Does your lawn look thin in areas or have full-blown bare patches? These can be common here in North Texas, where our sandy loam soil type tends to become easily compacted. When soil becomes compacted, it can be difficult for it to support optimal turf and plant growth.
This is where lawn aeration becomes vital.
In this article, we will talk about when to aerate a lawn, including signs that your turf could benefit from the service. We’ll also discuss some of the benefits of professional lawn aeration services in North Texas. In this article, we will cover:
What is lawn aeration?
How do I tell if my lawn needs aeration?
When should I aerate my lawn?
Should I topdress my lawn after aeration?
Why choose professional lawn aeration services in North Texas?
After reading this article, we hope that you’ll have a better understanding of exactly what your lawn needs to perform optimally. But we are always here to answer any additional questions that you might have.
Lawn aeration is the process of making holes throughout your lawn by pulling small soil plugs (called “cores”) with a special machine called a core aerator.
Lawn aeration in Texas is so important due to our sandy loam soil type, which is prone to compaction. This can make it difficult for oxygen, water, and nutrients to get to where they are needed.
When the lawn is aerated, it’s helping the soil to “breathe.” It helps to break up that top layer of compaction and improve overall soil structure. The cores of soil left lying atop the grass will also break down and release nutrients back into the soil, further improving its overall health.
Virtually all lawns here in North Texas could benefit from lawn aeration services. As we mentioned, our soil type does make it easy for soil to become compacted which can start to impact the lawn’s health.
Here are some signs that your lawn could be struggling and that lawn aeration would help.
Because grass needs water, oxygen, and nutrients to thrive and grow, thinning grass could be an indicator that your soil is compacted and not allowing these elements to penetrate beneath the surface. Lawn aeration helps to promote a thick and healthy turf. This is important as weeds tend to invade in thin areas of the lawn.
Similar to thinning grass, but going a step further, full-blown bare spots on the lawn can definitely be a sign that your lawn is in need of aeration. Lawn aeration can also be paired with seeding to help fill in those bare spots where grass has died.
Keep in mind that bare spots can have other causes as well including damage from diseases and pests (including lawn grubs). If you have dead patches on your lawn, you should talk to a lawn care expert about what might be going on.
Another sign that your lawn needs aeration is when water collects on the surface. This is an indicator that the lawn is compacted and not draining well. Of course, there are other reasons for yard drainage issues that aren’t always related to compaction. Low spots, improper watering, and runoff issues can also be at play. It’s important to talk to a lawn care professional about what’s going on with your lawn.
Thatch (dead organic material) building up on the surface of the lawn can also lead to problems. Excess thatch—common in Texas Zoysia grass—builds up between grass blades and the soil surface. It can prevent essential elements from reaching roots. It also becomes a hide-out spot for surface-feeding insects like chinch bugs.
Aeration is a one-two punch that improves soil composition and reduces thatch buildup in the lawn. Thatch is noticeable in most cases but it can also give the lawn a “spongy like” feel.
When the soil is compacted, it can make it difficult for lawn care products like fertilizer to reach down to the subsurface level where they’re needed. People don’t always realize that compacted soil can mean not getting the most value out of the lawn care services they pay for. If you are paying for lawn care and not seeing the results you desire, it could be that you need to add lawn aeration services, too.
Knowing when to aerate the lawn will also help you get the most out of this service.
The best time to aerate a lawn in Texas is during the spring or the fall season. A lot of it has to do with the soil temperature. You don’t want it to be too hot or you’ll risk drying out the grassroots of your existing grass. However, the milder temperatures of both spring and fall make those seasons ideal.
If you were to only pick one, we’d recommend the spring, before entering the prime growing season. The loosened soil helps the fertilization that we apply in the spring to be more effective. As we mentioned above, when you apply fertilizer atop of clay-like soil, it just sits there.
Homeowners who are committed to having the best lawn on the block might choose to aerate in both the spring and the fall. At the very least, you should be having your lawn aerated annually.
Given our soil type, it’s too important to let more than a year pass without aerating. Any other service or efforts you make like watering or fertilizing are not going to be as impactful without well-aerated soil.
One of the best things that you can do following a lawn aeration service is a service called topdressing. When you topdress the lawn immediately after aeration, that topdressing material will be more likely to fall into the holes that were made and contribute to the effort to loosen your compacted soil.
When we are topdressing a lawn after aeration, we are using a turbocharged compost mix blended with varying amounts of sand. This is because we have such a high clay content in our soil type. It is important to add nutritional sand to help loosen compaction and improve drainage. Lawn aeration combined with a topdressing will go a really long way in improving the overall health and performance of your lawn.
Topdressing can also help enhance the overall soil health of your lawn by introducing microbial activity. For that reason, it’s also just a healthy practice to improve the overall performance of your lawn. It can help your lawn to stand up against some fungal lawn diseases that run rampant here in North Texas due to our climate.
While you don’t have to topdress and aerate at the same time, it will go a long way to have these two services performed together.
Now that you understand why lawn aeration is so important, you might be wondering who should perform these services? We highly recommend investing in professional lawn aeration services in North Texas as opposed to trying to do this yourself.
Though some people attempt DIY aeration, this is a much more involved service than they often realize. The equipment that is typically available for rent is often clunky and has likely been overused. This can lead to subpar results. Oftentimes the equipment is also very heavy—a lot heavier than most people realize—and the task of doing a full pass over the yard is exhausting. It’s not the way that most people want to spend free time on their weekend.
If you want to get the most out of lawn aeration, you’ll want to choose professional services. A pro is going to have the best equipment and know exactly how to perform this service so that you get the most out of it.
When professionally performed, aeration is going to allow your roots to get what they need to grow longer and stronger and that’s going to lead to overall healthier grass. However, when you don’t aerate, you end up with a shallow root system, and that’s going to lead to weakened grass.
At Grassperson, we’re here to help however you need us. Hopefully this article has given you some helpful advice on why lawn aeration is so important and how to know if your lawn needs it.
We know your life is busy which is why it is our goal to take away the burdens that you don’t want to deal with and help you achieve the great lawn results you desire. When professionally performed, lawn aeration is going to help your lawn roots to grow longer and stronger, which is going to lead to healthier grass.
Ready to get the results that you desire for your lawn in the Flower Mound, Highland Village, or Lewisville, TX area? Get a free quote and then enjoy the best lawn with no worries!