What is aeration?
Aeration, or core cultivation, is one method of standard lawn care. When referring to landscaping and round maintenance, lawn aeration describes the process of infusing the soil with air. It is a contractor technique often used to aid in maintaining and improving lawns by improving the lawn’s appearance, stability, and its ability to absorb water from irrigation. To aerate a lawn means not only to supply the soil with air by poking holes in the ground throughout the lawn using an aerator, but to reduce overall soil compaction and help control thatch in lawns while simultaneously helping water and fertilizer move into the root zone.
Aeration is most effective when actual cores or plugs of soil are pulled from the lawn. This is done by a specific machine which takes small cylinders of soil out of the lawn, allowing the soil to receive more air as well as becoming much looser when it fills the empty space, allowing more robust root growth promoting healthier and stronger grass roots. The holes themselves should be two to three inches deep and no more than two to four inches apart. Due to the many holes and the nature of most soil, lawns should also be thoroughly watered the day before aerating so plugs can be pulled more deeply and easily. Before aeration can safely begin, be sure to mark all sprinkler heads, shallow irrigation lines, and cable TV lines before aerating so those lines will not be damaged.
If you have thatch on your lawn, it is important to leave the cores on the lawn which
allows them to work back into the grass. On other lawns the cores may be removed or
left on the lawn. The leftover cores will not harm the grass, but they may be removed if
desired. You may also want to fertilize your lawn immediately after aeration to increase
lawn health and growth.