Aeration is a key piece of maintenance to keep your lawn lush and green. Understanding why and how to aerate your lawn can be complex, but with the help of lawn care professionals, the task isn’t impossible. While the process is simple at its core, there are many steps and complexities that you have to be careful of, in order to avoid damaging your lawn.

Why should you aerate your lawn?

Before you learn how to aerate your lawn, you should understand exactly why you should even do it in the first place.

Like most surface flora, lawn grass needs exposure to fresh air and oxygen in order to thrive. This is also true for the roots and ground underneath, which usually receive the required amount of oxygen through proper watering, as well as air that they may absorb from the surface of your lawn.

At times, this access to fresh air may become blocked for the grass, its roots, and the ground that it’s planted on. This typically happens due to a few reasons.

According to the extensive experience of your Lawn Pro, the most common causes of this obstruction include but are not limited to:

  • Thatch
  • Fallen or dead leaves
  • Clamped or compacted soil

It is also common for more than one of these issues to be present in a lawn simultaneously. If your lawn has thatch, it does not mean that it wouldn’t also have compacted soil. These issues often go hand in hand, which makes them so complex to diagnose and resolve in the first place.

As difficult as these problems might be, they are not impossible to solve for professionals like your Lawn Pro! In order to resolve these issues and allow your grass to breathe in the air it needs, we recommend that you aerate your lawn.

Grass after aeration

How can you tell if a lawn needs to be aerated?

In order to keep your lawn healthy and breathing, aerating should be a part of your regular lawn maintenance process. There are times when a lawn starts showing certain symptoms, which means that you need to aerate it on an immediate basis.

If you see patches of bare, compacted soil, or areas where your grass or plants are growing poorly, you’re likely in need of an aeration.

At Lawn Love, our on-demand service delivery ensures that whether you require regular maintenance or immediate attention, your Lawn Pro is only a click away. This approach also applies to lawn aeration.

Performing aeration as part of your regular maintenance

The frequency of aerating your lawn depends upon the usage of your lawn and the kind of foot traffic it receives.

For instance, a typical residential front lawn needs an aeration service done once every three to five years. However, a commercial park lawn requires this process to be performed at least once a year, because of the higher level of foot traffic.

Performing aeration as a treatment for unhealthy lawns

If your lawn looks unhealthy and indicates damage, then an aeration service may be just what it needs to recover.

The common signs of a lawn needing aeration include:

These symptoms require immediate attention. Aerating it in a timely manner can often resolve any underlying issues.

lawn pro operating aeration machine on lawn

How do you aerate a lawn?

Lawn aeration processes can be simple or advanced, depending on what you need the service for and the technique that you use.

The simplest aeration can be performed by using basic tools, while the most advanced procedures need special equipment and a multifaceted approach.

It all depends upon the level of damage or obstruction that a lawn is facing. For instance, if you are only aerating your lawn as a part of your regular maintenance routine, then you may not need anything other than the basic aeration equipment. However, if you are dealing with massive damage such as dead grass or thatch, then those obstructions need to be removed before the aeration process can be executed.

Depending on the condition of your lawn, your Lawn Pro most commonly recommends either of the following techniques.

The basic approach: spiking or solid tine aeration

As the simplest way to aerate a lawn, the process requires you to basically just punch holes in the ground.

Typically, the spiking method is performed by using basic tools such as a rake. But special gear can also be used. This may include lawn aerator shoes that have large and heavy spikes on their soles. Professionals sometimes also use spike aerators that can be driven across the lawn like paint rollers, but with spikes on their ends.

This approach is most effective with cases that aren’t dealing with a high level of obstruction. If your lawn has already started showing severe signs of needing aeration, then this application may not be ideal for you. Aerating your lawn with advanced methods would be the more effective approach.

The advanced approach: hollow tining or core aeration

Hollow tining, also known as core aeration, is a more advanced process that may require you to buy or rent special equipment, such as a manual or automatic hollow tine aerator.

The equipment gets this name from its design, which has long, yet hollow tines coming out of its surface. Unlike spikes, which push the ground down, hollow tines remove cores of the ground with each extraction. This is also where the process gets its alternative name of core aeration.

Hollow tining or core aeration removes cores from your ground that can help you get rid of thatch as well as clamped or compacted soil. It is a more time consuming processing than simply punching holes in your lawn or walking around with your aerator shoes on.

Hollow tining or core aeration is very effective at removing thatch and compacted soil from the ground. However, since it requires special equipment and experience to be executed optimally, it is recommended that you either have this process performed by a professional or effectively learn how to operate it before using this equipment.

Lawn aeration is key to a healthy lawn

The aeration process is critical to keeping your lawn healthy and happy. By understanding the importance of the aeration process, you can keep your own lawn thriving.

At Lawn Love, we take pride in our community of experts who specialize in the lawn aeration process. Whether you have a commercial lawn or a residential yard, your Lawn Pro can help you with all your needs. To learn more about our process and get a free estimate, feel free to contact us today.

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