Moss is not a welcome guest in the garden if it spreads cheekily in beds, on stone surfaces and in the lawn. If you want to get rid of the green surface and stubborn felt, you are dealing with a hardened opponent. You can read here how you can successfully destroy moss with ecologically responsible strategies.

The mechanical control of moss is usually the best option

Eliminate moss on stone surfaces - this is how it works without chemicals

Every year at the end of winter or after periods of damp and cool weather, the same sad picture. Paved surfaces are covered with an unsightly, dirty green patina. If you want to get rid of the annoying moss quickly without polluting the environment, you can use these control strategies:

  • Carefully scrape off the moss with a joint and wire brush
  • Then spray the moss-covered area with a mix of 20 g soda and 10 l boiling water
  • Apply apple or wine vinegar undiluted, leave on for 24 hours and sweep off

It is faster with a solution of 15 g potassium permanganate, which you mix with 10 l water and spray on. After an exposure time of 5 hours, you can brush off the dead moss.

Removing thatch from moss-covered lawns - How to do it right

You cannot get rid of moss in the lawn in the long term with the frequently recommended iron fertilizer. Iron is actually always present in sufficient quantities in the soil. The highly toxic ferrous sulphate contained in the fertilizer only kills the existing moss for a short time. Unless you improve the general conditions for your lawn, new moss will settle in no time.

Subject your lawn to an all-round feel-good treatment so that the noble grasses can effectively assert themselves against the penetrating moss. That is how it goes:

  • Mow the moss-covered lawn deeply and scarify it in spring and autumn
  • Then supply with a nitrogen-rich fertilizer in April/May and with a potassium fertilizer in September
  • Additionally sand green areas with a risk of waterlogging

Use a simple pH test to see if the value is between 6.0 and 7.0. If the result is less than 5.5, lime the turf.

How to remove moss from a bed

Flower and vegetable beds are not among the preferred territories of moss. If, on the other hand, the location is in a cool, shady location, fountain liverworts and the like have no qualms about monopolizing the compacted, moist soil. In this case, take the green plague in the pliers.

By consistently raking and loosening the soil, the rhizoids cannot anchor themselves in the ground. Fertilized regularly with compost, horn shavings (€32.93) and rock flour (€14.13), the bed will soon be free of moss.

tips

Wood ash is traditionally recommended in organic gardens to destroy moss in an environmentally friendly manner. The experts at the Bavarian Garden Academy wanted to know for sure. The result of their research revealed that even the ash from untreated wood is contaminated with pollutants such as cadmium, arsenic, mercury and lead. The trees have absorbed these toxins over the years. Therefore, the experts strongly advise against using wood ash as a moss killer.

Category:

Vegetable garden