What is lawn aeration?

Aeration will help your lawn breathe.
It's a fact, aeration is one of the best things you can do for your lawn.

Here's why:

Compacted soil and heavy thatch are the two biggest obstacles to a beautiful lawn. They tend to suffocate grass plants by preventing air, water and nutrients from reaching the root zone. This means your lawn looks less than satisfactory in spite of adequate fertilization, water and tender loving care!
Aeration opens up the thatch and helps relieve compaction. It should be a regular part of your annual lawn maintenance program. Aeration is accomplished through the use of a machine equipped with cylinder-like tines designed to penetrate and shatter the soil. Cores of thatch, soil and grass are actually pulled out of the ground during this process. The plunging action of the tines opens up the soil, this allows grass plants to breathe, permits better utilization of fertilizer, air and water and promotes a deeper, healthier root system. And good roots are what growing a good lawn is all about!

Why do we need to aerate the lawn?

Over time the soil that the lawn grows on can become compacted due to a number of reasons such as use for sports, walking, vehicles, parking and children playing. This soil compaction can have a negative effect on your lawn. The damage to your lawn from soil compaction results from the pore spaces within the soil becoming smaller and this leads to both a reduced amount of air held in the soil, restricted air flow and reduced water infiltration into the soil. These results of soil compaction are damaging to a lawns health.

Reduced air levels and restricted air circulation in the soil means that the grass roots are less able to take up oxygen. Reduced soil pore space also leads reduced levels of nutrient uptake from the soil. Oxygen is a vital input into a plants growth cycle. If the ability of water to infiltrate the soil is limited by soil compaction then the water will not infiltrate as deeply into the soil as normal. This means the lawns roots will not develop as deeply and so the lawn will be more at risk from drought and other environmental stresses. Soil compaction also means there is greater resistance against the roots as they try to develop to greater depths. Poor development of roots below the soil will result in a poor lawn condition above the soil.

There are other factors besides soil compaction that may give us reason to aerate our lawn. If our lawn contains a considerable build up of thatch then we can use core aeration to help break down the thatch. This process occurs as the cores of soil that are left on the lawn surface by core aeration introduce soil micro organisms into the thatch layer. These micro organisms breakdown the layer of thatch and return nutrients to the soil.
Lawn aeration may be necessary on heavy clay soils to help soil air circulation and water filtration.

When is the Best Time to Aerate Lawns?

If you have cool season turfgrass such as Fescue, fall is the ideal time to aerate. Perform fall aeration between September and November. Aeration before or at the time of late season fertilization enhances root growth and improves spring green-up and growth. Warm season turfgrasses such as zoysia grass and Bermuda grass should be aerated in mid-spring to summer. Avoid aerating when warm season grasses are dormant – it may encourage weed competition. In addition, avoid aerating warm season grasses during spring greenup, and not until after their first spring mowing.

How does lawn aeration benefit my lawn?

Lawn aeration has a number of benefits including:
• The increased water, oxygen and nutrient uptake by the grass roots
• Improved development of roots to greater soil depths
• Enhancing water infiltration into the soil and to greater depths
• Encouraging the breakdown and decomposition of thatch by soil microorganisms
helps prevent the loss of valuable fertilizers due to run off from compacted areas