Keeping your lawn healthy and vibrant requires more than just mowing and watering. One essential practice that often goes overlooked is the aeration of the soil. Soil aeration is the process of creating holes in the soil to allow air, water, and nutrients to penetrate the roots of your grass. The most beneficial type of soil aeration is mechanical core aeration. In this blog post, we will discuss the benefits of mechanical core soil aeration and how it works.
Benefits of Mechanical Core Soil Aeration
Improves soil structure: Soil compaction is a common problem that occurs in most lawns. Mechanical core aeration helps to break up compacted soil, allowing for better water and nutrient absorption.
Enhances root growth: By creating more space for roots to grow, mechanical core aeration promotes healthier root systems. This leads to stronger grass, better drought resistance, and improved overall lawn health.
Reduces thatch buildup: Thatch is the buildup of dead grass and other organic material that accumulates on the surface of your lawn. Excessive thatch can prevent water, air, and nutrients from reaching the roots of your grass. Mechanical core aeration helps to break down thatch, allowing for better absorption of essential resources.
Improved Weed Resistance: By creating optimal growing conditions for your lawn, you can leverage its natural growth patterns to choke out weed growth.
How Mechanical Core Soil Aeration Works
When soil aeration is done using core soil aeration plugs, small cylindrical sections of soil are removed from the ground to create holes or channels. This process helps to improve soil drainage, reduce soil compaction, and allow air, water, and nutrients to reach plant roots more easily. The removed soil plugs are left on the lawn or garden bed surface where they will break down over time, adding valuable organic matter to the soil.
How often should a mechanical aeration be performed?
While many will recommend that you aerate your lawn once a year, at Newell Services, we actually believe aeration once every 3 years for an average family lawn is both beneficial to your lawn and responsible to the environment and your household budget! Of course, higher use properties may require more frequent aeration.
When should a mechanical core aeration be performed?
Soil aeration is best performed when the grass is actively growing, and the soil is moist. Therefore, the best time to perform core soil aeration is either in the spring or fall, depending on the type of turf grass you have. For warm-season grasses like Bermuda and Zoysia, it is advised to aerate in the spring. For cool-season grasses like Tall Fescue and Perennial Rye, aeration is recommended in the fall and is usually paired with overseeding. The timing will depend on your grass type and local climate, and aeration should never be conducted on a dormant, drought-stressed, or otherwise inactive lawn. It is best to consult with a lawn care professional to determine the optimal time to aerate your lawn.
What about these soil cores everywhere!?
After a mechanical core aeration process is performed on your lawn's soil, you may notice that your lawn looks like a minefield for a few weeks. While the cores left on the surface of your lawn are unsightly, they will break down with regular rain, irrigation, and mowing. As these cores dissolve, the soil underneath will also expand or "fluff," creating vital pockets for your lawn's ecology to thrive. A healthy ecology means a healthy and flourishing lawn, so it's a good thing!
Mechanical core soil aeration is an essential practice for lawn care that should not be overlooked. This process has numerous benefits, including improving soil structure, enhancing root growth, reducing thatch buildup, and suppressing weed growth. By comprehending how mechanical core aeration works and monitoring the compaction of your lawn, you can ensure that your property remains vivacious for years to come.
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