Along with watering, fertilization, and mowing, aeration is one of the most important lawn care tasks. When the soil becomes too compact, it will stress the grass and stunt growth. Aerating once a year, or when testing your soil shows it has become compacted, will stimulate healthy grass growth and help prevent lawn disease.
Why Aerate Your Lawn?
Over time, the soil in lawns becomes compacted. Foot traffic, parking cars on the lawn, even lawn mowing all contribute to soil compaction. As the soil becomes more and more compacted, it starts to affect the health of your grass. When soil is too compact, there is no room for water, oxygen, and nutrients to get to the grass roots. There is also less space for new roots to grow, which in turn stunts the growth of grass blades that keep your lawn looking healthy and green.
When you aerate your lawn, you create holes in the soil that allow air and water to reach the grass roots. This also provides room for new grass roots to grow, which will encourage healthy lawn growth. Aerating can help prevent thatch buildup as well, by encouraging microorganisms which breakdown thatch.
Does My Lawn Need Aerated?
There are several ways to tell if your lawn needs aerated. Sometimes, you can tell by simply observing the lawn. Does water pool on the lawn after a rain or is there run off after irrigating? That can mean that the soil is too compacted to absorb water. If the grass is thin, patchy, or if there are bare spots, that can be a sign that the grass roots do not have enough room to grow.
You can also test your lawn to see if it needs aerated. If you cannot push a screwdriver or pencil into the soil easily, it probably needs aerated. You can also use a shovel to dig up part of the lawn and check the soil. If it is hard to push the shovel into the soil and the grass roots are shallow, the lawn requires aeration.
How To Aerate A Lawn
Aeration for warm-season grass in Texas is best done in the late spring or early summer. It is good to choose a day when the weather is mild and the lawn has been watered or rained on within the past two or three days. This will make it easier to aerate and help the grass recover more quickly.
The best type of lawn equipment for this job a core aerator. This type of aerator removes plugs from the soil, making holes 3-4 inches apart. The removed cores can be left on the soil to decompose and return nutrients to the lawn. This type of aerator is better for the lawn than spike or blade aerators, which simply poke holes in the soil and can make soil compaction worse.
Regular aeration is one of the most important lawn care tasks. By performing core aeration when your soil become too compact, you will encourage healthy grass growth. If testing the soil shows it needs aeration, a core aerator is the best piece of lawn equipment to use. They can be rented by homeowners, or purchased for regular use by lawn care professionals.
