How to Thin Grasses
- 1). Prune the grass to about 4 inches tall with a pruning or hedge clipper once the blades start to dry in late summer or early fall.
- 2). Remove the grass clump from the ground by digging 6 inches around the edge of the clump and 12 inches deep. Pry the plant out of the ground with your shovel and set it on a tarp in a shaded area.
- 3). Cut the grass into clumps that include a section of the main root crown with a sharp knife, keeping the clumps at a 3- to 4-inch diameter. Remove and discard the center area of the clump if it is dead grass that goes not grow from the root section.
- 4). Plant the thinned out sections of grass at the same depth they were growing previously, so the root crown is just below the soil level.
- 5). Soak the soil after planting to stimulate root establishment in the thinned-out grass clumps.