Diy Core Aeration Is Aerating Your Lawn Worth It
Of all the beneficial things you could do to ensure a healthy, beautiful lawn, core aeration is second only to fertilization. By disrupting the surface of the lawn and the soil beneath it, core aeration allows more air, water, and nutrients to reach the turfs root zone. This in turn encourages better lawn root development below the surface andyou guessed ithealthier, thicker, greener plant growth above. Compacted soils are loosened, restrictive layers of surface-level thatch are broken, and your turf uses these improvements to its natural advantage, growing stronger and healthier as the surface repairs itself.
Virtually all U.S. regions and all common turfgrasses can benefit from regular aeration. What differs somewhat is the timing. According to information provided by Bayer Advanced, the best time to aerate a lawn is prior to a period of vigorous growth, during which the lawn can best recover from the disruption intentionally created by the aeration process. For cool season grasses, that time is late summer into early fall, making sure to allow at least a month of growing time before the threat of frost sets in. For warm season grassses, late spring to early summer is your best bet.
When Is The Best Time To Aerate Your Lawn
Regardless of where you live and what type of turf grass youre working with, aeration can help your lawn be healthier and more beautiful. The trick is knowing when its best to aerate, what equipment to use, and what else you can do to encourage the vigor of your grass. Additionally, aerating can also assist in limiting weeds ability to gain a foothold in the lawn.
According to Josh Friell, Ph. D, of The Toro Companys Center for Advanced Turf Technology, aeration introduces temporary stress to the turf. Recovery time is closely linked to growing conditions and annual growth cycles. As a result, its important to keep those considerations in mind when determining an annual aerification plan.
When And How To Aerate
Lawn aeration should happen when grass is at its peak growing period so it can recover quickly. Aeration may be undertaken in the late spring or early summer for warm-season grasses, such as Bermudagrass.
But for lawns planted with cool-season grasses , early spring or fall is the best time for core aeration.
You can easily rent a lawn core aerator from a big box store or rental center. Since you should not need to aerate your lawn very frequently, it makes better financial sense to rent rather than purchase the aerator. Typically, if you don’t see any issues with your lawn, you can aerate every two to three years. However, for high traffic areas or if your lawn grows in heavy clay soil, annual aerating may be necessary.
This lawn aeration equipment will pull plugs, or “cores” of soil out of the ground, letting air in. These plugs should be two to three inches in depth. Such a plug should be pulled out of the lawn at about every three inches. The plug removal process is facilitated by watering the lawn the day before, but don’t water to the point of muddying the soil. Leave the plugs on the grass: they’ll break down and add nutrients to the soil. Water every two to three days after aerating.
Likewise, if your thatch problem is severe , rent a vertical mower from a rental center. Alternatively, hire a lawn service to do the job of lawn aeration for you. For more on dethatching, please consult this information on raking leaves.
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Best Times To Aerate Your Lawn
The ideal time to aerate your lawn is during weather periods that will support its recovery. The optimal times for this to happen are during growing seasons, and this is dependent upon the type of grass. Cool-season grass tends to thrive during the cooler temperatures of the spring and fall, whereas warm-season grass usually thrives during the early summer months.
Lawn aeration is best performed at these times because weather during these periods helps to control lawn thatch. It is not necessary to aerate every year if your lawn is healthy and growing well or if you have sandy soil because it does not compact easily. In these cases, aerating every 2-3 years will suffice. When this process is performed more than necessary, it can damage your grass and the subtle balance between growth and dormancy. On the other hand, it is best to aerate every year if you have a heavy traffic lawn or clay soil, which is wet, sticky, and compacts easily. Additionally, lawn aeration is recommended twice a year if you live in harsh climates and/or experience particularly cold, dry winters.
Its Ideal To Perform Aeration And Overseeding At The Same Time In The Fall
As we mentioned, aeration and overseeding are services that go hand-in-hand. Thats because aeration provides optimal seed-to-soil contact. In other words, the seeds will fall into the holes that were created rather than just sitting atop the soil. This will help ensure that your new grass has optimal growing conditions.
The timing of the service is also important in terms of optimal results. We advise having this service performed in the fall because of the ideal weather conditions for seed growth. While the soil is still warm, the air is a bit cooler, which is perfect for new seed germination. Oftentimes, the spring is just too hot and ultimately the summer sun could fry your new and fragile grass.
