![]() I’ve outlined the criteria you need to use on making this choice in Should You Rent Or Buy A Lawn Aerator? 5 Key Considerations so be sure to read that article if you are trying to decide which way to go.įor now, just know that the best approach really depends on your situation. You can rent a dedicated core aeration machine at a local hardware store, buy a pull-behind aerator that hooks up to your riding mower, or just pay a professional landscaper to do it for you. If your yard is really small, this is the most economic approach.įor larger yards, it comes down to cost, convenience, and long-term planning. But its really intended for confined spaces. These tools are effective because they are not just spike aerators… they actually pull cores from the soil. Best Way To Aerate A Lawnĭepending on the size of your lawn and your budget, you have about four realistic options for getting this job done.įor a very small yard, you could do this manually with a core aerator hand tool (link to Amazon). But lawn aeration makes a difference, plain and simple. If something doesn’t work, I call it out. I am a bit of a fanatic and so I do a lot of testing in my yard and try a lot of unorthodox approaches. The only difference between these two areas is in how the soil was aerated over the three year period.Īnd so, from my experience, there is absolutely no argument against the effectiveness of core aeration. It’s not a different type of soil, it wasn’t seeded using an alternative method or at a different time. Keep in mind that the areas I’m comparing here are only about 5 or 6 feet apart. It’s that soft comfortable barefoot feeling that people like about a nice thick lawn. But the second part is the “give” of the turf underneath the weight. First, the grass is deeper and thicker so the weight appears to sink deeper. Now, there are actually two important considerations at play here. When my wife and I built our house, I was faced with growing grass on some of the most challenging red clay soil that you’ve ever seen. Remember, healthy soil means a healthy, thriving lawn. The point is this: lawn aeration is intended to break up the compaction of soil, allowing for deeper root growth, healthier grass, and better water absorption. Augustine grass, we have more info on drought tolerance here: This can result in grass that is highly susceptible to drought. If grassroots cannot grow deep, the turf will be less hearty. It also restricts the growth of roots and encourages microbacterial activity that is present in healthy soils ( source). Clay soil, for example, has very small pores and does not allow air exchange. Lawn aeration is beneficial to almost any soil but it offers the most benefit for soils that are heavily compacted. There are people who sing it’s praises and those who swear it’s nonsense, but I have come to realize there is a real, tangible benefit to applying a liquid soil conditioner, especially when doing it prior to core aeration as it helps to soften the soil and allows the spoons to dig in and pull out solid cores.įor more information, read Does Liquid Soil Conditioner Work? The Easy Aeration Promise. While I don’t like the term (I prefer to think of it as liquid soil conditioner) I understand why it’s called aeration. There is one other approach to aeration that deserves mentioning here and that is liquid aeration. In fact, if you have a heavily compacted soil like clay, spike aeration can actually result in even more compaction ( source). The downside, however, is that spike aeration is not nearly as effective as core aeration. The benefit of spike aeration is that it does very little damage to the appearance of the lawn. This approach uses large metal spikes that are pushed deep into the soil. ![]() Lawns with special turf grasses such as golf courts often use a spike aeration technique. This process involves a machine that uses specially designed prongs (often called “spoons”) that plunge into the soil and pull up cores of the soil. Heavily compacted soil is best treated using core aeration. Let’s dig into this a little just so that you have the basics. There are different approaches to lawn aeration depending on the type of soil, the level of compaction, and the specific turfgrass.
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