Why Overseed Your Lawn
When grass is thin or areas have been damaged by too much sun, insects or disease, you should consider overseeding the lawn. This is essentially spreading grass seed over the existing lawn.Overseeding works best when done on an established lawn where the existing grass is thin, as opposed to bare ground or bald areas.
Do I Need To Aerate And Overseed My Lawn
- If your lawn receives a lot of traffic , then aeration is especially important, as your soil is likely over compacted. Overseeding will help restore a mature, highly trafficked lawn with new, healthy grasses.
- If your lawn was established by sod, aeration is especially important, as this finer soil needs to be broken up and integrated with the existing soil beneath so as to maximize drainage and rooting ability.
- If your home is new construction, aeration is often necessary, as topsoil has been disturbed and the grass needs extra nutrients.
Fall Aeration And Overseeding
We recommend aeration in late summer and overseeding in the fall before the turf becomes dormant in the winter months. This is because here in Maryland and Northern Virginia, the soil stays warm into November, meaning the roots will continue to grow. Aerating your grass in the fall revitalizes it before dormancy, making new seedlings better equipped to handle chilly winters and setting your lawn up to thrive when next spring arrives!
Read Also: Where Can I Dispose Of My Old Lawn Mower
What Can I Do About Compacted Soil
The best way to combat compacted soil is through a process called aeration. Core Aeration is a process where small holes are perforated throughout your Tennessee or Mississippi lawn pulling up hundreds of tiny plugs to redistribute the turf. Doing this allows the much-needed water, oxygen, and nutrients to once again permeate your soil and reach your root zone. Aeration also helps to reduce thatch build-up, which is the layer of grass clippings and other organic matter that forms a barrier at the base of your grass. The benefits of aeration dont stop there. It has many immediate and long-lasting benefits that will help improve the overall health and appearance of your lawn. Some of the other advantages of aerating your turf include:
- Deeper root growth which benefits grass during times of drought
- Thicker grass that helps prevent weeds from taking over
- Improvement in fertilizer intake
- Reduction in water runoff and increased water absorption
How Often Should I Aerate My Lawn
The best time to aerate your lawn is in late summer or early fall, as this will allow your grass to recover completely before going dormant in the winter. While Fall is recommended, you can also aerate and overseed your lawn in the spring between March and May.
Recommended Reading: When To Apply Insect Control To Lawn
Better For Grass Root Systems
To explain in more depth, lawn aeration is the process of making small holes by pulling out small soil plugs throughout your lawn in order to allow more oxygen, water, and nutrients to penetrate deep into the soil, down to the root zone. Allowing that to happen helps ensure a favorable environment for the root system to develop and grow. Healthier roots mean a healthier lawn.
Breaks Up Thatch In Lawn
Aeration also helps to break up thatch, which is a naturally-occurring, dead organic material that may be building where grass blades emerge at the soil line. This is important as thatch build-up can be another reason why oxygen, water, and nutrients are not penetrating the soil. Thatch can also make your lawn more susceptible to pests and disease.
Read Also: How To Treat Burn Spots On Lawn
When Do I Aerate My Lawn
Soil compaction in Knoxville is a primary cause of an unhealthy lawn. Aerating can help relieve soil compaction, and spring is an excellent time to do it.
Aerating your lawn achieves several things:
- It reduces compaction from regular mowing and traffic such as lawn games.
- It opens up space to allow air to get to the roots.
- Less compacted soil drains better.
- Grass plants are better able to utilize water and nutrients.
- Regular aeration also reduces buildup of thatcha layer of dead roots, leaves and stems. Up to a half-inch of thatch is good because it provides a cushion and some protection to the roots. However, heavier thatch buildup reduces water and nutrient absorption and can smother the roots.
Soil compaction is a common cause of a struggling lawn. If your grass receives heavy traffic, it will best survive that use if aerated once or twice a year. A heavy clay soil also needs more frequent aerating. Lawns receiving light traffic or established on a sandy soil can be aerated once a year or every other year.
If you live in the south and have warm season grass such as Bermuda and Zoysia, its an excellent time to aerate. These grasses are most actively growing in the late spring and early summer.
Planning on aerating your lawn? In Knoxville Aeration is very important when needed. Contact us for a quick meeting to weigh pros and cons as to how aerification will impact YOUR lawn.
Follow Up Aeration With Overseeding For The Healthiest Vibrant Lawn
The best time to overseed your lawn is directly following aeration. Overseeding is the process of applying new grass seeds onto your existing turf. It is usually different strains of grass. Doing this directly after aeration will help fill in any bare spots, create thicker grass, enhance your turfs appearance and color and fend off pests and diseases. The two services together can produce a healthy, vibrant lawn.
