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Lawn Care and Thatching: Aeration, Good Maintenance Are Key To Control

November 27th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

Many people interested in lawn care aren’t familiar with thatching; or know why they might need to be concerned. Thatch is a layer of living and dead organic matter that accumulates on top of the soil, just beneath the grass.

Thatch is mostly made up of living turfgrass stems and roots, and decaying or dead grass and debris in the process of breaking down and becoming part of the soil. Grass continually renews itself and thatch is a normal part of that renewal process. It’s not unusual for a yard to have thatch. The older and more established a lawn is, the more likely it has thatch to some degree. Some thatching can be beneficial as it insulates lawn roots from extreme cold in winter and excessive moisture loss in summer. But sometimes, due to environmental factors or improper lawn care practices, thatch accumulates faster than the dead matter can breakdown and become soil. Excessive thatch (more than 1/2 inch thick) encourages pests and disease, discourages healthy grass rooting, and can interfere with some lawn care practices.

Lawn care can have a major impact on thatching. For example, excessive nitrogen fertilizer applications or frequent overwatering can contribute to thatch, because they cause the lawn to grow too fast. Some people mistakenly blame grass clippings dropped on the lawn after mowing as a cause of thatch buildup. Clippings are very high in water content and breakdown rapidly when returned to lawns after mowing, actually helping reduce thatch. This assumes lawns are properly mowed on a regular basis (not removing more than one-third of the leaf blade at a time) at the correct height.

Environmental factors that contribute to thatching include heavy, wet soils; alkaline, or high pH soils; and soil compaction.  Kentucky bluegrass, hybrid Bermuda and Zoysia are notably prone to thatching.

Lawn Care Aeration and Thatching

If thatch levels accumulate to more than 1/2″ lawn problems may occur and the thatch will have to be controlled.  You could use a garden rake - those with metal or steel tines - or a special dethatching rake to scrape out the thatch, but you risk tearing out live grass roots with it.  Core aerating helps degrade thatch and also helps solve some of the causes of thatch. Core aeration followed by topdressing with compost will generally correct the reasons thatch is accumulating. Lawn care aeration slows thatching by pulling soil cores to the surface that, when left on the ground, act like topdressing. The holes created alleviate problems such as compaction or poor drainage. Topdressing is simply adding a thin layer (1/8″ to 1/4″) of good rich soil, such as mature compost, over the lawn and gently raking it down into the thatch. This adds beneficial microorganisms to speed thatch breakdown.

With proper lawn care, thatching is nothing to be overly concerned about…when you know exactly what to do.

General Information About Lawn Care Aeration

November 18th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

Seems aeration is a big mystery in lawn care.  When to aerate a yard and how are question on a lot of home owners’ minds.  So let’s review some general information about lawn care aeration, because when done right aeration is one of the best things you can do to keep your yard healthy and green.

What Is Lawn Care Aeration?

Proper aeration involves cutting small thin plugs of soil (cores) out of the lawn. You are punching holes into the soil to allow nutrients, air and water to reach the grass’ roots.

Why Aerate?

As lawns age and/or are subjected to heavy foot traffic and use from pets, play, or vehicle parking, the soil becomes compacted.  This compaction reduces the soil’s ability to hold air, and absorb water and nutrients. Drainage may become poor. The lawn’s roots need air to grow; compaction effectively suffocates and starves those roots resulting in weak grass growth and eventually bare spots. Aerating can improve lawn soil drainage, increase the soil’s water, fertilizer and oxygen intake; and encourages strong root growth.

Now with this general information about lawn care aeration you may well ask if you need to aerate.  You may want to aerate if:

• the lawn is heavily used or driven on regularly,
• you have heavy clay soil; or
• your lawn’s thatch layer is more than 1/2″.  Thatch is a brown mat of living and dead roots and stems on the soil surface, just under the grass. Accumulations over 1/2″ deep keep nutrients, air and water from roots.

Lawns that don’t get a lot of foot traffic or use likely don’t need aerating.  Newly seeded or sodded lawns should not be aerated at all the first year.

For Great DIY Lawn Care, Know When to Aerate

When should you aerate? Generally, just as the lawn is coming into its period of rapid growth.  For cool season lawns, it’s best done late August into mid-September. Warm season lawns get the most benefit from aeration during May and June. Clay soils, because of their density, compact easily and may need more frequent aeration; perhaps twice a year.  Don’t aerate in the middle of summer’s heat. You may lose what little valuable soil moisture you have to evaporation and kill the grass.

Choose the Right Aerator

Any general information about lawn care aeration must include a discussion of the proper tools. Aerators come in manual and mechanical versions.  Manual aerators require a lot of exertion to operate.  The best and most effective are the machine-driven core aerators which remove cores of soil and deposit them on the yard. Aerators that push spikes or tines into the soil without removing a plug are not as effective nor recommended because they can contribute to and worsen soil compaction.  Don’t waste money on the so-called aerator shoes.  You can rent an aerator at many garden or tool rental centers.  Make sure the rental center thoroughly explains the operation of the aerator to you before you bring it home.

Tips for Lawn Care Aeration

• Soil should be moist, not soggy.  If the soil is dry, run 1″ of water on the lawn two days before aerating.  Moist soil allows the tines to penetrate better and the cores to fall out easily. Wet, soggy soil will jam the tines and the yard will be even more compacted.
• Mark sprinkler heads and any shallow sprinkler lines, underground utilities, cable and septic lines to avoid puncture damage.
• Leave cores on the lawn surface. They’ll be reabsorbed in 2-3 weeks.  This helps to break down any thatch.
• You can fertilize and/or reseed immediately if you want.  It’ll be very effective.

Armed with this general information about lawn care aeration, you can now aerate like a pro.  Your yard will thank you!

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