Aeration: Cold Hard Facts!

If you are reading this post, we know you value your lawn.  Your lawn is part of the investment you made when purchasing your house/property.  One way we can improve the turf quality is through aeration and overseeding.  There is a lot of misconception around aeration and the purpose of this article is to educate homeowners on why and when this service should be done.

Aeration is a specialty service using very specific pieces of equipment that are designed to pull cores of soil from the ground.  You may have walked past a lawn nearing the fall and thought the lawn looked like it had goose poop covering it…Those are actually cores of soil sitting on the surface of the lawn after and aeration service! (see picture below)

What are the benefits?

The picture below is an illustration of the aeration process.  Removing cores of soil relieves compaction and allows water/oxygen/nutrients to penetrate the root zone which helps promote complex root systems.  The deeper the roots grow the better they can withstand disease and drought.  We always recommend overseeding when aerating your lawn.

When is a good time?

Aerating is a fall service.  Fall is the best time because the outside temperatures begin to drop, there is dew on the ground each morning which help keep the new seed moist, and the weeds begin to die off.  This makes for a perfect scenario to grow new seed.  Once the lawn thick enough you don’t need to use as much herbicides to keep the lawn weed free.

How often should you aerate? 

Aeration is a service that should be done every year and at the very least every other year.  This helps keep the turf healthy.

How to care for the seed?

It is very important to keep the new seed moist.  If the seed dries out, you have a good chance of it dying.  Keep the seed moist for about 30 days following the service.  After the initial 30 days post seeding, you need to water 2x/week to achieve about 1 inch of water each week on the lawn.

Check out what scholars at Penn State University have to say about the service by clicking on the following link. https://plantscience.psu.edu/research/centers/turf/extension/factsheets/aeration