At Greenkeeper, we offer Fescue Overseeding, which is overseeding using a blend of fescue grasses. This will create additional nutrients that will allow your turf to thrive throughout the year. As a cool-season grass, we recommend our Fescue Overseeding service in the fall.
Don’t Miss: How Much Does It Cost To Fertilize Lawn
Lawn Doctor Review 2022
The Yard Armour® Mosquito Control Service plan includes:
- Mosquito prevention and treatment spraying
- Mosquito control through targeted applications
- Ongoing mosquito maintenance with routine inspections and treatments
Create An Outdoor Oasis Through Landscaping
Turn your yard into an outdoor masterwork. From new grounds to renovations and maintenance, find local trusted contractors to do all on HomeAdvisor.
Lawn Overseeding Chattanooga Tn
Help reinvigorate your lawn by overseeding
Lawn Seeding or overseeding is done to keep Chattanooga lawns looking great! Overseeding is spreading grass seed over an existing lawn. Done right, its a straightforward process that gets results.
As grasses mature, thinning is normalespecially if you enjoy your lawn and use it often. In addition, the weather, kids and pets can be tough on lawns. Lack of water, too much heat, wear & tear as well as other problems can make it look worn and thin. Get your lawn back in shape with overseeding Chattanooga, TN. Winsome Landscaping will connect you with an overseeding professional that will get your lawn looking lush and green once again.
- Aerating Lawn Chattanooga, TN
Don’t Miss: How To Make Your Own Lawn Mowing Business
Revitalize Your Lawn Today And Call The Professionals At Greenkeeper
Right now is the perfect time to aerate and overseed your Tennessee or Mississippi lawn. Contact the professionals at Greenkeeper today and schedule your service before its too late. We have a location in Tennessee, serving the Memphis area and beyond. We also have a location in Mississippi and serve Olive Branch and beyond. For all your lawn care needs, we offer an eight-step lawn care program, a six-step tree and shrub care program, as well as grub control, mosquito control, flea and tick control, and lawn fungicide and disease control. Contact us today. If you are located in Tennessee you can call us at . If you are located in Mississippi, you can give us a call at . Or simply reach out to us online.
Did you like what you read above? Then feel free to share it with your family and friends. We post one blog a month on all things lawn care, tree and shrub care, and landscaping. If you enjoy social media, you can also find us on .
Aeration Is One Of The Most Neglected But Most Critical Tasks
Aeration and overseeding has been called the secret to the best lawn for a reasonbecause a lot of people simply dont realize just how important it is.
Its not really a secret service by any means. Its right on our website. But we still find that many customers believe it can be skipped. Unfortunately, youre just not going to get the fantastic results that you might be looking for if you neglect this critical task.
What you may not realize is that regular aerating and seeding is what makes professional natural sports turf look so amazing.
If you say that you want a professional-looking lawn but you do not choose this service, you simply arent going to get the same high-quality results.
Also Check: How To Remove Moss From Lawn
When Is The Best Time To Overseed
The best time to overseed is in the fall for cool-weather grasses.
If you want to overseed in the spring, do it early so that the seeds can take root before summers heat arrives. Combining aeration and overseeding is the best way to enhance your lawns health and appearance. Overseeding is best done after aerating.
How Do I Know If My Lawn Needs Aerating
10 Signs Its Time To Aerate & Seed Your Lawn
Recommended Reading: How Do I Treat Lawn Fungus
Should You Overseed After Aerating A Lawn
Yes you should overseed after aerating your lawn to increase the chances of more grass seeds and moisture penetrating into the soil via the holes created by aeration. Overseed your lawn within 48 hours of aerating it. Ensure that you applied a post-emergent herbicide at least 6 weeks earlier instead of overseeding a lawn with weeds.
To properly aerate and overseed your lawn, follow the procedure detailed below:
Things To Do After Aerating Your Lawn:
When to Aerate Your Lawn, Bayer Advanced, Web. Accessed Jan. 28, 2016
Day, Julie, Spring Lawn Care Guide, TodaysHomeowner.com, Web. Accessed Jan. 28, 2016
Fresenburg, Brad S. Spring Lawn Care Aeration, Fertility and Crabgrass Control, University of Missouri Integrated Pest Management, Web. March 15, 2012
Juror, Richard and Wallace, Greg, Properly Aerating Lawns, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, Web. Aug. 12, 2015
You May Like: How To Get Rid Of Dandelions From Lawn
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.
