LawnCare.net

You may have seen “aerating shoes” for sale in the hardware and wondered if they actually work.  The short answer is “not really.”  Do you need to aerate your lawn?  The short answer is “yes!”  There is a right way to aerate and a right time to do it for best results.  Aerating is part of maintaining a healthy lawn.  Here’s how to do it right.

What is Lawn Aerating?

Aerating is the process of removing small plugs of soil from the turf.  Core aerators are the best types of mechanical aerators because they remove the soil, rather than pushing soil back in to the ground.  (That is what those little lawn-aerating shoes do.)  Lawn aeration is one of the keys to healthy lawn maintenance.

How does Aerating help your Lawn?

Plants need oxygen as much as they need carbon dioxide, but they need oxygen in their root areas.  As people walk, play football or practice swinging the golf club on their lawn, they compact the soil, squeezing it together and removing spaces that oxygen normally fills.  Plants use oxygen when they metabolize (break down) the sugar they store from photosynthesis.  Without oxygen for this process, plants will literally starve.  In addition to improving oxygen availability for plants, it also improves life for soil organisms.  Lawn aeration allows water to filter more consistently through soil, and helps reduce problems with thatch.

When to Aerate Your Lawn

Depending upon how much foot traffic the lawn in question gets, you may need to aerate more than once a year.  You always want to aerate when the lawn can grow and heal itself from the process.  Aerating a lawn disrupts plant roots and is stressful to the plants in the beginning.  It is best to aerate in the spring and fall—when the plants are actively growing, and it is not too hot.  Warm season grasses grow most during the hot summer, so aerating during the summer works well for them.  Disrupting the plant roots will interfere with their ability to take up water and recover from the aerating process.  Aerating mid-summer requires more careful observation of moisture levels.

How to Aerate your Lawn

It is not a bad idea to hire a professional with a punch-core aerator to aerate the lawn for you.  Most equipment rental places do not have core-aerators that actually remove the core.  Before the professional arrives, however, you need to do some prep-work.  Mow the lawn to a slightly shorter height and give the lawn at least one inch of water two days prior to aerating.  This will loosen the soil and help the lawn recover.   After aerating, continue giving the lawn 1 inch of water twice a week.

Aerating  your lawn at the right time with the proper equipment can ensure that you have a beautiful yard, every season of the year.

Aerating your lawn in the spring time will help your lawn on the road to recovery from cold winter weather.

Early March is a great time to think about scheduling your lawn aerating service for spring.  Over the previous summer, the lawn will have been subjected to a lot of traffic, causing compaction.  Soil compaction leads to a variety of other problems, if not alleviated, so it is best to alleviate compaction as early as possible in the year.  Aerating will also take care of any thatch buildup problem your lawn might be suffering from.  A little bit of thatch is fine.  Too much thatch can lead to many of the same problems that soil compaction causes.

Why Spring for Aerating the Lawn?

Lawn aerating is helpful for the health of the grass, but it is also stressful because it disrupts the roots and the regular growing habit of the grass plant. Aerating in the spring, when the lawn is actively growing, gives the lawn a chance to recover more quickly than aerating during the summer or late fall when the lawn is not growing as quickly.  If you didn’t get a chance to aerate the lawn in the fall, the spring is, obviously, the next best choice! The spaces opened up by aeration will allow you to keep your lawn healthy all summer long.  Air, water and fertilizer will penetrate the soil more easily after aeration, ensuring an overall healthier lawn.

Prevent these Problems with Spring Aeration

Aerating can help correct certain problems in the lawn, and avoid others.  Take care of this garden task in the spring to avoid these problems:

• Fungal diseases. Aeration won’t completely eliminate these problems, but better air and water movement in the soil will reduce them.
• Thatch buildup. An inch or so of thatch is ok.  More than that, and you provide a home for fungal, bacterial and insect pests.
• Weeds. Weeds sprout when lawn grass is unhealthy and unable to out-grow or out-compete the weeds.  Overall improvement in health of the grass will keep weed problems to a minimum.

Steps for Successful Lawn Aerating

1. First, mow your lawn to about ½ of the normal mowing height.  For example, if you usually mow your lawn to a height of three inches, set the deck at 1 ½ inches.
2. Give the lawn at least one inch of water a couple of days in a row, a couple of days before you aerate.
3. Aerate using a punch-core aerator.  These actually remove little cores of soil.
4. After aeration, water to break up the cores of soil.
5. Top dress with a light layer of compost or lightweight topsoil.
6. Keep the lawn watered well-at least one inch a week-until it starts to fill in. Aerating is both helpful and stressful for the lawn, so good care after aeration is important.

You can hire a professional to complete your lawn aerating for you, or do it yourself.  It should be a priority at least once a year.