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What Should You Do After Aerating Your Lawn
Whenever possible, combine lawn aeration with other lawn care maintenance, such as fertilizing, adding soil amendments or overseeding. Water, fertilizer and grass seed all need to get through the lawn surface and into the soil to do their job. Creating a path for them to get there can be accomplished by core aerating. An application of fertilizer immediately after core aeration will also help restore your lawn.
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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How Do I Know If My Lawn Needs To Be Aerated
Lawn aerating shouldnt be viewed as a routine maintenance activity. Aerating the lawn when it isnt necessary weakens the grass and could lead to pest or disease problems. Instead, watch for indications of compact soil such as worn areas, puddling, thin or dead patches, discolored grass, uneven growth, or thatch buildup. Any one of these symptoms could indicate the need to aerate.
If you think your yard needs to be aerated, perform a screwdriver test. Using any type of screwdriver with a six inch blade, attempt to push it into the soil. If you meet with some resistance, it could be time to aerate. If you cant push the blade into the soil all the way up to the handle, you should definitely aerate the lawn.
It would also be helpful to aerate before overseeding the lawn. Mow the grass low, then aerate the yard prior to applying lime, fertilizer, and seed. Doing so will help the grass seed stay put if it rains before germination. It also helps to promote healthy root development.
Is Freshening Your Yard Worth It
No, its not essential to freshen your yard each year, particularly if your yard is healthy and balanced as well as successful. Aeration is good if you have actually obtained compressed, bad or clay-heavy dirt thats been affected by hefty tools or great deals of foot web traffic. Boosts water, nutrient as well as oxygen activity right into the dirt. Boosts rooting.
Should I feed prior to or after aeration? Timing. Among the major advantages of yard aeration is that it produces pores that enable water, oxygen as well as plant food to permeate the yards surface area as well as get to the yard origins. The very best time to feed your yard is right away after aeration core elimination when the openings are tidy cut as well as unhampered.
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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.
Should I Sprinkle After Core Aeration
If you obtain your yard healthy and balanced, trim high as well as enable to dry in between watering ! I just sprinkled my educated yards, as soon as weekly as well as they were thick, trendy, soft as well as no weeds. Freshen as soon as each year minimum.
Just how typically should I sprinkle my yard after freshening? Suggestions for Sprinkling After Aeration as well as Seeding In order to maintain the seed moist, yet not saturated, you might require to water in other words ruptureds. This might suggest sprinkling a couple of times each day yet doing so for a much shorter time period in each place.
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Does Aeration Kill Weeds On A Lawn
This is a common question and the answer can be a little deceiving. You see, lawn aeration itself does not kill weeds but it does encourage deeper root growth of grass. By creating an environment where the grass can thrive, it allows it to grow thicker and more effectively choke out weeds.
So its a little shady to say that aerating your lawn will kill weeds. But you can certainly grow a thicker, healthier grass turf which will discourage weeds from proliferating throughout your yard.
Is Lawn Aeration Worth It
Lawn aeration is beneficial to almost any soil but it offers the most benefit for soils that are heavily compacted. Clay soil, for example, has very small pores and does not allow air exchange.
It also restricts the growth of roots and encourages microbacterial activity that is present in healthy soils .
If grassroots cannot grow deep, the turf will be less hearty. This can result in grass that is highly susceptible to drought.
If you have Centipede or St. Augustine grass, we have more info on drought tolerance here:
The point is this: lawn aeration is intended to break up the compaction of soil, allowing for deeper root growth, healthier grass, and better water absorption.
Remember, healthy soil means a healthy, thriving lawn.
When my wife and I built our house, I was faced with growing grass on some of the most challenging red clay soil that youve ever seen.
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I had a local dirt company prep the ground with what we call topsoil around here but its not a nutrient-rich material. Its just dirt and thats better than seeding straight into the clay.
I sodded close to the house but with over two acres there was no way I was going to be able to do the whole yard. And so, I seeded. Thats my shop in the background and the yard in front of it was one of the areas that I seeded.
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Aerate Your Lawn Before You Overseed
If you are trying to bring your lawn back to life and want a fuller and healthier turf, you probably already know about overseeding.
Still, many people dont realize that aerating the lawn prior to overseeding is a win-win. I recommend it to nearly every homeowner hoping to improve their yards appearance!
