Can You Aerate In The Summer?

If your lawn has been struggling to look its best, it has discoloration, thinning grass areas, or just doesn’t seem to be growing as it should be, it may need an aeration. 

If your lawn has been struggling to look its best, it has discoloration, thinning grass areas, or just doesn’t seem to be growing as it should be, it may need an aeration. 

Why Should You Aerate?

Lawn aeration is a treatment used when the soil in your lawn is compacted. When your soil is compacted, water, air, and other nutrients cannot reach the grass roots, leaving it to struggle in situations like heat or drought. This can cause your lawn to lose its color, health, and gradually become thinner. 

Having an aeration can help revive your lawn with just one application. It can help break up the compacted soil and allow nutrients to reach deeper into the root system. 

Compacted Soil Symptoms

A lawn can become easily compacted if it is receiving a lot of traffic throughout the year. If you have flooding areas in your lawn after a heavy rain or see water running right off the soil, your lawn could be in desperate need of aeration.

Other than poor drainage, if your lawn is turning brown, looking dehydrated, or there is a stunted growth of plants, this can be a tell tale sign that your soil is compacted and is not receiving enough water. In this situation, having an aeration could not only help your lawn’s health, but it could help or resolve poor drainage issues and get your lawn back on the upward trend. 

Summer Aeration

It is important to time your aeration out correctly in the year. Knowing the type of grass you have, as well as when to aerate are two important factors to take into consideration.

There are two categories your grass can fall under: cool-season and warm-season grass. Here in Ohio, we only have a select few types of grass, all which are cool-season. These include Kentucky bluegrass, tall Fescue, fine Fescue, and perennial Rye grass.

Cool-season grasses tend to grow in the early fall and grow more actively in low temperatures. Therefore, the ideal time to aerate this type of lawn is typically in the spring or early fall.

Aerating in the summer is not recommended because of the temperatures. If your soil is too wet when you aerate, it can destroy your lawn, and that is the same for dry soil. Because the aeration creates holes, if it is done in extreme heat or drought, it can dry out the soil leaving your grass damaged. 

How Does Aeration Work?

Typically an aeration is done by professionals, but you can choose to do it yourself and rent your own equipment.

The core aerator machine will remove plugs of soil from your lawn and leave them on top to eventually break down. The small holes that the plugs make are what allows the oxygen, water, and other nutrients to get down in the soil.

Trust The Pros

It is important to use core aeration methods when doing the process yourself because if not one correctly, you could end up causing more compaction. 

When comparing prices, you might find that hiring a lawn care company will cost you about the same as it would if you were to rent the equipment needed and spending your free time doing the work yourself.

Licensed professionals have the knowledge and the skills to give you a beautiful and healthy lawn for family and friends to enjoy!

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