Lawn Aeration is a way of making your lawn better. You take plugs out of the ground that help make your grass grow better. They also give water and nutrients to the grass too. This is a great way to reduce soil compaction and encourage healthy root development. In this blog, we’ll talk about everything you need to know about aeration.
- Aeration relieves soil compaction.
- It creates an environment that encourages root development.
- The penetration of water and nutrients is improved, including fertilizers.
- It reduces the risks of lawn diseases and damaging pest infestations.
- Improving absorption and drainage in heavy raining periods
- Benefits pH Modification
- Allows deeper penetration of nutrients.
When Should I Aerate My Lawn?
We recommend lawn aeration every fall. Completing the aeration in falls allows the lawn to take full advantage of the entirety of three seasons to develop roots, access nutrients, and soak up the water before summer’s high temperatures and drought stress hits.
How Often Should I Aerate My Lawn?
It is recommended that you aerate your lawn annually. This helps your lawn be healthy. It also helps if there is a lot of traffic on parts of the lawn because this makes the soil compacted. If you do not aerate, then it will be hard for roots to grow in areas with clay soil and with lots of traffic.
Golf courses need to aerate their greens and fairways. They do this many times a year. You, as a homeowner, will not need to do this as often because it is expensive and time-consuming. But it is worth spending money on for your lawn when you aerate in the springtime. Aerating will make your lawn healthier and more beautiful when done with an ongoing program of other lawn care practices.
What are signs that my lawn needs aeration?
Signs that you can look for are puddles on your lawn after rain or watering. The water is not soaking down to the roots of your lawn where it is needed. There is also a test with a screwdriver to see how well your soil is doing, but this takes longer and it may not be as accurate. If it is hard for you to stick the screwdriver into the ground, then that means your soil needs some aeration. You want the soil to be loose and not have any chunks of dirt in it. If there are parts of your lawn where there is a lot of dead grass and dirt on top, you might need aeration.
Are there lawns where aeration is not recommended?
Aeration will help most lawns. If you have sandy soil, it might not be a good idea to aerate your lawn. Aerating will not hurt your lawn, but it may not help either. You should try the screwdriver test and see if there is sand coming up when you go into the ground with the screwdriver. If there is sand coming up, then it does not need aeration because this means that the soil already has enough air in it and more would make things worse. In soils that are sandy, if they have problems with soil compaction near the surface, a good watering on the morning of aeration will help the process.
How do I prepare for aeration?
- Clearly mark irrigation, sprinkler heads, underground lines and other hidden items to ensure they aren’t damaged
- Water the lawn thoroughly prior to aeration. Proper aeration will dampen and soften the soil. This allows deeper plugs to be removed from the soil for greater seed to soil contact.
- Plan to fertilize within 48 hours after aeration
- Do not clean up the plugs. As the plugs break down, the nutrients in them will feed back into the soil
Over time, your lawn can become stressed. There are layers of thatch and compaction from people walking on it. We can make your lawn better by removing some plugs of soil and thatch to help the grass breathe better. Then it will be healthy again.
Our lawn care combines the simple mechanical process of aeration with our customized, superior lawn program to yield great results for your lawn. Our expert teams receive on-going training, enabling us to customize the service and address each yard’s unique needs. For lawn aeration in Burke, Fairfax, Woodbridge, Manassas, Lake Ridge, Clifton, Centreville or Fairfax Station that maximizes the benefits to your lawn and complete, transparent care from the best technicians in town, choose the MowCow Lawn & Landscape
