What Is Aeration, and Is It Important?

Aeration is another crucial method to keep lawns thick and green.

Many homeowners regularly perform lawn maintenance tasks like fertilizing and watering. However, aeration is another crucial method to keep lawns thick and green. Aeration pokes holes into the grass, allowing the soil to absorb much-needed nutrients and eliminate thatch, the accumulation of dead organic material on grass.

Let's review the aeration process and determine its importance for lawn care.

Aeration and its benefits

Aeration is a lawn care method that pierces deep holes into a lawn. It allows grass roots to grow deeper while helping soil receive nutrients and air.

Aeration is also an effective remedy for soil compaction. This happens when there's too much solid debris in a small grassy area, which makes the lawn hard and hinders its growth. The circulation of nutrients and air from aeration helps the lawn grow thicker, healthier, and greener.

The tools involved in aeration

For proper aeration, professionals will typically use one of two tools. A spike aeration tool has tines to poke holes into the grass without upturning soil. Depending on the size of the tines, these holes can be relatively unnoticeable. Still, more compacting can form close to the holes, which can be inefficient in the long run.

The most common machines professionals use are called plug tools. They consist of hollow tines that pull cores or plugs of soil out from the lawn. These plugs can have various sizes depending on the settings or tool. It's a more effective solution against soil compaction because it removes soil completely rather than just pushing it to the side.

Is aeration important?

Many homeowners might forget to perform aeration as part of common lawn maintenance procedures. However, it's crucial for healthy soil and grass.

Some lawns will need aeration more than others. Grassy areas with heavy foot traffic, including kids playing or pets running, will benefit from more thorough aeration work. Likewise, newly constructed areas frequently have compacted soil that can only be solved through proper aeration procedures.

How to know when a lawn needs aeration

There are ways for homeowners to gauge aeration needs. If the grass feels spongy and dries out quickly, that's an indication of a lack of nutrients reaching the soil. Homeowners might also have trouble planting due to grass compacting and thatch buildup. Likewise, poor grass health is a common indicator that it's time to aerate. Aeration works best in the growing seasons, such as early spring and fall.

Aeration done right

Aeration is crucial for outstanding soil and grass health. It could distinguish between healthy, green grass and a dried-out yellow lawn. However, it also takes a seasoned professional to do it right. Homeowners should opt for experts that offer aeration services. These experienced professionals will also perform additional maintenance, such as watering and fertilization.

Epic Lawns LLC provides top-quality lawn care and landscaping installation and maintenance to property owners in St. Charles, St. Louis, and Lincoln Counties. Call Epic Lawns at (636) 445-0824.