What are the Benefits of Lawn Aeration?
Lawn aeration is the best way to make your lawn healthy and beautiful. Aeration involves cutting or plugging ("coring") the ground by either inserting and extracting a rod or by pulling a plug of soil out of the ground. Aerating provides the following benefits to your lawn and its root system:
- Oxygen gets to the roots and the soil allowing it to "breathe"
- Organic fertilizers and nutrients get access to the root system
- Water is able to better soak into the soil and reach the root system
- Aeration helps break up thatch
- Tight, compacted soil is loosened up allowing the root system to grow
- Reduction in the amount of weeds
- A greater amount of nutrients reaching the roots
- Increases grass growth
- Help increase activity of friendly organisms such as earthworms
Remeber, you should never aerate a lawn within its first year of being established. Generally, clay soil should be aerated more frequently then other types.
If your soil is composed of heavy clay, you should also consider aerating your lawn. Aeration will help break up the clay and improve the overall health of your soil. Consider aerating clay soil at least twice a year, during spring and fall seasons. You should also aerate your lawn according to the type of grass you have planted. Cool season grasses should be aerated during the months of August to mid September. This is when these grasses experience their fastest growth. Likewise, warm season grasses should be aerated during June and July.
Soil that consists mostly of sand isn’t as prone to compacting as clay soil is. Therefore, aerating sandy soils once a year should suffice. Fertilizer may be applied to the lawn after aeration to provide the best absorption.
Thatch is a major problem for lawns. Thatch may be described as the layer of inorganic and organic materials that lay directly underneath your lawn and between the layers of soil. Thatch is a problem because the more it builds up, the greater chance of pests and disease will occur. In fact, the roots of your lawn and other plants may become rooted in the layer of thatch and not in the layer of soil, causing harm and lack of valuable nutrients to your lawn. Thatch should be controlled when it reaches an excess of ½ inch thick. Aeration is a great way to break up thatch and control its negative and damaging effects. If your lawn is suffering due to an excess of thatch buildup, then it is definitely time to aerate your lawn.
