So, you want to know what to do after lawn aeration? Are You looking for some proven tips to get the most out of the aeration? Your lawn is like you. It grows and breathes like humans. If you want to boost the appearance of your lawn and home exterior, you need to focus on regular maintenance rather than one of treatments.
Here is where aeration comes in. I have come across many people who seem concerned about the aeration process. They do not know why it is needed and what should be the aftercare to maximize the benefits.
Aeration is a process that enables you to remove small plugs of soil from your lawn. The objective of lawn aeration is to make your lawn healthy and thicker.
When your lawn gets trampled on it can make the soil become compacted. As a result, fertilizers, water, and other nutrients cannot be absorbed properly into the soil. The result is obvious. When the soil does not get the proper nutrients and other required things it needs for growth, your lawn will not look healthy.
Aeration will fix this problem. It will improve the soil quality and that will ultimately contribute to a healthier and more beautiful lawn.
In addition to aeration, you will have to take extra care when watering and seeding. After you aerate it is the best period for seeding. You must plant additional grass seeds after the aeration to enhance the look of your lawn.
After Aeration, You should focus on watering as well as seeding to grow a healthier and more beautiful lawn. This is the best time to sow seeds that will fill the bare spots and make your grass thicker and lusher. You should also avoid mowing your lawn for at least a week after you aerate.
Check out my full article on aerating your lawn with a garden fork.
Are you still a bit confused? Do you want some proven ways to boost productivity after aeration? If yes, then read on, and ill make it simple and clear for you.
How To Take Care Of Your Lawn After Aeration
We all want to have a healthy, eye-catching, and thicker lawn. If you have already aerated your lawn then well done that is half the battle. However, you have to take action after the aeration process to achieve the maximum benefit to your lawn.
In this article, I am going to help you with some proven tips that I have applied many times to transform the look of my lawn.
These simple steps can maximize the benefits of aeration significantly.
Apply Fertilizer
Fertilizers have a great role to play in the maintenance and health of your lawn. However, you have to choose the right time to use the fertilizer.
From my experience, I can say that the best time to apply the fertilizer is after aeration. Check out my article on the best fertilizer spreaders to achieve an even spread.
Once the aeration process is done, you should apply the fertilizer immediately. If you do so, you can easily get nutrients to the roots of your lawn where they normally can’t get down to.
Fertilizing your grass is always a good thing and it will help it become more able to survive any periods of drought and make it more resistant to disease. Also, fertilizing can be helpful to prevent weed as thriving grass will not leave any room for weeds to start growing in.
So, make it a rule and apply fertilizer after aerating. It will make your lawn beautiful and thicker and will make the grass strong enough to survive in a wide range of harsh weather conditions.
Water The Lawn
In addition to fertilizing, you will have to focus on watering after you aerate. I’ve got a full article on lawn sprinkler systems you should check out!
Watering after aeration means you will most definitely have to heavily water your lawn so the water reaches down to the deep root area of your grass. The grass roots need both water and fertilizer to ensure your lawn keeps growing healthy so there is no better time to achieve this than after aerating.
Deep yet infrequent watering will encourage the roots to grow deeper and this will in turn make the grass stronger and thicker. Heavy watering will also prepare your lawn to be tolerant of any adverse conditions such as drought.
Your lawn will need heavy watering after the aeration. But you will have to make it infrequent and it’s better to deeply water your lawn a few times per week rather than lightly watering it every day.
If you water too frequently you can weaken the root system as it will start to grow towards the surface to search for water rather than growing down and deep which is what you want for a healthy lawn.
Check out my article on the watering grass in the sun can burn it myth.
Overseed
With fertilizing and watering, you should also overseed your lawn after you aerate it.
Reseeding is required especially in any places that have bare or thinning grass. You should do it immediately once the aeration process is complete.
All you need to do is to sprinkle seeds on your existing lawn, you do not need to tear up the soil or grass. The holes that will be opened up during the aeration can be the perfect place for seeds to germinate but don’t worry about getting seeds down the holes just spread the seeds evenly on your lawn.
However, you will have to choose the right time for aeration so that seeds will get a favorable environment for growth.
You should choose the time before the growing season.
If you aerate and overseed before the growing season, you can expect a healthy and thick lawn. This will mean there will be no space for the weeds to take over as well.
After aeration, you should leave the sod and dirt alone, you should also leave your lawn grass alone for one month after seeding. By doing so, you will create a favorable environment for seeds to germinate and grow without any intervention.
Now you are aware of the things that you should after aeration. Next, I will cover some other important aspects that will help you to choose the right time and frequency for the aeration.
Keep reading to learn more about aeration, healing, seeding, and a few other things.
Check out my full article on the best time to aerate depending on your grass variety.
Which Is Better Spike Or Plug Aerator?
This is a good question and it depends what your point of view is as both have advantages and disadvantages.
