Tips from the Pros

My Grass is green why should I do anything?

This year grass has really done well, except for some fungus out there. But even with green grass that might look like its healthy, you might start to see issues next spring…. With the wet spring, summer and looking like fall, the pores in the soil are closed up, not allowing the roots to get the air they need.  This is very true with clay soils and even sandy loamy soils.  The best way to solve this problem is by aeration, either single pass or double.

Aeration will help in many ways.

1. Allow more oxygen to get to the roots, which will help with root development
2. Even Core Aeration will break up the thatch level and increase the microbial activity in the soil to help with the decomposing organic matter (grass clippings) which is basically Free Fertilizer!!!
3. Help with fungus issues
4. Loosens compaction for better water absorption and nutrients

These are the major ones but there are many more.  In most cases it will also help the lawn be more drought tolerant the next season.  Brummel Lawn starts its fall aeration the last week of August and will aerate until Thanksgiving.

Do I have to do it every year? No you don’t have to do it every year, but every other or even every third year will make a big difference, on wet years it is good to get it opened back up!

How deep do the plugs go? Normally we try to get the core to come out about 3”.  If the lawn is wet we will be able to get it a little deeper and if its dry maybe only 2”, so if you have an underground dog fence you may want to have it marked or let the technician know.  Also if you have an irrigation system, you can mark the heads, in most cases the technicians are able to see where heads and boxes are and are able to avoid those items.

With aeration an over seed can be done? Yes with the plugs and the holes you do get soil to seed contact.  But, if you have a lot of bare areas it would be best to drill-seed or verti-cut and seed.

So if you have a thick lawn, or haven’t aerated in the last couple of years, or have paths where people/dogs or even vehicles might have ran over,  you might want to think about aeration this fall.  It could save you money in the long run and you could just aerate and not seed!  A great fall fertilizer and aeration will take a good yard and make it great!

Remember you can always call our office and have one of horticulturist come out and make a recommendation on aeration, fertilizer, verti-cut, drill seed or recommend nothing!