Why Aerating Helps Lawns
Grass roots need air, water and nutrients to grow thick, deep and strong. When soil becomes compacted, even slightly, it inhibit the flow of the essentials that support thicker, healthier turf growth. A layer of compacted soil just 1/4 to 1/2 inches thick can make a significant difference in the health and beauty of your lawn.1 Aeration creates holes down into the soil to alleviate compaction so air, water and nutrients can reach grass roots.
Deprived of their basic needs by compacted soil, lawn grasses struggle in stressful situations, such as heat and low rainfall, and lose their healthy, rich color. Grasses gradually thin and eventually die out completely, for lack of the oxygen, water and nutrients available just inches away. Even a single aeration session can open the avenue for these essentials to reach their mark and put your lawn back on an upward trend.
Core aerators pull small plugs of soil to the surface.
What Tools Do You Need To Aerate Your Lawn
There are five main tools to use to aerate your lawn:
1. Garden fork
This is a tool with four solid prongs. It looks like your table fork, only so much larger and more solid.
It is used for superficial aeration or basic spiking. It is great at improving air flow within the lawn and underneath.
How to use it:
You basically just pierce the ground with the fork, but you have to push it through four inches deep. Twist the fork so that you will widen the holes.
Do this every four inches of space until you cover the entire lawn.
2. Hollow tiner
This is similar to a garden fork except that each prong is hollow. Some hollow tiners have three prongs while others have four.
The purpose of the hollow prong is so that you can pull out plugs of soil. The holes allow oxygen to go through the spaces.
How to use it:
Use it like you do the garden fork, except that you dont need to twist it since you already remove a whole lot of soil.
If the holes are too big, you can fill it up with good-quality topsoil.
3. Scarifier / dethatcher
This product has a number of tines that rake through thatches and remove them. There are simple rakes that can be dragged and there are motorized ones too.
4. Aerator shoes
These are not shoes per se but spiked attachments. They have straps so that you could attach them to your working boots.
How to use it:
You wear it and walk around the lawn so that you will poke holes into the area. If you want to find out more read our guide to the best aerator shoes.
How Do I Aerate My Lawn
A smaller area of lawn can be aerated manually with aerating sandals or a sturdy garden fork. Simply insert the fork into the lawn and wriggle it back and forth to fracture the soil profile. Aim for a spacing between the holes of around 8 10cm. In order to achieve adequate aeration, you may need to go over the area twice in a different direction each time.
You can hire specialised aerators if you have a large lawn. A spiked roller is also useful for lawn aeration for incorporating lime, gypsum, or coarse sand into the profile to improve drainage or pH.
Unlike regular aeration, where solid tines simply punch holes in the ground, core aeration removes a plug of soil from your lawn at the same time. You can read more about core aeration here.
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Types Of Lawn Aeration
Core Aeration: This type of aeration removes small plugs of soil from the lawn to improve air circulation, water drainage, and fertilizer uptake.
Spike Aeration: Otherwise known as plug aeration, this type of aeration simply creates small holes in the lawn without removing any plugs of soil.
Liquid Aeration: This type of aeration uses a liquid spray containing nutrients that will encourage more pore space in the soil. This method does not require homeowners to mark sprinkler heads as it does not puncture the soil layer.
How To Aerate Your Yard
If you’re convinced that your lawn is in need of aeration, here are some lawn care tips on how to do it:
- Before you get started, make sure the soil is moist enough. There’s nothing more frustrating than trying to aerate soil that is bone dry. Aerating the day after a rain shower or watering your lawn the day before is advised.
- Most aeration machines cover only a small percentage of soil surface per pass, so make multiple passes over the most compacted areas. Save resources by leaving unaffected areas alone
- The excavated soil plugs should be allowed to dry and then broken up to give your lawn a uniform, clean appearance. Break them up by running them over with a lawn mower or pounding them with the back of a rake.
- An aeration myth is that if you apply a pre-emergent herbicide on your lawn in the spring, aerating your lawn will destroy the herbicide “barrier.” This is not true research shows that aeration will not affect crabgrass control or weed prevention.
- After aerating, it’s important to continue basic lawn care practices such as proper fertilizing, mowing and watering.
Aeration is a beneficial practice toward achieving a beautiful lawn, but most people don’t realize it or understand the process. If your lawn is a candidate, make it an integral part of your lawn care regime. Your lawn will thank you for letting it breathe again.
