Core Aeration

Lawn Talk with Harold Enger - Podcast Transcription

Episode: Core Aeration 

Tim Kauffold: Welcome to Lawn Talk, I'm your host Tim Kauffold. Lawn Talk is a series of conversations with Spring-Green lawn care professionals. Joining me is Harold Enger. Harold has worked in the Green Industry for nearly 30 years and is a Certified Turfgrass and Ornamental Landscape professional. In today's episode we will be talking about core aeration and the importance of this service for your lawn. So, Harold to start out what is core aeration?

Harold Enger:  Core aeration is known by two different names. Some people call it core aeration and some call it core cultivation. It's the same process just two different names. But what it is basically is a machine that goes across your lawn and there are large tines coming out of the central staff or central axle. And as this goes across the lawn it removes plugs of soil and thatch and leaves. And what this does is it opens up your lawn allowing for more air water and nutrients to penetrate into the root zone. It's probably the best process you can do for your lawn outside of fertilizing it. In fact if you couldn't do anything but aerate you'd probably do well for your lawn.

Tim: Okay and you mentioned the machine is going to pull these plugs up out of the lawn. Do I need to do anything with those?

Harold: No, the whole advantage of these cores that are left behind when you do this core aeration is that there are microorganisms in the soil and this will melt as it rains or you water your lawn the soil will match back into the thatch layer. And we've talked about thatch in the past, but just briefly thatch is the leaves, roots, stems, grass blades so for that build up at the soil line. A little thatch is okay, but getting much above a half inch can lead into some problems. What you want to do by putting these cores back in there is the microorganisms in the soil that are in the cores that will break down that thatch naturally and keep it at a manageable level.

Tim: And as I am thinking about doing this what time of year do I need to plan a core aeration?

Harold: Well, you can do core aeration just about any time of year as long as there is enough moisture as long as the lawn is moist enough that you can get out a good plug. Probably the best time of year to do it is in the fall because that is the time when you have the most active root and rhizome growth. You can also do it in the spring, because it's the second most active time where you are getting your root and rhizomes growth. And again as the machine goes across and takes out these plugs you are opening up the lawn. Now there is more air that can get down there and water. In fact if you go out to the holes in about two weeks after you do the aeration and look in there you'll see little, white root hairs growing down into the core from the surrounding grasses. So you can see that the lawn has some place to grow more root. If you have a healthy root system, you will have a healthy lawn.

Tim: And is it a good time to seed my lawn after I aerate or do I want to give it some time?

Harold: Perfect time. The perfect time to seed is after aeration. In fact parts of the country that's a standard process when we do a core aeration they automatically overseed afterwards as part of the service because it is a very important time to do that. A lot of times people will just throw seed across their lawn and say I've seeded my lawn and all you've done is given a lot of bird seed out. You aren't doing anything to help that seed grow because that seed has to come in contact with soil. And by having these holes where the seed can fall or the cores that are laying on top the seed can adhere to that soil and begin to germinate. The seed will actually germinate inside of the hole and as that hole slowly collapses the seed plant or the grass plant will rise up to the surface, so it's going have a nice good root system as the hole begins to collapse and have a much healthier lawn. You can take a lawn that's very thin and core aerate it and overseed and it will produce a much nicer lawn.

Tim: And now help clear up some confusion. What is the difference between a core aeration and a power raking on a lawn?

Harold: A lot of people think I've heard the term power raking. And in some areas of the country power raking or slicing is a necessary service, but for the most part on most turf grasses we would rather see them core aerate the lawn, because you are changing the structure of the lawn. A power rake is a machine that has a series of steel rods or shafts that come down and go across at a very high velocity. And it's called a power rake because it looks like a rake. But it is supposed to just skim across the top, but homeowners think if a little is good a lot is better, so they'll set the thing down nice and low and think they are going to get out all the thatch at one time when the go across with a power rake and end up really doing a lot of damage to their lawn because as these stingers or tines go around they are actually damaging the crown of the plant and breaking roots and ripping up the plant. And you are ending up with quite a mess because you've got all this thatch on top of the ground, what looks like a lot of thatch, but actually you maybe removed an eighth of an inch. Where the other process, the core aeration, by bringing up these cores you are enabling the lawn to break down the thatch naturally.

Tim: If you would like to know more about services available from your local Spring-Green lawn care professional, visit the Spring-Green web site, at Spring-Green.com.  There you will find more detailed information, including how to contact a Spring-Green lawn care professional in your area. This has been Lawn Talk, an on-going series for homeowners looking to protect and enjoy their outdoor investment, brought to you by Spring-Green Lawn Care and its many local lawn care professionals nationwide.

Find more episodes at Spring-Green.com or on iTunes under Lawn Talk.

Thanks and have a green day!

For more information, visit our core aeration page.