Table of Contents
6 Steps To Aerating Your Lawn Step 1: Mow The Grass. Before you get started, you should mow the lawn as short as possible and kill off any weeds. Step 2: Water The Soil. Step 3: Select Your Tool. Step 4: Aerate Your Lawn. Step 5: Break Up Remaining Soil Plugs. Step 6: Resume Regular Lawn Care.
How do I aerate my lawn myself?
Aerate the Lawn Whether you’re using a core aerator or a steel spike aerator, you should cover the lawn completely in one direction and go back over it in a perpendicular motion. Spike aerators punch holes in your lawn as you go, while core aerators work to remove grass and soil plugs.
Can I manually aerate my lawn?
The best method of manually aerating your lawn is done using a ‘manual core aerator. ‘ This is a tool designed with a handle and a foot bar. You are required to hold the handle using both hands so that you can drive it into the soil. In areas where the soil is too compacted, the foot bar offers extra leverage.
How do I aerate my lawn without a machine?
How to Aerate Your Lawn Without Machines Push a hand aerifier, which has tube hollows that are 1/4 to 1/2 inch in diameter, or a spading fork through your lawn grass and into the soil. Rake the lawn if it is heavily thatched. Push a hand aerifier’s hollow tubes into the grass’ soil, and pull them out of the soil.
Should I aerate my own lawn?
If You Decide to Do It Yourself… Aerate during the peak of your lawn’s growing season. Cool-season grasses such as Kentucky bluegrass should be aerated in the spring, and early fall, but warm-season grasses such as St. Augustinegrass need aerating in the late spring or early summer.
Can I use a pitchfork to aerate my lawn?
You can aerate a lawn with many different tools. The most inexpensive way is with a pitchfork or spading fork. This tool is most useful for aerating smaller areas. Simply punch holes as deep as possible in the turf layer and then rock the fork to enlarge the holes.
How long does it take to manually aerate lawn?
Rolling Aerator: Rolling aerators should take about 30 minutes to 1 hour to aerate a lawn.
How much does an aerator machine cost?
Renting a core aerator machine will cost you about $60 for four hours or $90 for the whole day, according to Home Depot.
Can I use a drill to aerate my lawn?
This soil auger is just the perfect width and length for boring holes in my garden for aeration and fertilization. I spread compost on the area where I want to enrich the soil and then, using a hand drill, I bore holes into the ground. This mixes the compost into the existing soil and provides aeration of the soil too.
What can I use if I don’t have an aerator?
If you don’t have a special machine for aerating the lawn, then your easiest option might be to use a rake, fork, or tine for aeration instead. Using a tine means you push spikes a few inches into your soil in various areas.
How much does it cost to rent a lawn aerator?
The national average of aeration services is approximately $125 for a midsize yard. However, you can find services for small yard for less than $50, and aerator rentals for $60 to $75.
What is the best month to aerate my lawn?
When to Aerate Your Lawn You want to aerate the lawn when your grass is in its peak growing period so it can recover quickly—think early spring or fall for cool-season grasses, and late spring through early summer for warm-season grasses.
What happens if you don’t aerate your lawn?
1 Aeration creates holes down into the soil to alleviate compaction so air, water and nutrients can reach grass roots. Deprived of their basic needs by compacted soil, lawn grasses struggle in stressful situations, such as heat and low rainfall, and lose their healthy, rich color.
What tool do you use to aerate your lawn?
Two main aerating tools exist — a spike aerator and a plug aerator. With a spike aerator, you simply use the tool to poke holes into the ground with a solid tine, or fork. Plug aerators remove a core or plug of grass and soil from the lawn.
Can I aerate in the spring?
We recommend you aerate your lawn once per year. If you have a warm-season grass, you should aerate now (early spring) as temperatures start to rise. Aeration is necessary for the growth and health of your lawn. It pokes holes in your grass allowing oxygen, water, and nutrients to get down into the soil.
How deep should you aerate your lawn?
The holes are typically 1.5 to 6 inches deep (more on what depth we recommend below) and the holes are 2 to 5 inches apart. So, what exactly does aeration do? It allows for air circulation at the root level of your lawn. This provides the optimal soil condition for healthy grass and growth.
Can you buy an aerator?
A handheld aerator is much easier to store and can get into tight places where a tow-behind aerator cannot go. Yard Butler offers both plug (core) and spike handheld aerators. The plug type has two tines that will penetrate up to 3.5-inches. The spike aerator has four 3-inch spikes.
How much does TruGreen aeration cost?
How much does TruGreen Aeration cost? The TruGreen aeration costs anywhere from $200 to $450, depending on fertilization and the lawn size. You often need a maximum of one or two aerations per year, and sometimes, you don’t need to aerate at all. If you have a small size yard, you can do the aeration yourself.
How do you aerate hard soil?
Loosening compacted soil can be done in a number of ways. For larger lawns, you can use a core aerator, a gas-powered machine that will remove small plugs of soil from the ground. It can also be done manually with a manual core aerator which has a handle and a foot bar with several hollow tines or spikes attached.
How do I aerate my lawn with a screwdriver?
The screwdriver test is an easy way to test the moisture level of your soil. Just stick a screwdriver into the ground all they and pull it out. If there is soil stuck to it that means the soil is moist, if it’s clean or it was hard to push through then your soil could stand to be aerated.