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When Is The Best Season To Aerate In Cedar Rapids & Iowa City
Before you go and buy yourself a lawn aerator or hire someone to come out, you should know that there are better times to aerate your lawn than others. While the long-term effects of aeration are beneficial for your lawn, it is also stressful to the plants if not done a the right time. We want to target the times of the year when the lawn is healthy and growing. In Iowa , we have cool season grasses. So spring and fall are the best times to both aerate and seed your lawn.
Now that its narrowed down to the season, the other huge factor is the weather. We know how unpredictable Iowa weather can be and it has an impact on when your lawn entering its growing stage. Because we tailor our lawn care program to take advantage of the weather conditions, we have found that these ideal times present themselves in the spring and late summer/fall for Cedar Rapids & Iowa City.
Why Aerate Your Lawn
Over time, soil tends to compact and become hard due to foot traffic, mowing, clay soil, or poor drainage. This prevents water, oxygen, and nutrients from reaching the hungry roots. As a result, the turf becomes thin, pale, or patchy.
Lawn aerationa process of making holes in the turfbreaks up hard soil so that water and nutrients penetrate the grass roots more easily. There are two basic types of lawn aerators:
- Spike aerators, which simply poke holes into the soil
- Plug aerators, which actually remove a plug of soil and grass
Both break up hardened soil, but lawn plug aerators are more effective.
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Why You Should Aerate Your Lawn
Heavy recreational use, active pets, foot traffic and even lawnmowers can compact the soil under your lawn. That impedes root growth and can lead to thatch, a combination of slowly decomposing grass stems, roots and debris that gradually accumulates at the soil surface and keeps water from penetrating.
Aerating regularly helps build healthier soil and limits thatch build-up, so air, water, nutrients and even grass seed can reach the root zone.
Lawn Maintenance After Aeration
There are a few types of maintenance that are very important to consider doing after aerating your lawn.
These methods of maintenance are fertilization, watering, and mowing properly.
Directly after aeration you can also add more seed while you fertilize your lawn. This is what I recommend, as its the best time to get the seed and fertilizer right down into the soil. Youll get the most bang for your buck.
Aeration opens your lawn up to accepting nutrients. This will create a thicker and healthier lawn in general, along with the aeration, and instead of a chemical or organic fertilizer, I also recommend top-dressing with a thin layer of organic screened compost. This will keep the seed moist, and add valuable nutrients to the soil.
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When Should I Overseed My Lawn
Due to advancements in our products and technology, Blades of Green is now available to seed and provide weed control at the same time in the spring, no matter what time of year you aerate your turf. If there are bare spots on the lawn, we certainly understand not wanting to wait until the fall to get it covered.
Theres a 40-50% chance that the grass will die off during the summer stress, especially if follow-up practices like mowing and watering arent adhered to. We still recommend fall aeration and overseeding even with spring seeding.
Should You Aerate Your Lawn
In the mad rush to get a head start on getting your lawn ready for the new season, many people overlook the need for aerating their lawns. Basic lawn practices like fertilizing, proper mowing and watering contribute to a beautiful lawn, but aeration can be a vital element to ensure that nutrients reach the soil beneath your grass.
As the sod ages over time, the soil beneath the grass can become compacted. This compression prevents air and water from penetrating the lawn to feed it. The lawn ends up with little or no small pockets of air held in the soil. This compacted lawn thatch makes it difficult for grass roots to absorb the water and nutrients it needs to stay healthy and lush. Without open spaces for the water and nutrients to get into the soil, the lawn will deteriorate before long, making it more susceptible to weeds, invasion of insects and disease. Aeration can reverse this negative trend on your lawn because it allows air and water to penetrate built-up grass or lawn thatch.
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What Is Lawn Aeration
According to Cambridges Dictionary, aeration refers to “a process that allows air to act on something. When it comes to gardening, aeration is the process of poking small, long holes into the ground in order to provide the soil with good air circulation and improve the grassroots water and nutrient consumption.
Air circulation is very important as it lets stale carbon dioxide out, in turn, making room for fresh new oxygen to go in.
Lawn aeration also helps break through piled-up thatch in high maintenance lawns and reduces lawn compaction, which is the main cause of moss.
When And How To Aerate Your Lawn In The Uk
Keeping your lawn in good condition can be a struggle, but one of the ways to try and help it is aerating it. A lawn and its soil can become compacted over time, reducing its capability to grow. Most of the time this is unavoidable because it is caused by people simply walking on it. Lawn aerating is a way of allowing nature to do its job, giving your lawn the best chance to grow to its full potential. But, how do you do it and when should you aerate your lawn in the UK?
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How Often You Should Aerate Your Lawn
Knowing the right time of year to aerate your lawn is important, but you also need to nail the frequency of aeration too.