The most important thing is that you do actually use an aerator on your lawn.
What type you use is actually less important although a core aerator will do a better job at relieving soil compaction. So let us take a look at the differences:
Spike Aerator
- Spike aerators are the least expensive option.
- You can even get models that attach to shoes.
- Will benefit the health of your lawn.
- Probably won’t help much with soil compaction in the long term.
Core Aerator
- Some core aerator models are expensive to buy.
- Professionals use core aerators for a good reason.
- Will do an excellent job at reducing soil compaction.
- The cores you pull out will eventually fertilize your lawn.
If you are looking for a long term solution to soil compaction or drainage issues and you have a decent budget you should go for a core aerator as they will do a better job. If you have a limited budget you should go for a spike aerator, it will not do as proficient of a job but it will still provide benefit to the health of your lawn.
Should You Pick Up Plugs After Aerating?
When you use a core aerator it will pull cores out of your lawn, they look just like little apple cores.
Although the cores may look untidy on your lawn and you may be tempted to go around your yard and pick them up, that would be a bad idea, leave them where they are.
When you leave the cores on your lawn they will eventually dry out and then the next time you mow your lawn they will be blasted into near dust and this dusty soil will act as an organic fertilizer. The little cores produced from core aeration will be full of organic material and that stuff is great for lawns which is why you should never remove them.
When you mow over the cores yes some of the soil may go down the holes you created from aeration and that is fine and won’t add to any compaction issues but will help add nutrients back into your lawn.
How Soon After Aeration Should You Seed?
From the above, you should now understand that you should overseed our lawn after aerating.
But what is the exact time for overseeding? Should we do it immediately? Do you need to wait for a couple of days to start seeding?
Many people have this confusion and this is why they do not get the maximum benefits that aerating your lawn can provide. You should not wait even forty-eight hours for overseeding your lawn.
You need to complete seeding, fertilizing, and even watering within forty-eight hours.
If you follow all these procedures soon after the aeration, you can expect to achieve the maximum benefits. Water, fertilizer, and seeds can set into the holes and deep down to where it is needed most which will ensure the proper growth of your lawn.
Is There A Bad Time To Aerate Your Lawn?
As stated earlier, the best time to aerate a lawn is before the growing season.
The growing season will vary depending on the grass. For cool-season grass, spring and fall will be the best seasons. For the warm season grass, you should choose late fall. You should never choose any other season to aerate your lawn unless there is some sort of emergency.
If your lawn is suffering from flooding then it is best to aerate it no matter what time of year it is.
Also, the worst season will vary depending on the grass type.
- For warm-season grass, late summer to early fall will be the worst time to aerate.
- For cool-season grass, it is early winter that would be the worst time to aerate.
You will have to give seeds at least six weeks to germinate before the winter weather arrives.
If the growing season has passed, it is better to wait for the next growing season instead of choosing the wrong time to carry out the work.
You should always choose the growing season since it creates a favorable environment for seeds to grow properly. They can access water, fertilizer, and other nutrients and can grow into a thicker lawn.
Check out my full article on how often you should aerate.
Can You Aerate Too Much?
It is possible to aerate your lawn too often.
It really all depends on the soil under your lawn and the type of grass you have. If you have clay soil under your lawn then you may have to aerate it twice per year to help with drainage issues but if you have sandy soil you may only need to aerate every second year.
The condition of the grass on your lawn will also be a determining factor on how often you should aerate.
If your lawn is thick with grass you may want to aerate it more often than if your lawn has thinner grass. When you aerate, it will cause the grass to become stressed so you shouldn’t just do it for the sake of it you should only aerate your lawn when it actually needs aeration.
When you do aerate too often and your grass becomes stressed it is more likely to suffer from any droughts or become infested with pests or disease.
How Long Does Aeration Take To Heal?
It will take around two weeks for your lawn to heal after aeration.
You could say that it will take two weeks before you start to notice any significant improvement in your lawn. For complete healing, it might take two to five weeks. Here again, the grass type and overall health of your lawn will play a role in how long it takes for your lawn to completely heal.
Can You Mow Your Lawn After Aeration?
No, you will have to avoid mowing for a while after the aeration.
You will need to avoid it for at least a week so that it has time to settle. You should water your lawn before aerating since the aeration is considered the most effective in moist soil conditions. Make the soil slightly moist to maximize the benefits of aeration and to make the process easy as well.
Conclusion
From the above, you have hopefully learned what to do after lawn aeration to achieve maximum benefit from the process and how long it will take for your lawn to heal.
If you are planning to aerate your lawn, you should always choose the best time of the year for maximum benefit. Otherwise, you may not see the desired outcome and it could feel like a waste of time.
Also, follow all the tips given above and you can definitely boost the curb appeal of your lawn. Always water, fertilize, and overseed as soon as you can after aerating. But you do definitely need to avoid mowing for around a week.
