Choosing The Best Lawn Aeration Service
Now that you understand the value of this service, you probably dont want to settle for anything less than the best. And you shouldnt have to! You deserve to get the fantastic lawn that youre looking for.
At Master Lawn, double pass aeration and overseeding are included in our Gold and Platinum lawn care programs. It can also be added to our Silver program or purchased as a stand-alone service. We believe its truly one of the most important services you can be doing for your lawn and that youll be thrilled with the results.
Dont get stuck with a lawn that falls short of your expectations. By choosing Master Lawn, youll be on your way to the lawn that you desire.
Ready to have a lawn that you love at your Tennessee or Northern Mississippi home? Talk to a lawn care expert, choose from 3 program options, and become the master of your lawn.
Why Should You Aerate Your Lawn
It is important to aerate your lawn because it helps to alleviate soil compaction. When the soils are compacted, they have a dense particle population, and this prevents the air, nutrients, and water in the soil from properly circulating. Excess lawn thatch, which is a layer of living and dead turfgrass tissue that has amassed on a lawn surrounding the base of the grass, can also starve the roots from the vital elements.
How Often Should You Aerate A Lawn In Northern Virginia
Generally, you should aerate your lawn annually, although this depends on the age and condition of your lawn and your soil type. For example, a newly installed lawn or a lawn growing in naturally well-drained, organic soil may not compact as quickly as other soil types, and thatch may not be an issue. On the other hand, clay soils and playing fields tend to compact quickly and will benefit greatly from more frequent core aeration.
PRO TIP: Aerating your lawn too much can damage your grass, so dont overdo it. If youre aerating regularly but still have problems with the health of your grass, ask a turf professional for an evaluation. You might have a larger issue with drainage, which is something we can help remedy.
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Aerating Tools: Plug Aerator Vs Spike Aerator
Two main aerating tools exist a spike aerator and a plug aerator. With a spike aerator, you simply use the tool to poke holes into the ground with a solid tine, or fork. Plug aerators remove a core or plug of grass and soil from the lawn. For the best results, use an aerating tool or machine that actually removes plugs of soil. Poking holes is less effective and can actually cause additional compaction in the areas around the holes.
Look for an aerating tool or machine that removes soil plugs approximately 2 3 inches deep and 0.5 0.75 inches in diameter, and about 2 3 inches apart. These machines can be rented from lawn and garden stores or home improvement centers. Always follow the directions provided by the store. You may want to consider sharing the rental cost with a neighbor who is interested in aerating the lawn.
How Big Of A Dethatch Do I Need For My Lawn
Stubble cultivation helps to cut the straw into the soil and remove the barrier of thickly accumulated organic matter. If your thatched roof is more than two inches thick, consider hiring a professional to do the job. Excess straw can be removed more than once, and removing too much at once can damage the grass roots.
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Best Ways To Aerate Your Lawn
If you have decided that you are going to aerate your lawn, its important to do it properly.
First make sure that the soil has enough water. It will be very difficult to aerate soil that is dry. Either try to aerate right after it has rained, or water your lawn the day before you begin.
There are plenty of aeration machines that only cover a small part of your lawn are once, so try to make multiple passes over the same area, and move the machine in different directions .
If there are areas that do not need to be aerated, there is no reason to do so. Save your energy for the areas which need it the most.
In order to keep a cohesive lawn, you will want to allow any soil plugs that have been excavated, to dry and then break them up. You can break them up by running over the lawn and plugs with a lawn mower, but I use the back of a leaf rake once theyre dry.
When You Should Aerate:
The best time to aerate is during the growing season in early summer or early autumn, when the lawn is growing most actively. These times are best because the grass can easily heal by filling in any open areas after the plugs have been removed. Ideally, you should aerate the lawn with a cool season grass selection in the early spring or fall and warm season grass in the late spring.
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For How Long After Aeration Can I Trim
You trim ahead of time. After you put down your plants, theyll require time as well as the ideal environmental management to expand. Theyll require to adjust as well as establish origins prior to the initial trim, so throughout the initial 2 to 4 weeks post aerating as well as overseeding, do not trim.
What Is Lawn Aeration
In simple terms, lawn aeration is the process of loosening compaction of soil under a lawn to improve root growth, water drainage, and fertilization uptake of turf. It also helps oxygen to reach the root structure of plants and grass.
This air exchange is essential to healthy, vibrant growth .