Try to aerate at least once or twice a year for a lawn that experiences high traffic or has clay soil. This type of soil will be more prone to compaction.
If your lawn receives moderate traffic and is composed of loam or silty soil, aerating just once a year is perfectly fine.
And if your lawn receives minimal traffic and has sandy soil, you probably dont need to aerate every year. It seldom compacts, so aerating once every two to three years is sufficient.
If you can, try to time your aeration based on other lawn-care tasks. Aerate your lawn before applying herbicides and overseeding. This will increase the effectiveness of both your seeding and your weed control efforts.
Similarly, its a good idea to aerate before fertilizing and to water within 48 hours after aerating. During the first two to four weeks after aerating, try not to mow. You need to give the grass some time to recover!
When Should I Aerate
The best time to aerate warm season grasses, such as soft-leaf buffalo, couch, kikuyu and zoysia is during spring and summer while they are actively growing. You can aerate at any time of the year, but if you do so in the cooler months just keep in mind the grass wont cover over the aerated holes as it is dormant. Always try to aerate at the same time you are fertilising or performing any other major lawn care operation such as dethatching and top dressing. It is also a fantastic time for aeration after rainfall, as it will make this process much easier.
For cool season lawns, such as fescue and rye grass, the same principle applies. With proper care and a lot of water, cool season lawns can grow all year so you can aerate all year round. Again, keep in mind the absolute best times are when you fertilise or perform any other lawn care and following rainfall, so soil moisture levels are high.
Aerating is often overlooked, but its importance in allowing air, water and nutrients to get into the soil cannot be overstated.
After aerating in spring is a perfect time to fertilise your lawn.
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How To Aerate Your Lawn In Fall
Now that weve gone over some of the reasons why you should aerate your lawn in fall, here is how to do it:
1. Start by identifying the areas of your lawn that need aerating. This is usually going to be the places where you see the most foot traffic or where the grass seems to be struggling.
2. Next, youll want to select the right aeration tool for the job. For small lawns, you can use a hand aerator which will poke holes in the soil manually. For larger lawns, youll want to use a machine that will do the job automatically especially if you want to do a large front and back yard or your extended property.
3. Once you have your aeration tool, its time to start aerating! Simply run the tool over your lawn in a back-and-forth motion, taking care to not overlap too much or else you will damage the ground and cause a mud pit when it rains. Another important tip is to make sure that you aerate before you fertilize or seed your lawn otherwise, the fertilizer will just wash away.
4. Finally, water your lawn thoroughly to help the newly aerated soil settle. This step is important because it will help the grass roots take hold in the new holes. Always make sure to check the weather forecast so that you dont water right before it rains! If you overwater a newly aerated lawn it may cause compaction and kill the grass.
5- In about 60 days review if you need to aerate again by checking the thatch levels and looking for any new bald spots. If you do, simply repeat the process!
How To Aerate A Lawn By Hand
Large stretches of turf require gas-powered aerator tools, but if you have a fairly small patch of grass, a handheld aerator will work. There are several types of manual aerators.
- Aerator shoes have sharp spikes on the bottom. Just strap them on over your regular shoes and walk across your grass, making multiple passes in different directions to thoroughly penetrate the turf. If you’re looking for one of the least expensive and most popular aerator tools, consider getting lawn aerator shoes with strong metal buckles like Punchau shoes .
- Handheld aerators come in a variety of configurations but most somewhat resemble a pitchfork. Most are spike aerators, but there are versions that remove plugs. Using a handheld aerator is simple but tiring: Stab the spikes deeply into the grass, pull out, and repeat, taking care to cover the entire lawn. If you have a smaller yard with tiny patches of grass, consider investing in a aerator with a foot bar for extra leverage like the Yard Butler Lawn Coring Aerator, .
- Manual drum aeratorssometimes called lawn spikersare a spike- or blade-covered heavy drum with a long handle. To use, push a drum aerator like the Agri-Fab Push Spike Aerator, across your lawn, making at least two complete circuits in different directions. Most manual drum aerators are spike lawn tools, but some are plug aerators.
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When To Aerate A Lawn In Wisconsin Tips For Spring And Fall
If youre like most people in Wisconsin, you want your lawn to be healthy and looking great all year long. So you might be wondering, When to aerate lawn in Wisconsin? Thats why its important to know when to aerate your lawn both in the spring and fall! In this blog post, we will discuss when the best time is to aerate, what benefits you can expect, and a brief lawn care calendar to help you plan your lawn maintenance.
