Pop Lawn Care maintains grass health, curb appeal and functionality through a variety of practices. Essential maintenance includes weekly mowing, edging and leaf removal. Fertilizing, managing pests like grubs, testing soil, aerating compacted ground and overseeding improve lawn color and resilience over time.
Organic matter is the not-so-secret ingredient to healthy soil. It can include rotted leaves, shredded bark or wood chips, degraded manure, grass clippings and compost.
The Complete Guide to Lawn Aeration
Whether you have an overgrown, patchy lawn or simply want to make sure that your turf has the best chance to stand up to heat and insects, aeration is one of the most powerful mechanical and cultural practices a homeowner can do. Lawn aeration breaks through soil compaction, improves root development, encourages water and nutrient absorption and helps break up thatch.
Soil compaction is a serious lawn problem that can lead to stunted grass growth, poor color and an overall unhealthy look to your yard. Compacted soil has too many particles pushed together, restricting root growth, preventing moisture and nutrients from reaching the root system and reducing soil quality.
The simplest way to assess soil compaction is to push on the surface of your yard with your finger. If you can feel resistance, your soil is compacted. Other signs of compaction include puddles after rain, brown spots or sparse grass and slow growth of roots. If you have a cool season lawn like fescue, bluegrass or perennial ryegrass, it’s important to aerate prior to the start of its peak growing season in spring or fall.
Warm-season lawns like Bermuda, St. Augustine, and buffalo grass do best aerating in late spring or early summer. This timing allows the grass to take advantage of summer’s active growth period and fill in the holes left behind by the soil plugs removed by aeration.
Aeration is most effective when it’s followed by overseeding. Overseeding introduces new grass varieties into your lawn to crowd out weeds and allow the healthy turf to thicken.
When seeding the lawn, it is best to double aerate the lawn in a crisscross pattern. This will ensure that the grass seeds fall into the aeration holes and grow. It is also recommended to apply a high-quality, professional grade grass seed with a spreader that will give you a consistent application. Once the seeds are in place, a back drag with a metal mat (similar to what is used on a baseball field) will help ensure the grass has good contact with the soil.
When to Aerate
The ideal time to aerate your lawn is late summer or early fall, depending on whether you have cool-season or warm-season grasses. These times are also optimal for overseeding and other routine lawn care activities. The openings created by your aerator give grass seed and nutrients direct access to soil, allowing them to settle faster. The process is easier on your yard and equipment if the soil is moist, either from rain or from irrigation the day before your aeration.
If your lawn is primarily made of heavy clay soil, aeration may be needed more often. Clay soil has dense properties that prevent air, water and nutrients from easily reaching grass roots. Heavy foot traffic, outdoor entertaining and kids playing outside can all contribute to compacted soils.
Aerating in the summer or fall can help alleviate compaction and promote healthier grass growth. However, it is important to keep in mind that more is not always better. Over-aerating can actually stress your grass and lead to root damage.
During aeration, the aerator digs small holes in the soil and removes plugs of thatch. Thatch is a layer of dead grass stems and roots that builds up on the soil surface. Too much thatch can choke out the living roots underneath and leave grass looking thin and unhealthy. Aerating reduces thatch by allowing soil microorganisms to decompose it more quickly.
If you have a layer of thatch over 1/2 inch thick, we recommend a thatch control application in addition to your annual aeration service. Our professionals can recommend the best thatch control for your lawn.
Aerating isn’t just for preventing thatch buildup, but it is essential to helping your grass grow thick and healthy. If your grass doesn’t have the avenues it needs to access oxygen, water and nutrients, it will struggle to thrive. Even if you mow, water and fertilize regularly, if the soil is compacted, your grass won’t be able to get the essentials it needs to thrive.
Why to Aerate
Lawn grasses need a steady supply of oxygen, water and nutrients to thrive. But these essentials are difficult for them to access in compacted soil. Soil compaction, caused by lawn traffic and the natural buildup of thatch, restricts the flow of air and water through the turf. This starves the roots of these vital elements, which causes them to die out. The solution is to aerate.
Aeration consists of poking holes in the soil with a spike-type aerator or a plug-removing machine. The best times to aerate your soil are spring and autumn. When the grass is growing, it will heal and fill in any open areas created by aerating the soil. It is also easier to poke holes in the soil when it is dry rather than wet, as poking a wet lawn can actually cause additional compaction around the holes.
For lawns with cool-season grasses, late summer into fall is ideal for aerating because it enables optimal results from overseeding and sets the yard up for success in the following spring. However, for warm-season lawns aerating in spring is preferable because it coincides with the growing season of your grass.
If you choose to aerate your soil with a hollow tine aerator, it is best to avoid spiking it in the middle of the summer as temperatures can get extremely high and it could damage your grass. This method of aerating is also not recommended for lawns that have heavy clay or hard soil as the holes may close up too quickly.
How to Aerate
Imagine stepping on a lawn so soft that your footprints barely leave a mark. That kind of lush, healthy turf requires more than just mowing and watering; it also requires regular aeration. This simple lawn care technique promotes grass growth from the roots up and is essential to a vibrant yard.
To properly aerate your lawn, we use a machine with hollow tines that pull out small plugs of soil (depending on the machine design). These holes help break up thatch and relieve compaction over time while creating lasting channels that allow nutrients to reach deep into the soil. This is the approach TruGreen professionals rely on because it consistently delivers visible and long-term results.
Following aeration, we recommend light and consistent watering. This helps soften compacted soil and encourages root expansion. We also recommend leaving the soil plugs in place to decompose, as they help return nutrients and beneficial microbes to the soil. Lastly, we recommend overseeding and applying a balanced fertilizer to take advantage of the newly opened channels in your lawn.
