aerating & plugging

Aerating Diagram
Aerating is one of the most important and economical things that you can have done to your lawn!
Aerating or plugging can be done in the Spring or early Fall. Aerating provides many benefits including, less soil compaction, less watering needed, better fertilizer absorption, and encourages deeper root growth which makes the grass much more durable and drought resistant. To give your lawn a huge boost and jump start in the spring, we highly recommend overseeding and starter fertilizer along with our aeration service. The overseeding greatly thickens the lawn and the starter fertilizer provides all the nutrients needed for strong root growth and quick green up!
What equipment do we use to aerate your lawn?
On most lawns, we use our top of the line ride on aerator with up to 1200lbs of down pressure to ensure that deep plugs are pulled and gives the best benefit to your lawn. On certain lawns or tight areas we may use a quality walk behind aerator that still provides excellent results.
Why not rent an aerator and do this myself?
Probably the biggest reason is the cost. For not much more than renting a walk behind aerator, transporting it to your home, loading and unlading it, re-fueling the unit, and transporting it back to the rental store, we can use our professional ride on unit that in most instances provides much more superior results. Also, running a walk behind aerator can be back breaking and dangerous work especially for an inexperienced operator. If you do decide to rent an aerator and try this task for yourself, be sure to rent an aerator that actually pulls plugs of grass from the ground and doesn't just poke holes in the ground. The versions of aerators that simply poke holes in the ground don't provide professional results and can compact the lawn further instead of reducing soil compaction.
How do I prepare to have my lawn aerated?
All we need from you is to mark any sprinkler heads or boxes in your lawn with flags "we can provide the flags for you if you don't have any" as well as mark any other obstacles that can damage the aerator or be damaged by the aerator. Cutting Edge is not responsible for broken sprinkler heads or other objects that are not properly marked by the homeowner.

WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND OVERSEEDING AND STARTER FERTILIZER APPLICATION WITH OUR AERATION SERVICE. This will help thicken the lawn and the starter fertilizer gives the existing and new grass seed the nutrients needed to grow a strong root system.

 

Aerating
Here are some more "Frequently Asked Questions" about Aerating & Plugging.
1. Reduces your dependency on water. Why spend more money watering your lawn than you have to? In neighborhoods or cities where water is very expensive, nearly everyone will aerate their lawn.

2. Aerating encourages your roots to grow deeper. Within two weeks of aerating, you’ll notice that the holes left by the aerator start to fill up with plant roots. These roots are growing thicker and deeper.

3. Lawn Aerator holes help to absorb water. Rather than water having to start penetrating from the surface, it can start penetrating from one to 2 ½ inches below the surface. Not only will the holes made by the aerator hold the water, but they will also help the water to sink 2 inches deeper into the soil.

4. It also encourages thicker turf. As your roots grow down, your grass will grow quicker and thicker, creating a thicker turf.

5. Using a lawn aerator helps build organic material in the soil. Compacted soil just doesn’t have nearly as much organic material in it.

6. Reduces soil compaction. Aerating also reduces compaction on the roots.

7. Aerating your lawn can save you money. By not having to water your lawn as often in the summer when water is the most expensive, you can save money.

8. Your lawn stays greener because it doesn’t need as much water to stay green, and because deeper roots have more access to nutrients.

9. Aerating your lawn helps out with over seeding it. It makes it a lot easier to seed your lawn if you have holes for the seeds to fall into, and you have plugs on the surface to help them germinate.

10. Aerating makes your lawn more durable and resistant to foot traffic. This is one of the most important reasons why they aerate lawns on golf courses.

11. Lawn aeration reduces runoff. If you’ve ever watered your lawn, only to see it all go off into the street, you know exactly what I’m talking about. When you aerate your lawn, the water goes into the ground and not just over the top of it.

12. Lawn aeration can prevent compaction. Clay soil tend get more compacted, especially during the summer. Lawn aeration can prevent this compaction from damaging your root system.

13. Aerating increases the effectiveness of fertilizers. Fertilizing right after you aerate your lawn is the best way for you to get good penetration. This allows the fertilizer to go where it needs to go, and not just sit on the surface of your grass.

14. Lawn aeration allows your lawn to breathe. Your lawn can more readily exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide with the environment when you aerate it.

15. Aerating will help to prevent grubs from destroying your lawn. First of all, it helps to strengthen the root system which is the first thing that gets attacked by grubs, and secondly, it helps to break down thatch where grubs typically hide.

16. It helps to prevent lawn disease. When water sits on top of your lawn for long periods of time, it can easily develop a lawn disease or fungus. When you aerate, you make it easier for water to penetrate and not just sit on top of the surface of the soil. This reduces the chances of getting lawn disease.

17. A thick lawn is more resistant to weeds. Using a lawn aerator also helps to prevent weeds. Aeration creates a healthier, thicker, fuller lawn that can crowd out the weeds!

18. When you aerate your lawn it can help repair bad patches in your lawn. With compacted soil, your roots will only grow very shallow. When you aerate your soil, your roots will grow down 3 to 6 inches underneath the soil. The deeper and stronger the grass roots grow, the better the visible grass will look.

19. Aerating can repair empty or thinning spaces in your lawn. Aerate the lawn thoroughly and then overseed heavily and apply starter fertilizer, this will thicken the entire lawn and help fill in the bare spots quickly. Be sure to water daily for the first 3 weeks and DO NOT apply crabgrass preventer as this will prevent germination of the grass seed.

20. When you aerate the lawn it stays greener longer. Rather than having your grass go dormant when the temperatures get hot and the rains slow down, aerating can help to keep the grass greener longer. Lawns with healthy root systems tend to do better in times of drought and stress. Of course, in times of long drought, all lawns will go dormant unless they are properly watered.