What is Lawn Aeration?
Lawn Aeration is the naturally occurring process of air exchange between the soil and its surrounding atmosphere. Lawn Aeration helps reduce soil compaction without excessive injury to the grass plants. Core tines penetrate and eject cores onto the surface of the lawn. Practically speaking, aeration is the process of mechanically removing small plugs of thatch and soil from the lawn to improve soil aeration.
What are the benefits of Lawn Aeration?
Lawn Aeration helps the lawn's health and vigor, and it reduces maintenance requirements, and provides the following benefits
Lawn Aeration is the naturally occurring process of air exchange between the soil and its surrounding atmosphere. Lawn Aeration helps reduce soil compaction without excessive injury to the grass plants. Core tines penetrate and eject cores onto the surface of the lawn. Practically speaking, aeration is the process of mechanically removing small plugs of thatch and soil from the lawn to improve soil aeration.
What are the benefits of Lawn Aeration?
Lawn Aeration helps the lawn's health and vigor, and it reduces maintenance requirements, and provides the following benefits
- Improves air exchange between the soil and atmosphere.
- Enhances soil water uptake.
- Reduced water runoff and puddling.
- Improved turfgrass rooting.
- Reduced soil compaction.
- Enhanced heat and drought stress tolerance.
- Improved resiliency and cushioning.
- Enhanced thatch breakdown.
Why is Lawn Aeration necessary?
In most home lawns, the natural soil has been seriously disturbed by the building process. Intensively used lawns are exposed to stress from traffic injury. Walking, playing and mowing are forms of traffic that compact soil and stress lawns. Raindrops an irrigation increase soil density by compacting soil particles and reducing large air spaces where roots may readily grow.
Most home lawns are subject to thatch accumulation. If thatch is left unmanaged, it can lead to serious maintenance and pest problems. For example, thatch accumulation of more than 1/2 inch on Kentucky bluegrass lawns impedes water, fertilizer and pesticide effectiveness. Core aeration reduces thatch accumulation, minimizes its buildup and modifies its makeup by incorporating soil into the thatch. As soil is combined with the thatch debris, soil organisms are better able to break down thatch and reduce its accumulation.
Thatch accumulates faster on compacted soils, heavy clay soils and subsoils that are disturbed during building processes than on well-aerated soils. Therefore, lawns require frequent aeration to prevent thatch buildup. Most home lawns growing on heavy clay or highly compacted soils require annual aeration to restrict thatch accumulation.
What can your expect after Lawn Aeration?
Immediately after aeration, your lawn will be dotted with small plugs pulled from the soil. Within a week or two, these plugs of thatch and soil break apart and disappear into the lawn.
About 7 to 10 days after aeration the hole should be filled with white, actively growing roots. this is a sign that the turfgrass is responding to the additional oxygen moisture and nutrients from the aeration process. on compacted soil and lawns with slopes you should see less runoff and water pooling should not be as noticeable after rainfall. the lawn will be able to go longer between waterings and show a higher tolerance to drought and heat after regular aerations.
In most home lawns, the natural soil has been seriously disturbed by the building process. Intensively used lawns are exposed to stress from traffic injury. Walking, playing and mowing are forms of traffic that compact soil and stress lawns. Raindrops an irrigation increase soil density by compacting soil particles and reducing large air spaces where roots may readily grow.
Most home lawns are subject to thatch accumulation. If thatch is left unmanaged, it can lead to serious maintenance and pest problems. For example, thatch accumulation of more than 1/2 inch on Kentucky bluegrass lawns impedes water, fertilizer and pesticide effectiveness. Core aeration reduces thatch accumulation, minimizes its buildup and modifies its makeup by incorporating soil into the thatch. As soil is combined with the thatch debris, soil organisms are better able to break down thatch and reduce its accumulation.
Thatch accumulates faster on compacted soils, heavy clay soils and subsoils that are disturbed during building processes than on well-aerated soils. Therefore, lawns require frequent aeration to prevent thatch buildup. Most home lawns growing on heavy clay or highly compacted soils require annual aeration to restrict thatch accumulation.
What can your expect after Lawn Aeration?
Immediately after aeration, your lawn will be dotted with small plugs pulled from the soil. Within a week or two, these plugs of thatch and soil break apart and disappear into the lawn.
About 7 to 10 days after aeration the hole should be filled with white, actively growing roots. this is a sign that the turfgrass is responding to the additional oxygen moisture and nutrients from the aeration process. on compacted soil and lawns with slopes you should see less runoff and water pooling should not be as noticeable after rainfall. the lawn will be able to go longer between waterings and show a higher tolerance to drought and heat after regular aerations.