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Lawn

How to Get Rid of Moss in Your Lawn

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There are several simple ways to get rid of the moss in your lawn—but prevention is the best medicine.

Author Icon By Brenda Woods Updated 03/22/2024

Moss can slowly creep over your lawn, making what was once green and lush unsightly and less than ideal. While moss isn’t actually detrimental to your grass, most people don’t want it overtaking their yard. Getting rid of it is easy but takes several steps, and discovering just why it finds your lawn so hospitable is key.

This Old House has rounded up the top tips for getting rid of moss in your lawn. You’ll learn what you need to know, from how to apply dish soap to dethatching—and how to prevent moss from coming back. Once you kill off the unwanted moss, The This Old House Reviews Team recommends a lawn care provider like TruGreen to keep your lawn in tip-top shape. This industry leader offers five annual plans and a selection of a la carte services so you can customize your lawn care.

To get a free quote from TruGreen, call 866-817-2287 or fill out this easy form.


What is Moss?

Before you get started, it’s important that you know moss isn’t like other weeds—so traditional weed killers won’t be effective against it. This pesky, prehistoric plant doesn’t have true roots and isn’t actually detrimental to your grass. In fact, some people incorporate moss into their lawns on purpose.

But moss does indicate that your lawn is struggling. Common causes for lawn moss include issues like excessive shade or soil problems—it can be compacted, have low soil pH, or poor drainage. While grasses suffer in these conditions, moss thrives. So even though moss won’t kill your grass, the conditions that led to it can.


Getting Rid of Moss in Your Lawn Naturally

The most common way to get rid of moss naturally is by using dish soap. The best time to kill moss is when it’s actively growing, in late spring to early summer or late summer to early fall.

Using dish soap

Raking and dethatching

If you have a small patch of moss, you can mix 1 gallon of water and 2 ounces of dish soap into a spray bottle and spray the mix onto patches of moss. For larger lawns you should double the proportions of each.
Spray the mixture onto patches of moss and drench them thoroughly. Within 24 hours, the moss will dry up, turn brown, and die. Rake up the dead moss, and re-seed the areas. Finish off by placing soil on top of the seeds.
If you’re dealing with a limited moss problem, you can try simply raking it up, going at it at different angles to loosen it up. Once you’ve gathered all the moss, place it in a trash can.
For a speedier fix, use a power rake—a gas-powered item that can remove thatch and moss— or fit your lawn mower with a dethatching blade to speed up the process.

Getting Rid of Moss in Your Lawn with Chemicals

The two most common ingredients in moss-killing chemicals are iron sulfate and glyphosate. Iron sulfate will start damaging moss in a matter of hours and effectively kill it within two days. This ingredient is commonly found in fertilizers and won’t harm your lawn’s grass.

Glyphosate, on the other hand, is non-selective and will kill both the moss and grass it comes into contact with.


How to Prevent Moss

If you want to prevent moss from taking up residence, make your lawn less hospitable to the weed. The best way to do this is by resolving the issues that may have led to the moss in the first place.

Excessive shade

Low soil pH

Poor drainage

Compacted soil

The precise amount of sun your lawn needs will depend on your region and grass type. On average, most lawns need about 4-6 hours of sunlight per day. If branches are casting a shadow over a large area of your lawn, prune them back. You can also switch to growing a grass that tolerates shade better, like tall fescue.
Send a sample of your soil to a university or your local cooperative extension. They can test the soil to determine if it has the proper nutrients and whether it’s alkaline enough. In general, a lawn’s pH level should be between 6.0 and 7.0. To make your lawn less acidic, you can apply lime. Soil amendments and regular fertilization are the key to a healthy lawn.
If your soil retains too much moisture, it can’t drain very well. Drainage issues welcome moss. The type of soil you have can impact the likelihood of drainage issues—clay soil tends to puddle. Not to worry. You can amend the soil to make it easier for moisture to pass through.
Excessive foot traffic and thatch can make your soil compacted, preventing it from accessing a steady flow of nutrients, water, and air. You can rectify this by aerating, using several different options of machines to poke thousands of tiny holes into your lawn to let it breathe. Dethatching, or breaking up the layer of decomposing organic matter between grass blades and the soil, will also alleviate this issue.

TruGreen does not specifically treat moss, but it handles a variety of practices that will decrease your chances of getting moss in the first place, like proper aeration and fertilization. The lawn care company offers five annual programs and a variety of a la carte services in every state except for Alaska. To get a free quote, call 866-817-2287 or fill out this easy form.


Frequently Asked Questions

How do I get rid of moss in my lawn naturally?

You can get rid of moss naturally by using a solution of water and dish soap, or by raking it up if there’s just a small patch.

Why do I have so much moss in my lawn?

The likely culprits are excessive shade, poor soil drainage, soil compaction, or a low soil pH.

Will lime kill moss?

Lime will not kill moss, but it will make the soil more alkaline, helping to prevent moss in the future.

Is it bad to have moss in your lawn?

Not necessarily. Moss will not kill your grass, but it does indicate that your lawn has some issues that need correcting.


Our Rating Methodology

The This Old House Reviews Team backs up our lawn recommendations with a detailed rating methodology that we use to objectively score each provider. We review lawn care plans and packages, navigate the provider website and speak with customer service representatives, request quotes, and analyze customer reviews for each provider. We then score the provider against our review standards for plan options, additional benefits and customizability, availability, trustworthiness, and customer service to arrive at a final score out of 100.

To share feedback or ask a question about this article, send a note to our Reviews Team at reviews@thisoldhousereviews.com.