professional lawn maintenance folks all offer lawn aeration as one of their services. It doesn’t seem to me like pulling a plug of soil every foot or so would make much difference, but then again my yard looks like shit, so my opinions on these things probably shouldn’t be trusted. OTOH, the folks who offer these services get paid for it, so I’m suspicious of their pitch as well.
So what’s the straight dope on lawn aeration? Is it truly as beneficial as the service providers claim, or is it the “muffer drive belt” of lawn maintenance?
It’s the best thing you can do for your lawn. Better than any chemical you can pay for.
Lawns aren’t natural and one of their biggest issues is that they have shallow root systems and are prone to both thatch and compacted soil. Aeration allows spaces for water, oxygen and nutrients to reach the roots.
I can only report that my mom’s lawn does look better (well, after the dog turd looking clumps have disintegrated) when she gets it aerated. She doesn’t do any of the other chemical intensive lawn care stuff, just a little low tech fertilizer twice a season, and she only does the aeration every few years when the lawn starts getting patchy, and it does seem to help.
Don’t know if there have been any actual studies on it, so take the anecdote for what it’s worth.
My research (from asking here) says that it’s a great thing to do in fall. Doing it in spring gives the weeds a great chance to take over.
My course of action is to aerate in fall, overseed in spring (which is easier then overseeding in fall since it rains so much you don’t need to water it).
We rent the equipment at the equipment rental store. With the cost split between the interested neighbors, it’s dirt cheap, and easy to do. I’m not bragging, but just dispelling the idea that it has to be profitable as a hard-sell service.
It’s a good thing to do if the ground has been packed down over time and looks thin because of it. Water runs off of it rather than soaking into it and new growth can not occur. It won’t do a thing for other lawn problems though like crabgrass, weeds, etc.
If your yard is compacted or you have a lot of clay, then yeah, it’ll definately be of great benefit. You can also do it with a soil pitchfork, provided the area’s not too large. I mention this option because having rented one of the motorized aerators before, they can be very heavy, hard to transport and a bear to run in your yard. Perhaps there’s smaller models but the one I rented was an absolute beast to handle.
How much do they cost to rent? It might be worth it to have someone do it for you. I pay about $50 to have mine done by a service once a year.
Don’t forget to factor in the cost of not having to lug the machine around, not having muddy feet or a sore back etc…
Your lawn, take a look at the thatch, the dead grass clippings at the base of the grass. If it’s like a mat covering everything, time to aerate/dethatch. If little or no matting, you should be good to go.
Cutting more ofter and leaving small clippings helps. The cuttings decompose faster. If you’re like me (shame), I tend to let things get a little too high between mowing and end up with having to rake up the excess.
Definitely beneficial based on commercial enterprise experience. Golf courses do it routinely for the greens. Improves the drainage and decreases thatch. Depending on the climate and type of grass, up to 4-5 times a year. The aeration machines have different diameters and depth punches for removing the plugs. For the small punchs, the greens are still good to putt on and completely “healed” in a week. The large diameter punches (more typical) require a sanding and raking of the greens and take two to three weeks to heal.
Fairways get an aeration as well typically yearly or as needed.
Joey P, probably $40 to $50. The way to come out ahead vs an aeration service is for 3 or 4 neighbors to go in together on one. Again though, the one I saw online from HD was 288 lbs and it’s not just the transport weight but steering and turning it that is a real workout.
I rented a de-thatcher once (not delivered) for $50.
There’s a difference. You can de-thatch with a power rake, but that’s labor intensive. The motorized power rake (I simply called it a de-thatcher at the rental store; unsure of its real name) is very easy to use.
Does this require a tractor? My yard is only 1/3 acre but the thatching is terrible. I don’t have a tractor and can’t stand the idea of doing it by hand with a rake.
They have de-thatching blades in the lawnmower sections of larger stores. It’s got a couple of arms pointed down mounted on springs. The springs are for when the arms contact something that’s immovable and allow the arms to swing out of the way temporarily. They tear up the lawn pretty good; looks like you’ve killed it but the grass comes back. You need to rake the lawn after to get up all the thatch that’s been tossed all over. Just putting the regular blade back on and using a bagger attachment works well if raking isn’t your thing.
We have a thatch rake, which is very effective on small areas - but also one of the most back-breaking, labor-intensive types of yardwork I’ve ever had the misfortune to do. If you have a dead spot that you want to clean out and reseed, though, it’s worth looking into.
No more work than mowing twice. And the results are great. I believe similar blades are made for lawn tractors, so the folks with big yards can play too.
I use a standard hard rake (i.e. not a leaf rake, but the one with rigid metal tines) and do it by hand. It’s less about the de-thatching and more about getting a workout. I figure that half an hour four times a week and I’ll have 1) dethatched my lawn by the end of summer and 2) saved the cost of a gym membership.
The experts have told me that dethatching should not be necessary if you keep the lawn mowed regularly and don’t let moss build up. However, I live in the Pacific Northwest, where the word “lawn” is often used to describe a large, flat patch of moss.
No, it’s a self-contained machine like a power mower. It runs on gasoline, and you push it back and forth like a power mower. Doing it by hand with a power rake (or “thatch rake” as said in another post) sucks. I’ve never done it, but I paid a company once to de-thatch my lawn thinking that they’d send a dude with a machine, and instead they sent some guy with a power rake. I hurt me to watch him work.
Totally on my shopping list! I’m going to look for this.
