To aerate your lawn, you’ll need to remove small plugs of soil or perforate the soil with small holes. This will allow nutrients, oxygen, and water to penetrate deep into the roots and promote grass growth.
One of the key secrets to achieving that healthy, green grass is lawn aeration. Often overlooked, this fundamental lawn care practice is crucial in maintaining the vitality of your lawn. So, if you want a lush, healthy lawn, you must know how to aerate your lawn properly.
Step-by-step guide to aerate your lawn
Foot traffic, weather, and outdoor projects can cause soil compaction over time. Compacted soil can leave the roots without room to grow and air pockets to receive essential nutrients from the surface.
Likewise, thatch (the layer of organic matter between the grass and the soil surface) can build up, acting as a barrier between the roots and the nutrients they need.
Unless you have sandy soil and drainage is not a problem, it’s a good idea to consider aerating for these reasons:
- Denser grass: By opening up pockets within the soil, aeration allows new grass shoots to grow and helps fill in patchy areas.
- Enhanced airflow: Aeration creates mini ventilation channels across your lawn, allowing oxygen to reach the root zone.
- Healthy roots: With easy access to water, oxygen, and nutrients, the grass roots can grow strong, deep, and healthy.
- Enhanced water absorption: After aeration, the soil can absorb water better. This reduces runoff and helps your grass get the moisture it needs.
- Nutrient accessibility: Aeration acts as a conduit, allowing crucial nutrients, such as top dressing, fertilizer, and water, to penetrate the soil.
- Optimized fertilizer effectiveness: Fertilizers work most effectively when they can efficiently access the root zone.
- Reduced compaction: Aeration helps loosen even the most heavily compacted clay soil, providing roots ample space to flourish.
- Weed resistance: A well-aerated lawn can naturally fend off weeds.
So, homeowners who want a lush, green lawn must know how to aerate. Let’s break down the step-by-step process:
Step 1: Ready the tools and materials
Before aerating your lawn, you must gather the right aeration tools and materials:
- Lawn aerator
- Lawnmower
- Garden hose and sprinkler
- Markers, colorful flags, or stakes
Choose the right aerator
Choosing the right type of aerator will depend on your lawn’s size. Here are the most commonly used:
- Aerator shoes: For small lawns, aerator shoes offer a cost-effective option. Resembling sandals with spikes on the soles, they are strapped to your feet, allowing you to aerate as you walk across your lawn.
- Core or plug aerators: Also known as hollow tines, core aerators can alleviate soil compaction in large lawns. They are available in both manual and mechanical versions.
- Liquid or soil conditioners: Liquid aerators can address mild compaction. When applied to the lawn’s surface, they break down compacted soil particles and gradually improve soil structure.
- Rolling aerators: Designed to be towed behind riding mowers or lawn tractors, rolling aerators feature a roller equipped with spikes or blades that puncture the soil. Efficient for covering large areas quickly, they often include adjustable settings to accommodate various soil conditions.
- Slicing aerators: This lawn aerator has rotating blades or disks that create slits or grooves in the soil without removing cores. While less intrusive than plug aerators, they’re not as effective and are only suitable for addressing lighter compaction.
- Spike aerators: Using sharp tines, spike aerators poke holes into the soil. While they are well-suited for small lawns, they may not be optimal for clay soils, as they can compact the soil around the holes.
- Tine rake aerators: Suitable for small lawns and spot treatments, these hand-operated tools with multiple metal tines are manually pushed or pulled across the lawn. They create shallow channels in the soil to allow nutrients to penetrate the root zone.
Step 2: Prepare your lawn
After preparing the tools and materials, you must ensure your lawn is ready as well.
Mow the lawn
Whether you’re hiring a pro to mow your lawn or doing the trim yourself, mowing beforehand is essential. Taller grass can obstruct the aeration process, diminishing its effectiveness in combating soil compaction and limiting the advantages for your lawn. Remember to cut it to the recommended height for your specific grass variety.
Water the lawn
In dry or heavily compacted soils, the aerator may struggle to penetrate the ground, potentially causing undue stress on the machine. To make the process smoother, remember to water your lawn thoroughly a day or two before aeration. You also can aerate the day after a rain shower.
Mark sprinkler heads and shallow utility lines
You also must take precautions by clearly marking the locations of sprinkler heads and shallow utility lines. Often situated just beneath the soil surface, sprinkler heads can get damaged by the aerator’s tines or spikes. It can cause disruptions to your irrigation system and incur substantial repair costs.
If you don’t pinpoint and mark their positions before aeration, shallow utility lines like cable, electrical, or irrigation conduits are also at risk. Striking these lines can result in safety hazards, service interruptions, and costly repairs.
