Why Aerate?
Why aeration helps:
The reason for aerating to to help ensure that nutrients are making it deep beneath your grass to its roots to help develop your lawn into a healthy vibrant thick lawn. When aerating happens it lessens thatch build up and creates little pockets that basically allow your lawn to breath. Water and air are then able to penetrate through built up grass and thatch that they otherwise wouldn't have been able to. This improves rooting and helps to prevent fertilizer and pesticides to run off from overly compacted areas.
What aeration is:
Essentially aeration is perforating your soil with small holes. An aerator is driven over your lawn creating 1/4 to 3/4 inch soil plugs that it removes from your lawn, making small openings. This allows the previously compacted soil to expand, it enables the roots to grow deeper and result in a morevigborous lawn.
After your lawn has been aerated your lawn will be covered with these little soil plugs, its best to leave the soil plugs on your lawn because either with a good rain or the first mow the soil plugs will crumble. This is beneficial to your lawn surface and will only help is making your lawn stronger.
Who should aerate:
This is not a service that is required on every lawn, but if your lawn has a few of these characteristics you should seriously consider having your lawn aerated:
- newly laid lawns (especially sod ones)
- lawns that have a tendency to dry out easily
- heavily compacted lawns
- poor or clay heavy soil for a lawns foundation
- if your lawn gets heavy use. (does not need to be a soccer or baseball field to be considered heavy use, we have a 7 and 1 year old that play outside not every day of the week and just them running around is enough)
When should aeration happen:
The two key times for aeration is late spring and early fall. You don't want to aerate too early in the spring because weeds germinate before grass and you don't have weeds to grow up in the newly created spaces. Just prior to the mowing season and before you apply lime or fertilizer are best as aeration helps the lawn absorb the lime and fertilizer that you have put down. For the fall you want to make sure that you do it before the ground gets too cold or freezes. Most lawns that fit the criteria of needing an aeration only need to be done once a year.