Tips for Aerating your Lawn
One way to give your grass a boost is to aerate. Aerating is a technique that punches holes into your lawn. It has multiple benefits especially for high traffic areas. This post will focus on when, and why to aerate your lawn.
Benefits of Aerating your Lawn
Aerating your lawn has a number of good effects.
- Better drainage- If water pools in your lawn, or you have a steep slope, aerating can trap the water and help the ground absorb more quickly.
- Decompose thatch- Aerating opens up heavy thatch by increasing the activity of microorganisms that aid in decomposition.
- Reduce soil compaction- Soil, especially with lots of clay, will compact over time. Areas with high foot or automobile traffic are even more susceptible. Using a plug aerator creates holes for expansion.
- Improve nutrient absorption- Aerating allows water, nutrients, oxygen, and fertilizer to better penetrate the soil. It also helps prevent granules (like weed and feed) from being washed away.
- Better root systems- As you break up the soil, roots have more space, enabling them to spread.
Spike vs. Core Aeration
Core/Plug aerators actually pull a cylinder (3-4 inches tall) of soil out of the ground. This allows your lawn to expand and provides direct access for all the good things grass needs to grow. It’s the most effective way to aerate your lawn. Using spikes to aerate your lawn isn’t nearly as helpful. It doesn’t improve access as much and can even further compact soil.
When to Aerate
When to aerate depends on your soil and grass type. You want to aerate during the grass’s peak growing time so it will recover rapidly. That means warm season grasses (Bermuda, Zoysia) should be aerated in the spring. Cool season grasses (Bluegrass, Fescue) should be aerated in late summer or early fall. Soils with high amounts of clay will compact more easily. These lawns can benefit from being aerated twice a year. Other lawns should be aerated only once per year.
Tips for Aerating your Lawn
- Aerate your lawn just before fertilizing or seeding. The plugs you removed will enable both to be more effective
- Avoid aerating during droughts and high heat. Aerating will allow moisture to escape quicker.
- Weeds can benefit too. Aerating can help weeds to spread so be sure to control the weeds before aerating.
- Mow over the plugs. They can be somewhat unsightly so set your mower to mulch and chop up the plugs.
- Softer soil is easier to aerate and has better results. Water your lawn the day before or plan around some rain.
- Aerate established root systems. Aerating can damage new root systems. Make sure your grass / sod has had time to establish good roots first.
- Be sure to mark sprinklers, sprinkler lines, cable, and anything else that you could possibly damage.
What do you think? Have you aerated your lawn?
Image courtesy of apdk and kevindooley
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4 Responses to Tips for Aerating your Lawn
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May 5th, 2009 3:48 pm
Have you ever used the manual aerators or is it suicide for an average sized city lawn? Not sure if I could justify purchasing a motor powered one for a once a year activity.
May 5th, 2009 10:30 pm
Shane – you could consider renting one – the local Rent-a-Center near us will rent a motor-powered one.
May 22nd, 2009 4:55 pm
What are your thoughts on wearing cleats or spikes while mowing the lawn. I’ve heard mixed reviews thus far.
May 22nd, 2009 8:07 pm
@matt, I don’t think spikes would be nearly as effective. Let us know if you do and how well it works.