Maintaining your lawn routinely is essential to having a flourishing yard. One of the most important aspects of lawn care is core aeration. By aerating your lawn, you are able to provide your grass roots with better access to the nutrients they need to grow healthy and strong while offering several benefits. As seasons change, there are important steps you need to take to upkeep your lawn. Winter weather was hard on your yard from the cold temperatures, ice, and heavy snow. As spring rolls in, it is time to take the necessary steps to prepare your lawn for the sunny days ahead. Fall can be a great time for aeration, as well.
What is Core Aeration?
Core aeration is the process in which a Green & Grow specialists removes the cores of soil, approximately ⅝ inch in diameter and 1-3 inches deep, using an aeration machine. The displaced soil then disintegrates. The cores can be broken down in your yard by rainfall, irrigation, or your mower. The following are a few ways that your lawn can benefit from core aeration…
- Healthier Turf – Core aeration is a lawn care service that requires a special machine with hollow tines run across your yard to remove the cores of soil and thatch from your lawn. Your grass must have been able to get the nutrients it needs like air, water, sunlight, and nutrients in order to grow deep roots. With time, the soil in your lawn is compacted as the result of foot traffic and weather, this restricts the flow of nutrients to your grass roots. If your lawn is unable to get adequate nutrients needed to grow healthy, it will become weaker and more susceptible to pests and diseases leading to its unfortunate fate.
- Alleviates Soil Compaction – Core aeration is used to loosen the compacted soil, allowing it to get the nutrients it requires to thrive. Aeration allows grass roots to breathe and grow deeper in the soil to form a strong, established lawn. Without aeration, compacted soil will prevent nutrients from accessing the roots leaving you with dead spots, patches, and thinning grass. This process is most effective if it is completed in the fall to provide your grass with a little health boost before spring rolls around. It gives your lawn a much needed boost in the winter helping them look more vibrant in the spring. Access to vital nutrients will help improve the health of your turf, providing you with deeper, more extensive turf grass roots.
- Enhances Seed Germination – Your lawn will benefit from aerating both before and after seeding into an existing turf. Soil cultivation improves seed to topsoil contact that is required for germination while creating a moist, protected environment that is optimal for seedling growth and development. How can it benefit overseeding operations? Aeration is the perfect partner when it comes to overseeding. It enhances seed germination by allowing the seeds deeper access to your lawn’s soil. When you seed your lawn, a great deal of the seed is wasted as it lays on the ground’s surfaces and is unable to germinate and take root. Holes that are created during core aeration allow tiny seeds to sink deep down into the soil and germinate, safe from the disturbances that occur on the surface. The holes are a safe place for your grass seeds to germinate and take root deep in the soil.
- Reduces Thatch Buildup – Thatch is a layer of dead grass that has accumulated on your lawn. As this layer builds up, it can keep water, sunlight, and nutrients from reaching your grass. Core aeration works to reduce this buildup by introducing microorganisms designed to decompose thatch from the soil all the way up to the lingering thatch. This is ideal during and after mowing season.
- pH Modification Benefits – By applying sulfur or lime after your lawn has been aerated will promote the change of pH deep into the soil profile. This allows nutrients to reach well into the root zone for a healthier turf.
- Grass is More Resilient to Pets and Diseases – Your lawn will be stronger and healthier because of core aeration as it becomes more resilient to pests and disease. Soil compaction and thatch occur when your lawn is unable to receive the necessary nutrients. As a result, your grass blades will weaken and be more likely to become more susceptible to a pest infestation, fungal growth, and diseases. Core aeration allows vital nutrients to get deep into your grass roots, in turn strengthening its resilience and immune system against well known lawn issues.
- Reduces Water Runoff and Puddling – If you notice that there are spots of puddling water due to runoff after a heavy rain, aeration might be the solution that you didn’t know you needed.
- Prepares Your Lawn for a Green Spring – After a dormancy in the cold months, aeration can help maximize the benefits of your early spring fertilization application providing you with a greener lawn this spring.
- A Better Looking Lawn – A strong, healthy lawn that is free of diseases and pests looks best. Core aeration is necessary as it provides the nutrients needed to look fuller luscious and green lawn. Because core aeration allows your grass seed to get deep into the soil and germinate when it looks vibrant and full of life. Aeration can prevent the growth of unsightly weeds when it eliminates those sparse patches in your yard while crowding out any chances for weeds to grow.
What You Can Expect from Green & Grow Lawn Core Aeration Services?
- Pulling Plugs – Our crew will remove small plugs of thatch, turf, and soil from your yard.
- Overseeding/Smart Seeding – We will also assess your lawn to determine whether or not your lawn may benefit from overseeding/smart seeding, as aeration creates the most desirable conditions for optimal seedling growth and development.
- Plugs Decomposing – In approximately 2 weeks, the plugs will start to decompose providing your turf’s roots with adequate nutrients.
- White Roots – You may notice new white roots growing in the aerated holes– that is a good thing.
At Green & Grown, we know that it is important to keep your lawn healthy with annual core aeration services. Our team of lawn specialists are experienced and will keep your lawn looking healthier than before.
Contact us (859-314-LAWN) for more information or a free instant quote!
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About Green & Grow
About Green & GrowGreen & Grow is a full service lawn care company specializing in lawn mowing, fertilization & weed control, aeration & seeding, insect control, and more!
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