models as I have now been testing one for a few years and the other for over a year. The two scarifiers pictured below on my own lawn are what I think are two of the best scarifiers currently available depending on what you’re looking for in a scarifier. The working depth adjustable lever from 5 to 15 mm makes this scarifier a truly versatile product, able to meet the needs of different users. The AL-KO 38P has a working width of 37cm, that’s wider than the usual 30cm you usually find on domestic models.

Next to regular mowing Scarifying is the most important task to tackle to achieve the best possible lawn. The generously-sized 55L collection bag is moderately efficient, but misses some debris as there is a gap between the box and the blades.

Aerating pierces the earth to make it easier for water and air to penetrate deep into the grass roots, and lets stale carbon dioxide escape - which is perfect for seeding. The Bosch AVR 1100 Verticutter Lawnraker provides the dual functions of scarifying and aeration in one electric model, without having to change cassettes or rakes, plus is a big plus as changing cassettes can be awkward on most models. This process prevents the build-up of surface water which encourages moss growth and compacts the soil.I don’t personally use this much but if you want to take your lawn care to the next level, this will come in useful.

It comes with two interchangeable drums, one each for scarification and aeration, a dual start safety system and can be adjusted to four depths, ranging from -6mm to +4mm, which is shallower than other models we tested. You’ll find it takes a few days for the moss killer to take effect and after one week, the moss should turn a dark brown or black colour.

Quite often marketed as power scarifiers, garden scarifiers, electric scarifiers or electric lawn rakers.