Usually, lawns don’t take care of themselves, which is why you don’t see perfect lawns springing up in the wild. Maintaining a healthy, attractive lawn takes more than just the occasional trip around the yard on the riding mower. You need to scarify to make sure thatch doesn’t accumulate and suffocate the lawn. You also need to aerate the soil under the lawn occasionally, or your lawn could be choked off from nutrients and wither.

The scarifier is not a horror movie, it’s a tool used to remove built-up thatch from the lawn. Thatch is composed of dead clippings, twigs, rotten leaves and other debris, although admittedly it’s mostly clippings. Every time you mow the lawn you add to this layer (even if your mower has a collection bag some clippings wind up in the lawn).

Over time this layer of thatch becomes thicker and thicker. It can eventually reach the point where your lawn feels spongy and the thatch begins to starve the lawn of water, nutrients and sunlight. If left unaddressed it’s very bad news for your lawn. The scarifier is used to remove this layer of thatch so that your lawn can eat, drink and be merry once again.