When Is It Too Late To Aerate And Overseed
Knowing when it is too late to aerate and overseed your lawn depends upon the type of grass grown there.
- For warm-season grasses it is too late to aerate once the growing season has passed in late summer into early fall.
- For cool-season grasses, late fall into early winter is too late to aerate.
New grass needs about six weeks to take hold before winter hits. In either case, it is best to wait until the next growing season to aerate.
Recommended Reading: How To Neutralize Nitrogen In Lawn
Can You Aerate Bermuda Grass In The Fall
Its not advisable to aerate your Bermuda lawn in the fall, as your turf is less likely to benefit from the process at this time of the year. Being a warm-season grass, Bermuda grass usually goes dormant starting from late fall-early winter. Therefore, when aeration is done during this season, the added benefits of improved air, water, and nutrient circulation in the soil wont help make your lawn denser or greener.
Instead, I recommend aerating your Bermudagrass turf during spring just when vigorous growth is about to begin. Fall aeration- meanwhile- is best reserved for cool-season turfgrasses like fescue and annual ryegrass, as they undergo vigorous growth at around this time of the year.
Core Aeration Vs Spike Aeration
The two basic methods of lawn aeration are core aeration and spike aeration. Core aeration is a more effective method of alleviating lawn compaction and is generally the better option, especially for lawns with high traffic and heavily compacted soil. Most landscaping and lawn aeration service providers also opt for core aeration. But whats the difference between these methods?
Core aeration can be done with a manual core aerator or gas-powered mechanical aerator. Regardless of the type, core aerators have hollow tines that poke holes in the soil. Because the tines are hollow, they actually remove small soil plugs that then act as compost for your lawn.
To perform core aeration, you or your lawn care service will either aerate the entire lawn or small sections that are in need of it because of heavily compacted soil. Core aeration will also reduce the need to dethatch your lawn. Manual aeration is time-consuming, but many home improvement centers rent gas-powered core aeration machines to customers.
Recommended Reading: Who Makes Ryobi Lawn Mowers
Choose The Best Grass Seed Mixture
We recommend overseeding your Tennessee lawn with either Black Beauty® Ultra grass seed mixture or Black Beauty® Fall Magic grass seed mixture:
- Black Beauty® Ultra is very similar to the grass seed mixture used to grow sod. It possesses species diversity and contains exclusive, elite varieties of tall fescue, Kentucky bluegrass and perennial ryegrass. These grasses grow a naturally dark-green and beautiful lawn with excellent heat and drought tolerance. Black Beauty Ultra® grass seed germinates in about 14 days and will improve any lawn it is overseeded into.
- Black Beauty® Fall Magic has been specially formulated for successful fall seeding and contains several grass types, including Black Beauty® tall fescues. It can be used in sun and shade lawn areas to overseed established lawns or to start new lawns from scratch. Black Beauty® Fall Magic repairs summer damage and provides an attractive, thicker, greener lawn, with germination in 10 to 14 days.
How Do I Overseed My Lawn
Overseedingis the process of adding grass seed to an existing lawn, ensuring competition and growth in mature lawns where thinning is normal. Overseeding is most effective when done in tandem with aeration, which increases the opportunity for seed to work its way into the soil where it can take root.
Also Check: How To Buy An Electric Lawn Mower
How Often And When Should You Aerate Your Tennessee Or Mississippi Lawn
Aeration of your lawn can be done anytime during the growing season but can depend on your type of grass. For cool-season grasses such as ryegrass, Kentucky bluegrass, and fescues, aerating in early spring or fall is recommended. Warm-season grasses such as bermudagrass, centipede grass, St. Augustine, or zoysiagrass should be aerated in the late spring or early summer. We recommend having your lawn aerated once every other year.
How Do I Know If My Tennessee Or Mississippi Lawn Has Soil Compaction
Are you starting to see lots of bare patches on your lawn? Is your grass spongy when you walk on it? You may have compacted soil.
Here in Tennessee and Mississippi, we love being outside. And after a few months of outdoor barbecues, kids running around, lawn equipment rolling over, and the heat from the hot sun, your soil can become compacted. Its a natural occurrence, but if you want that landscape youve always dreamed of, you probably need to do more than just practice fertilizer, proper mowing, and weed control. None of these things will benefit your lawn if your soil is compacted.
Compact soil occurs when soil particles are pressed together tightly, reducing the space between them. Heavily compacted soils can reduce the amount of oxygen, water, and vital nutrients that get to your root zone, causing brown patches and dried-out grass.
You May Like: When To Fertilize Lawn In Arkansas
