Signs Your Lawn Needs to be Aerated

SERVING ALL OF SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA

Is your lawn looking a little patchy? Have you had a hard time getting it into shape even with regular fertilizing, mowing, and weeding? If you are putting in the work without seeing results, you might start to feel like giving up. However, there may be one important step that you are missing: aeration. In this article, we will look at what aeration does for your lawn, the signs that aeration is needed, and advice for aeration timing, along with some other tips.

What Aeration Does for Your Lawn

Your lawn needs things like fertilizer and water to grow. But if water, air, and nutrients aren’t reaching the roots of your grass, your lawn will suffer! When the soil is densely packed or the growth of the grass is too thick, water and air won’t penetrate to the roots. Your lawn cannot develop a healthy root system under these conditions, and this will affect your entire lawn. Aeration is a process that addresses this problem by punching holes in the soil. These holes loosen compacted soil, and allow the water, air and nutrients to reach the roots. Aeration also provides the roots with more room to grow.

Signs that Your Lawn Needs Aeration

Aeration is not necessary for every lawn. It all depends on the soil conditions and whether the roots have access to air and water. If you are trying to determine whether your lawn needs aeration or not, there are a few key points to consider.

• • Traffic: If your family spends a lot of time in the yard, the simple act of walking on the grass can compact the soil.
  • Pooling: If you notice water pooling in some areas of the lawn after it rains, this can indicate that the soil is too dense.
  • Sod: When a lawn is laid with sod, it is not uncommon for the soil from the sod to have a difficult time integrating with the native soil on the property. This can result in a layering effect that inhibits root growth and drainage.
  • Thatch: The presence of heavy thatch can indicate the need for aeration.

When is the Best Time to Aerate?

The best time to aerate a lawn will depend on the type of grass. In general, you want to aim for the beginning of the growing season. This is when the roots can grow and expand, so this is the time when aeration will have its greatest effect. It’s important to time your aeration after identifying the type of grass you have and when the growing season begins for that type of grass.

Tips for Aeration

You have a few options for aerating your lawn, and there are some tips that can help to improve the results. To start, you will need to determine a method for aeration. You have different types of tools that can be used, and there are machines that can do the job faster.For the most part, the tools that do the job manually will be more affordable for the average homeowner. The downside is that aerating with these methods can be time-consuming. With all of the time and effort that is required to aerate a lawn, many homeowners will prefer to hire a professional service. It’s always better to aerate a lawn when it is a little damp, as the process can be difficult if the lawn is too dry. You also want to try to determine which areas of the lawn need aeration and which do not. By focusing on the areas that need it, you can save yourself some time and effort. Presto-X, formerly Fischer Environmental is one of the top lawn care experts in the Gulf Coast area. We do more than aeration, and we have decades of experience when it comes to getting the most out of a lawn. Contact us today for a consultation, and we can get started on developing that lush, green lawn that you have always wanted.

<<Back to Lawn Aeration