Abc Can Care For Your Lawn
Lawn aeration can be tricky if you dont have the right tools and, without the proper experience, you can spend a long time and unknowingly damage your grass. Instead of taking that chance, let the professionals at ABC Home & Commercial Services take lawn aeration off your plate. Not only can we help with this chore, but we can also take over your lawn mowing, fertilizing and watering so you can spend more time enjoying your yard as opposed to working on it.
How Do You Aerate Without An Aerator
A fork can be a useful tool for aerating your lawn. The process is more or less like spike aeration. It is an effective method because it penetrates compacted soils efficiently to loosen the particles, and if you already own a fork, you dont have to spend more money on new tools to aerate your lawn.
Why Should You Scarify The Lawn
You can determine whether you should scarify your lawn easily with a test. Pull a small rake or a cultivator loosely through the turf. If old grass cuttings and bits of moss remain hanging on the tines, its time to scarify.
A large amount of weeds in the lawn are also a sure sign that the lawn should be scarified. Because in this case, the lawn grass growth is inhibited.
A lack of nutrients may be a reason for this. However, a thick layer of lawn thatch can also prevent the oxygen supply to the lawn. Scarifying helps here.
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Can Aerating Damage Any Underground Utilities Lines Pipes Or Wiring
Most underground utility lines are buried to deep enough that aeration tines will not strike them. Other buried items such as sprinkler systems could be impacted. If you are concerned, call to have underground utilities marked. Use flags to mark irrigation heads and other hidden objects to avoid damaging them and/or the aerator.
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Lawn Aeration Guide: Setbacks Of Diy Aeration
A lawn that is adequately aerated will help to make your property look healthy and green. Homeowners who try to aerate themselves usually have problems that they do not know how to resolve. If you experience poor results, you will probably try another DIY lawn project to see if it helps or call a lawn service company, which means you have just paid twice.
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Tools For Aerating Your Lawn By Hand
Manual methods have both pros and cons. The primary benefit is cost, the tools needed are affordable and many lawns are small enough that you cant really justify using a machine.
The major disadvantage is that manual aeration by hand can be time consuming and labor intensive. Although below we explore methods that can reduce the effort required.
How To Dethatch Your Lawn
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Water And Keep Off The Lawn
Finally, you will want to water your lawn for about 2-3 weeks.
You will want to water your lawn at least every other day to ensure your little baby grass is able to come in properly.
Be sure to follow the best practices for watering the lawn.
For best results water in the early morning before the sun rises.
When Is The Soil Too Dry To Aerate A Lawn
If the soil is powdery and fine, or inserting the tool into the ground is difficult, then the soil is too dry to aerate. If the soil is too wet, test the soil’s moisture content again in two or three days. If the soil is too dry, water the lawn thoroughly two or three days before aerating so that the soil is moist to at least a depth of 4 inches.
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Diy Or Hire Professionals To Aerate Your Lawn
As with most lawn care tasks, it is possible to aerate your lawn yourself. However, before you set aside a weekend afternoon for the chore, consider the benefits of hiring a lawn care professional. When you consider the pros and cons of DIY aeration vs. those of hiring lawn care professionals, you might find that its worth investing in some expert help.
S To Aerate Your Lawn
byJoshua BatemanMay 13, 2020, 8:56 am
Whether youre an avid gardener or just looking to renovate your own lawn, you may have heard of aerating your soil. Its an easy, simple, and quick process that can reap your garden or lawn massive benefits in a comparatively short amount of time. Aerating your soil involves perforating it with small holes in order to allow water, essential plant nutrients, and air to penetrate your grass roots. In this way, aerating your lawn can help your grass roots grow more deeply into the ground to produce a durable and easily sustained lawn. Aerating soil can be done by anyone, and theres no need to wait. Read this article now to get started with a quick guide as to how and why you should be aerating your lawn.
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What To Do After Aeration
After you finish aerating your lawn, let soil plugs or extra soil dry where they fall. They’ll break down in rain or crumble the next time you mow, adding beneficial soil and organic matter to your lawn surface.
Right after aeration is a perfect time to overseed with premium Pennington Smart Seed and fertilize your lawn or do simple lawn repairs. Seeds and nutrients have direct contact with soil through the openings your aerator created and roots have fresh pathways for the things they need. The combination can help put your lawn on the fast track for quick seed establishment and thicker, lusher growth.
By adding aeration to your annual task list or doing regular compaction tests to check for need, you help ensure your lawn can reach its full potential for thickness, health and beauty. Pennington is committed to providing you with the finest in grass seed and lawn care products to help you achieve your lawn goals.
Pennington and Smart Seed are trademarks of Pennington Seed, Inc.
What Does It Mean To Aerate Your Lawn
Actually, lawn aeration is the way of puncturing the soil by preparing small holes that enable water, air, and nutrients to enter into the roots of your grass. While you can rightly aerate the soil, you can assist the grassroots to grow strongly. As a result, it is called the key to healthy lawn and turf.
After using the lawn frequently by you, your family, or pets, chances have been compacted the turf making the surface soil hard underneath the top layer. Similarly, thatch can develop in the lawn over time. Both compaction and thatch build-up can create a barrier layer to reach water, oxygen, and nutrients into the roots of grass and plants.
For this cause, aeration is the way to lose the soil of your lawn, and these more essential elements get into the grassroots. You can do this by making holes in the lawn. However, it would be best to be careful that there is a very definite process of aeration before you occupy a garden fork and start making dots in your lawn with holes.