There are different approaches to lawn aeration depending on the type of soil, the level of compaction, and the specific turfgrass. Lets dig into this a little just so that you have the basics.
Heavily compacted soil is best treated using core aeration. This process involves a machine that uses specially designed prongs that plunge into the soil and pull up cores of the soil.
Lawns with special turf grasses such as golf courts often use a spike aeration technique. This approach uses large metal spikes that are pushed deep into the soil.
The benefit of spike aeration is that it does very little damage to the appearance of the lawn. The downside, however, is that spike aeration is not nearly as effective as core aeration.
In fact, if you have a heavily compacted soil like clay, spike aeration can actually result in even more compaction .
There is one other approach to aeration that deserves mentioning here and that is liquid aeration. While I dont like the term I understand why its called aeration.
For more information, read Does Liquid Soil Conditioner Work? The Easy Aeration Promise.
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What Are The Different Ways To Aerate Lawns
Aeration requires machinery, and there are three specific types of machines and tools used for lawn aeration. These are:
- Spike aeration,
- Slicing aeration, and
- Core/plug aerators.
The tool you use to execute any of these lawn aeration methods will vary depending upon your budget, and lot size.
There are both manual versions, walk-behind aerators, and tractor sized machines that you can tow with your lawn and garden tractor.
How Often Should I Aerate
How often you aerate your lawn depends on a few factors. Our turf care experts at Timberline recommend once annually, during fall, for the typical lawn. If your lawn is walked on, mowed, or used very often, this will cause additional compaction. Clay soil types tend to compact more than other soils which could increase the need for aeration.
High use lawns may require twice per year aeration, once in spring and once in fall, to keep them healthy and beautiful. However, the opposite is also true. If your lawn is lush, beautiful, and almost never has foot traffic, aerating every couple of years may be the best fit. Its important to remember, aerating to often can cause way more harm than good for your lawn. If youre unsure how often to aerate or what soil type you have, a turf care expert will assist you in determining your lawn care needs.
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When Is The Best Time To Aerate Your Lawn In Northern Illinois
Ventilate your lawn. In Illinois, the best time to aerate fescue and bluegrass lawns is during the cooler months of the year, from late August through late September or spring. At this stage, the grass interrupts the resting phase and an active growth phase begins. At this point, the lawn will quickly recover from the aeration.
What Do You Do After You Aerate Your Lawn
What to Do After Aerating Your Lawn
When Should I aerate my lawn in Ohio?
Weeds begin to germinate when the daily average soil temperature reaches 55 degrees Fahrenheit. This generally happens around late March or early April in Ohio. For spring aerating, the best time to aerate your lawn in Ohio is early to mid March. This will ensure that you will be able to prevent weeds.
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Does Aeration And Overseeding Work Before And After Pics That Will Blow Your Mind
If youre looking at a thinned out or even bare yard every day, youre probably growing frustratedor maybe even a little embarrassed about how it looks compared to everyone elses yards.
You know you need a solution but you want to make a good choice that will give you your desired results without breaking the bank.
While there are a lot of lawn care services that will help give you a lush, green lawn, one of the most important, and effective, services you can have done for your lawn is to have it aerated and overseeded.
These two services can make a world of difference when your lawn has thinned out areas or bare spots.
Do You Aerate Your Lawn In Spring
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Is it ok to aerate lawn in the spring?
Spring is not the ideal time to aerate the lawn, but circumstances may require it. If the soil is so compacted that existing grass cant grow, it may be necessary to aerate in the spring. Generally, though, spring aerating is discouraged because the aeration holes provide a perfect spot for weed seeds to germinate.
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Should You Aerate Your Lawn More Than Once
There are two issues that need to be considered when talking about aeration frequency. One is the number of times per year or season and the other is the number of passes with an aerator that can be made before it becomes a detriment instead of an aid to your lawn.
Here lets talk about the former. Should aerate your lawn once and then turn around an do it again to make sure it is done adequately?
If the proper tools and weight is used in aeration one pass over a lawn is all that is needed. Aerating the lawn again could cause so much harm to the soil and roots that it may not fully recover. This can produce the opposite result than was intended. Grasses are resilient, but not invincible.
If you have ever seen the result of a proper aeration, it can seem as though the grass spread and growth could be stunted from the violence done to the soil. Yet, this is in many cases the best thing for the lawn.
