Does the soil under your feet feel like concrete? Do you have a patchy lawn after a hot, dry summer?
If you live in the northern part of the U.S. or Canada, or you have tall fescue growing in the shade of your transitional zone, it’s time to aerate your fall lawn.
What is fall aeration?
You aerate your lawn when you use a core aerator—either a mechanical one or a spike and plug aerator attachment. A spike aerator attachment pierces the soil while a plug aerator pulls plugs of soil out of the ground.
Fall aeration allows your soil to breathe. It also loosens compact clay soil, allowing oxygen, moisture, and nutrients to go deep into the soil.
In this blog post, you’ll learn more about fall aeration, such as
· Why Fall Aeration Is Perfect for Cool-Season Lawns
· Pairing Other Lawn Maintenance Jobs with Fall Aeration
· Top 9 Benefits of Using Spike and Plug Aerator Attachments.
Now it’s time to talk about why fall sets the stage for healthier cool-season lawns.
Why Fall Aeration is Perfect for Cool-Season Lawns
Both cool- and warm-season grasses need core aeration. However, when you aerate your lawn depends on the type of grass that’s growing in it.
For example, in the northern part of the U.S., as well as in shady areas within the transitional zone (the middle third of the country), cool-season grasses grow. Since many lawns have clay soil, the ground will become compacted through foot traffic, hot summer conditions, and little rain.
You can tell when the soil is compacted because the ground feels hard or you see water pooling. Also, if you have kids or pets, their frequent walking and running across your lawn will cause soil compaction (but let your kids play outside).
Additionally, if you’re in a newly constructed home, the soil around your new home is probably compacted due to construction equipment moving around the property.
If you want to be sure that the soil is compacted, stick a pencil or screwdriver in slightly wet ground. Your soil is compacted if you can’t push the tool straight into the ground.
Alternatively, you can take one square foot of turf. If you can’t sink the shovel blade halfway into the soil, you probably have compacted soil.
Cool-season lawns grow best in cooler weather. It makes sense, then, that the best time to aerate them would be in the fall to allow overseeding and fertilization, as well as oxygen and water to penetrate the soil.
Plus, fall aeration and overseeding encourage deep turf root growth, helping the grass to grow deeper root systems to find water and nutrients in preparation for cold winter months.
Aeration also removes excess thatch and helps with yard drainage because it loosens the soil and improves water absorption.
You can aerate cool-season grasses in the springtime, but fall is better for helping with grass recovery after summer heat.
If you’re a homeowner with warm-season grass, you should aerate your lawns in the spring since warm-season turf grows best in warmer temperatures.
Learn more: How Often to Aerate Your Lawn
You can include other fall lawn care tasks with fall aeration to improve turf health and prepare for next spring.
Pairing Other Lawn Maintenance Jobs with Fall Aeration
Imagine the snow melting early next spring. Your grass starts growing as the soil warms up—and it’s green, vibrant, and dense.
Lawn professionals recommend overseeding cool-season lawns after fall aeration to fill patchy areas. Since the aerator opens up the soil, grass seed can go deeply into the ground to help with faster germination and developing a deep root system.
Also, you should fertilize your newly overseeded lawn, again allowing the nutrients to go deep into the soil to enrich it. Taking these steps to revive your cool-season lawn ensures a healthy one next spring.
Before you aerate your lawn, you need to prep it first.
Yard clean-up, which needs to be part of your fall lawn maintenance, means you pick up sticks, seed pods, pine cones, and other debris, as well as rake up all leaves. A lawn sweeper gets the job done quickly and efficiently.
Then you want to put down broadleaf weed control, as well as nutsedge control, to get rid of all weeds before you aerate. You don’t want any weed seeds to get into the soil.
After cleaning up your lawn, you’ll now need to mow the lawn before you start aerating. Pros recommend cutting your turf shorter than usual, allowing for better aeration and overseeding. You also want to collect all grass clippings so the surface is clear for aeration.
Watch more: Brinly Plug Aeration vs. Spike Aeration
Brinly Guide to Aerating and Spreading Using Brinly-Hardy Lawn Equipment
Do you wonder what the difference is between using a spike and a plug aerator attachment?
Top 9 Benefits of Using Spike and Plug Aerator Attachments
Plug aerators pull out plugs of soil from the ground, similar to coring an apple. As the plug aerator moves, it ejects these plugs onto the ground. It’s best to leave them there to absorb back into the soil the next time you water your lawn or it rains.
Since plug aeration pulls soil up and out, it loosens the compacted soil. Here are four benefits of using a plug aerator:
1. The larger holes open up the soil to allow air, water, and nutrients to penetrate deep into the soil, reaching the grass roots.
2. This brings more soil microbes to the surface to break down excess thatch.
3. The soil is loose for successful grass seed germination.
4. You’ll notice improved fertilizer permeability, better drainage, boosted soil microbe activity, enhanced root development, and reduced thatch build-up.
Spike aerators work a little differently while still loosening up the soil. Here are the top benefits of spike aerators for improved grass health:
1. Encourages healthy root development, including lateral root growth, which allows the turf to develop more roots for long-term vitality.
2. Reduces mess because you don’t have soil plugs lying on your lawn.
3. Creates pores in the soil for improved grass seed and fertilizer permeability.
4. Provides hard soil benefits by loosening it up.
5. Delivers a cost-effective alternative to hiring a lawn care company to aerate and overseed your lawn.
Are you wondering which spike and plug aerator is best for your fall aeration project?
Discover the Benefits of Fall Aeration with a Brinly Spike & Plug Aerator
Lawn care is a priority for you. Invest in a Brinly Spike & Plug Aerator for your fall aeration project that gets the job done like a pro.
Don’t forget to check our sales page to see if your next Brinly is on clearance. Buy your Brinly lawn attachment at these fine retailers.
Got questions about your Brinly lawn care and garden attachment? Reach out to customer service today!
Sources:
Lowes.com, How to Aerate Lawns to Grow Grass Fast.
NatureSeed.com, The DIY Guide to Lawn Aeration: How and When to Aerate Your Yard.
YourGreenPal.com, How to Aerate and Overseed Your Lawn (5 Simple Steps).