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How To Overseed A Lawn Without Aerating
Choose the Grass Variety. Before overseeding,you must determine the grass seed you want to plant on the grass.
Why and when you should aerate your lawn?
Removing Soil Cores. The first one involves removing soil cores.
How to tell if your lawn needs aerating?
Spike aeration,
Recommended Aeration Provider: Trugreen
If you dont have the time to invest in lawn aeration, or dont want to spend money on renting or buying equipment youll rarely use, consider hiring TruGreen. This industry leader has been in the business since 1974 and has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau.
TruGreen bundles its lawn aeration services in its three core annual packages. You can find the plan breakdowns below:
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Determining When It’s Time To Aerate Your Yard
Pick The Right Equipment
Aerating your lawn can be done in many different ways, and not all of them have to be terribly expensive. No matter what equipment you choose to get the job done, the process will remain the same. There are five commonly used different pieces of equipment to aerate your lawn: the hand aerator, aerator shoes, spike aerators, rolling aerators, and plug aerators.
If youre only looking to aerate a small yard or lawn, a hand aerator will be your best option. They resemble a rake and are used in quite the same manner. However, even though theyre incredibly cheap they take a lot of effort to utilize properly and can cause fatigue and strain if youre working on a larger yard.
Aerator shoes are the second least expensive method of aerating your lawn. Aerator shoes have spikes that are a few inches long at the bottom. Theyre intended to be worn over normal sneakers or shoes when you need to take care of your lawn, and straps help secure them in place. The spikes create holes in the lawn surface, thereby allowing air, nutrients, and water to flow through soil and to grass roots properly. These shoes can retail for $20-30.
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How Often Should I Aerate My Lawn
Every backyard and lawn is different, and it also depends on who lives at your place. In areas of high foot traffic, pets or even cars parked on the lawn, compaction can become a problem. If this sounds like your place, regular aerating will be important to ensure the ground doesnt become too hard and it will also help the soil to breathe and the grass to spread. In addition, different soil types require more frequent aeration. Clay soil compacts easily and should be aerated at least once a year. You can aerate a sandy lawn once a year, or once every two years. In harsher climates, aerating twice a year will encourage turf growth and health.
What Is The Best Time To Aerate A Lawn
Late summer and fall is the optimum season. Why fall? Blame it on summer. Thats when many lawns become compacted from heightened activity, foot traffic and dry weather. Fall aeration alleviates the compaction, preparing the soil to grow healthy grass the following spring.
Spring aeration is an alternative, but if you aerate in the spring, you could unearth weed seeds and cause unnecessary weed growth. And if youre applying a crabgrass preventer in spring, punching holes in your lawn after treating with a pre-emergent herbicide can compromise the chemical barrier it creates to prevent crabgrass and other weeds.
The absolute worst time to aerate is during hot, dry weather, which could quickly dry out the grass, causing undue stress to your lawn.
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You Are Likely To Get Subpar Results With Diy Lawn Aeration
Finally, we also find that homeowners are often dissatisfied with their results. This may be no fault of your own. Even if you feel as though you pushed the aerator through your entire lawn and you did everything you were supposed to, the equipment itself could be subpar. You have to consider that this is a piece of rental equipment that has been used over and over again by homeowners who might not be utilizing it correctly. As a result, it can get beat up over time. That can make the equipment tough to operate and give you less-than-stellar results.
How To Aerate With A Corer
For large areas and heavily compacted soil, the best option is to hire a machine, a corer that will remove plugs of soil, usually 2 or 3 inches. These take a core of soil out of the ground which is usually only when the soil needs better aeration and drainage. The holes can be filled with sand to help water pass through the soil.
This method is typically used by groundsmen who need to improve their soil profile, so if you’re not confident you can carry the work out you may wish to hire a professional.
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When Is The Best Time To Aerate A Lawn
In Iowa, September and April are the best times to aerate Kentucky bluegrass and other cool-season lawns. While the overall results are beneficial, core aeration causes some initial damage. Aerating in September or April allows the grass to quickly recover during the favorable growing conditions in spring and early fall.
How Do I Know If My Lawn Needs To Be Aerated
Your lawn requires core aeration if:
- Your lawn experiences heavy foot traffic and is often used. Children and pets running around the yard can also contribute to soil compaction.
- Your yard dries out quickly and has a spongy feel when you walk upon it. Usually, this spongy feeling means an excessive thatch problem, and water is not spreading into the soil.
- There are puddles through-out your lawn. Pools of water are another sign that water is not draining correctly.
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Why You Should Aerate
Your lawn may need to be aerated for any of several reasons. First among them: compaction, when the soil particles are pressed together into a smaller area. Soil compaction leaves less room for air and water to get to the roots.
It is common in areas that have clay soil, or on new lawns where construction activity tamps down the soil, or any lawn that gets a lot of foot traffic.
A thick layer of thatch can also be a reason to aerate. Thatch is the natural organic matter between the soil and the green blades of grass. A little thatch is necessary and healthy for your lawn. Too much thatch can lead to pest problems and prevent water and air from getting to the grass roots. If your lawn feels spongy underfoot, you may have too much thatch. Bend low and inspect: If the matted brown layer under your green grass blades is more than a half-inch, you may need to aerate.
Aeration removes pokes holes in your lawn, allowing precious air and water to get down into the roots. It can also loosen the soil, and encourage the grass roots to grow deeper and spread, making your lawn healthier.