Now think of doubling the amount of punctures by making additional passes over the grass. Some lawns that are really healthy can survive this just fine, but there are many that will show signs of distress if too many plugs are taken out or punctures are made.
There is a way to make your aeration more effective and thus producing stronger and healthier plants. In a study published in the Segmented Journals, research was conducted in sports stadiums pertaining to the size of the holes placed in the turf by aeration.
How To Aerate A Lawn
The process or aerating a lawn is simple. There are two tools you can use which will help you. Choose from a Plug Aerator or a Spike Aerator. The Plug Aerator, as expected, will remove a plug of soil from your lawn leaving a hole. A Spike Aerator will simply spike holes into the existing soil. You can easily rent either of these machines from your local garden store or home improvement centre.
Before you begin firstly use your lawn mower to crop the grass very short, it is also important to ensure the soil is thoroughly moist. Trying to aerate dry soil could cause further problems and compaction. Go over each area more than once, and in different directions for thorough coverage. If you chose to use a Plug Aerator remove and dry out the plugs of soil then spread them evenly over the lawn once the process is complete.
Make sure that you aerate to the right depth simply aerating a compacted layer wont help, you must go deeper than this to ensure the soil is penetrated properly, you are trying to make deep holes with uncompacted walls.
After you have finished aerating your lawn, you should cover it with new grass seed and then take particular care to water, fertilise and mow back the grass regularly. Repeat this process at least once a year, if not more, dependant on your garden usage and you will reap the benefits of having a strong and healthy looking lawn.
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Liquid Aeration Is A Convenient And Effective Alternative To Traditional Core Aeration
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One important way to develop green, healthy grass is to regularly aerate your lawn.
Traditional aeration involves loosening the soil to allow water, nutrients, air and fertilizer to penetrate deeper. That reduces soil compaction, improves air-to-soil interaction and breaks down excessive thatch. Traditional aeration uses a machine to pull up small plugs of soil from your lawn.
In recent years, a new lawn aeration method called liquid aeration began gaining traction.
Is There A Bad Time To Aerate Your Lawn
Yes, there is a good time and a bad time to aerate your lawn.
Just like most of the activities you do in your yard, you should know when and when not to aerate your lawn. Typically, if you are looking for quality results, then you have to know what the best time for aerating your lawn is.
Spring is generally not a good season for you to aerate your lawn.
The reason as to why aerating in spring is a bad idea is because you might facilitate the growth of weeds in your lawn. I am sure you understand what weeds are and the negative effects they will more than likely have on your lawn.
Basically, if you choose to aerate in spring, the aeration holes create the right environment for weeds to grow. Weed seeds germinate very fast in spring, and so aerating your lawn gives them what they need to grow.
Therefore, you should avoid aerating your lawn in spring because it will negatively affect the health, quality, and aesthetic value of your home if weeds take over your lawn.
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How Often Should Lawns Be Aerated
Most home lawns benefit from annual aeration. Heavily used lawns, or those growing on heavy clay or subsoils may need aeration twice a year. Golf fairways, sports turf and municipalities may need aeration three to five times per year depending on the amount of use. Again, turf responds best when tine spacing is closer and penetration is deeper.
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- Over time, grass and soil can become compressed and compacted. This creates thatch, which is a thin layer of dead and decomposing grass between growing soil.
- As thatch grows, it prevents air, water and fertilizer from getting to the roots of your grass. This causes it to grow thinner and die.
- Aeration makes holes in the lawn and loosens the soil beneath. This lets oxygen, water and important nutrients reach the roots, resulting in lush, green grass.
- Consider aerating your lawn if it is thin and brown and you have trouble growing grass
- This is also a good option if your grass is subject to heavy foot or vehicle traffic.
- Thoroughly water your lawn a day or two before you begin the aeration process.
- Apply at least one inch of water.
- Use irrigation flags to flag any area of the lawn that contain hidden objects like tree stumps or irrigation heads.
- This will help prevent you from running over them with the lawn aerator.
- Whether you’re using a core aerator or a steel spike aerator, you should cover the lawn completely in one direction and go back over it in a perpendicular motion.
- Spike aerators punch holes in your lawn as you go, while core aerators work to remove grass and soil plugs. We recommend leaving these plugs to decompose on their own, which will probably take about a week.
Tip: A steel spike aerator is ideal for small yards, while a core aerator is designed to handle bigger spaces. Both of these are available at The Home Depot Tool Rental Center.
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