Step-by-Step
- Step 1: Provide enough water to the soil as this makes aeration easier. Rain can do the job for you. If not, water the lawn a day before you plan to aerate your yard.
- Step 2: Get to know your aeration machine and its limitations. Some will only cover portions of the lawn so you may need to pass over the same area several times.
- Step 3: Sometimes you will encounter soil plugs as you are passing the aeration machine. While it is easy to ignore these, dont. Instead, break up these clumps of soil to ensure aeration can be more uniform.
You cannot aerate your lawn properly without machinery, especially an existing large patch of turf. There are three different types of aeration machines available:
If you plan to overseed following aeration, I recommend that you mow your lawn pretty short prior to beginning these renovations. This will prevent your existing grass from growing too tall too quickly .
What Is The Best Time Of Year To Aerate Your Lawn
The best time to aerate your lawn is just before or during periods of high growth, according to yardcare.com, an informational website sponsored by the Toro Company.
If youre working with cool-season grasses, including bluegrass, fescue, and ryegrass, its best to aerate during the growth periods in the spring and fall. For warm-season grasses such as Bermudagrass, buffalograss, St. Augustine and zoysiagrass, aeration can take place during warm times of the year between late-spring and early-autumn, the website states.
If youre aerating in the spring, wait until you have mowed the lawn a few times to ensure the lawn is growing fast enough to recover. In the fall, aeration should be done early enough that the turf can recover before it goes dormant for the winter.
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Are Aerator Shoes Actually Effective Here’s The Scoop On Lawn Aerator Shoes
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If youre working to create a lush lawn, aerating can help. Aerating helps pave the way to a lawn that not only looks great, but can stand up to disease, drought and normal wear and tear.
Aerating is a process in which you make holes in the lawn, along with the soil underneath. It helps by allowing oxygen to reach turf roots, helping water soak into the soil more efficiently, loosening compacted soil and helping fertilizers come in contact with grass roots.
So is aerating as easy as strapping on a pair of lawn aerator shoes?
Raking For Core Removal
Although unsightly, it is imperative to resist raking the cores off the topsoil and removing them from the lawn entirely. By removing the plugs, you effectively stop them from contributing critical nutrients and microorganisms to the soil below. As the cores dry, they slowly work their way back into the lawn. Because the lawn has a friable soil structure from aeration, the cores simply trickle between the grass blades for natural fertilizing. Reducing the nutrients to your lawn by removing the cores may place stress on the turf and cause browning or dieback.
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Picking The Wrong Time Of Year
We have already covered the best time of the year to aerate and overseed your lawn, but some people will still do this project at the wrong time of year and be disappointed with the results.
It can be hard to wait when youre ready to tackle a big lawn renovation, but dont waste your time and investment because you were impatient. Your lawn isnt going anywhere.
Harsh winters and hot summers will cause problems for seed growth if you overseed later than you should in the fall or spring.
Furthermore, you should avoid aerating soil when it is too dry because it will be harder for the machine to break through and the plugs wont come out of the tines cleanly.
What Does Core Aeration Do For Your Yard
Core aeration is a sort of yard aeration wherein a equipment with hollow points mechanically eliminates plugs or cores of dirt as well as thatch from a yard Core aeration lowers dirt compaction, producing a network where oxygen, water, as well as nutrients can permeate the dirt.
Can you freshen way too much? Loosened dirt does not require to be oxygenated really typically. Specifically thick kinds of yard might likewise call for freshening much more regularly. As a basic policy, you should not require to freshen greater than yearly at any moment .
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Yes Aeration And Overseeding Can Work For You
So, as weve established, the big answer to the question youre asking is Yes! Aeration and overseeding does work, and it can work for you if you choose to let it.
But it does mean choosing a trustworthy and professional lawn aerating and seeding service in Allentown, Bethlehem, or Easton, PA that is going to give you the desired results by using top-of-the-line equipment and high-quality grass seed.
Restoring a browned out, beat-up lawn was certainly a challenge, but you can get the lawn of your dreams if you choose the right method and find the right lawn care service.
If youd like us to help restore life to your thinned out lawn, were up for that challenge. We truly do believe that aeration and overseeding are two of the most important things you can do for your lawns health and we always recommend them as part of a successful lawn care program.
If youd like to find out more about having us restore your Allentown, Bethlehem, or Easton, PA lawn with aeration, then contact us for a free consultation or feel free to give us a call at 610-365-2200.
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