Step 3: Aerate your lawn
Now, it’s time to start the aeration process. Push the aerator across your lawn in a crisscross pattern. Remember to overlap each pass slightly to ensure good coverage. The aerator will make small holes or pull out small plugs of soil.
Aerate your lawn twice, with the second pass intersecting the first at a right angle, forming a checkerboard or crosshatch pattern. Consider doing additional passes, especially in areas prone to soil compaction due to frequent foot traffic.
Step 4: Leave soil plugs on your lawn
After waiting a few days for the soil plugs to dry, use the back of a rake to break them up before distributing them across your lawn.
Over time, these plugs will break down and return valuable organic matter to the soil, enriching it with nutrients. This organic material acts as a natural top dressing, reducing thatch buildup and promoting healthier grassroots.
Additionally, the soil plugs act as a protective layer for your lawn. They provide insulation and help regulate soil temperature and moisture levels. This protective barrier shields the grassroots from extreme temperature fluctuations and excessive moisture loss.
Step 5: Apply post-aeration care
Give your lawn another light watering to help the soil recover and give your grass a boost. After aerating your lawn, continue your normal lawn care practices, such as mowing and fertilizing. For the next two to three weeks, soak your lawn with an inch of water (or around 20 minutes per section) in the morning every two to three days.
Pro tip: Feel free to apply herbicides – many people think applying a pre-emergent herbicide to lawns after aeration will cancel out any weed prevention or control measure, but that’s not true. You can go about your normal lawn care routine.
Step 6: Overseed your lawn
Enhance the density and vibrancy of your lawn by overseeding. You have two options:
- Immediately after core aeration, you can overseed your lawn and apply fertilizer and compost.
- If you want a more uniform lawn, wait about a month after aeration before overseeding.
Spreading fresh grass seeds, in conjunction with applying fertilizer and compost, will promote robust growth.
Professional vs. DIY lawn aeration
If you opt to DIY, your primary expense will be renting or purchasing an aerator, which can cost between $100 and $300 or more, depending on its type and size. On the other hand, hiring a professional lawn aeration service provider typically costs between $82 and $251.
- Frequency: The frequency at which you decide to aerate your lawn also can impact the overall cost. A one-time lawn aeration costs less than regularly scheduled aeration sessions.
- Additional services: If you opt to bundle lawn aeration with supplementary services like overseeding or fertilization, be prepared to pay more for those services.
- Maintenance: Should you choose to purchase your own aerator, factor in maintenance expenses like potential repairs and blade sharpening.
- DIY supplies: Going the DIY path, you should consider budgeting for necessities like fuel for your lawnmower and supplies like marking flags.
Whether you hire a pro or aerate the lawn yourself, you must be ready for these expenses. However, an aerated lawn can thrive and reduce the need for maintenance and treatments over time.
FAQ about aerating your lawn
What’s the difference between dethatching and aeration?
Aeration alleviates soil compaction, while lawn dethatching eliminates thatch (the layer of dead grass and organic matter that settles just above the soil line). A light layer of thatch is healthy for your lawn. But if it’s more than half an inch thick, it can impede grass growth.
Soil compaction and excessive thatch both cause serious problems for your lawn’s growth because they keep oxygen, water, and nutrients from reaching the lower soil. However, they have to be addressed differently. While aeration pokes holes in the soil, dethatching rakes up the thatch layer.
If both thatch and soil compaction are a problem, you’ll want to dethatch before you aerate.
How often should I aerate my lawn?
If you have sandy soil with few drainage issues, you’ll only need to aerate every two or three years. If you have heavy clay soil or if your lawn experiences frequent foot traffic, it’s a good idea to aerate every year or even twice a year.
When should I aerate my lawn?
Here’s a quick guide on the best time to aerate your lawn, depending on the type of grass you have:
| Type of grass | When to aerate |
| Bahiagrass | Late spring to early summer |
| Bentgrass | Early fall |
| Bermudagrass | Late spring to early summer |
| Carpetgrass | Late spring to early summer |
| Centipedegrass | Late spring to early summer |
| Fescue | Early fall |
| Kentucky bluegrass | Early fall |
| Perennial ryegrass | Early fall |
| St. Augustinegrass | Late spring to early summer |
| Zoysiagrass | Late spring to early summer |
Remember, the right timing can make a big difference in the success of your lawn aeration. So, choose the right season for your grass type, check the soil type and moisture, and plan your aeration accordingly.
Give your lawn a boost
Like a breath of fresh air for your lawn, aeration can transform your patchy, struggling grass into a lush, natural carpet. Remember to choose the right time, use the appropriate tools, and follow these steps for aerating your lawn.
If you’d rather let the professionals poke holes in your lawn, call a local lawn care pro who knows best how to aerate your lawn. Your lawn will thank you with thicker, greener, and more beautiful grass.
Source list:
- Main Photo Credit: Влад Варшавский | Adobe Stock Free | License
