The Benefits of Aeration to Your Landscaping
After all of your summer barbecues and kids running through the sprinklers, your lawn may look unhealthy. Its soil could be compacted or exhibiting excessive thatch buildup.
Experts on Utah County landscaping, aerating your lawn alleviates soil compaction and opens the way for air, water, and fertilizer to reach grass roots. Aerating regularly throughout the year helps prevent stress, disease, and weeds.
Reduces Soil Compaction
The more tightly packed together soil particles are, the less likely it is that water and oxygen can flow through the soil. That’s why soil compaction is such a problem. It inhibits root growth, prevents the absorption of nutrients and starves crops.
Soil compaction is caused by heavy equipment, frequent foot traffic, the movement of lawn mowers and other machinery and excessive rainfall or irrigation. Compacted soils can also be caused by improper site selection or design, especially in commercial properties that have many trees and shrubs close to buildings, sidewalks and driveways.
Essentially, soil compaction is like living in a tight, overcrowded house. The walls are too thick, there’s not enough air, and it’s difficult to move around. The same is true for your yard soil – when there’s too much pressure on the earth, it loses its structure and becomes compacted.
Aeration is the key to breaking up this pressure and restoring soil health. The process of aeration involves punching holes in your soil, which helps to relieve the stress on your soil and grass. The resulting small “plugs” are then broken down by soil microbes and other organisms, which creates pore space in the soil.
As water and oxygen move through the pore space, it can absorb more of the nutrients and moisture needed by your turf. It also helps to reduce the risk of nutrient deficiencies that manifest as discolored leaves and stunted growth.
Aerated soil also allows nutrients to penetrate deeper into the root zone of your grass. When this occurs, your fertilization and ongoing watering programs are more effective in promoting a healthy turf. In addition, aerated soil increases the amount of carbon dioxide in the root zone, which encourages aerobic earth-dwelling microorganisms and oxidation – all of which contribute to healthy plant roots and a healthier crop. With better roots, plants and trees are more resistant to disease, insects, weeds, heat and cold, and other stresses that may damage or even kill them when the roots are too crowded in compacted, hard soil. This leads to a reduced need for replanting and replacement, which can cut your landscape costs significantly.
Reduces Weeds
Crabgrass and other weeds thrive in lawns that are stressed, worn out or overgrown. Aeration can significantly reduce the number of weeds by opening up the soil to water and nutrients. When performed correctly, overseeding after aeration can further prevent the growth of weeds. The best time of year for aerating and overseeding is in the fall for cool-season grasses like tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass, and in spring or summer for warm-season grasses such as bermudagrass and zoysiagrass.
Aeration also helps reduce thatch, a layer of organic dead and living shoots, stems and roots that accumulates faster than it can break down. Over time, excessive thatch will block out sunlight, depriving the grass of vital resources. Aerating removes thatch and encourages grass seed germination by allowing air, moisture and fertilizer to penetrate the soil.
If you have a lot of thatch, it’s a good idea to aerate your yard twice per year. Doing this on a regular basis will reduce thatch build-up and prevent the development of weeds.
Some people have a love/hate relationship with aeration because of the small holes left behind in their lawns, but it is important to remember that these are beneficial for your lawn. The small holes are filled with roots, a sign that the aeration process is working its magic.
Fertilizer that is absorbed quickly in well-aerated soil will have a better chance of being utilized by the roots of your trees and shrubs as well. This is because the soil has more pore space. In contrast, poorly aerated soils tend to have high levels of salts (sulfate and hydrogen sulfide) that are toxic to plants.
It’s best to avoid pre-emergent herbicide applications after aerating, because if the soil is disturbed it will lessen the chemical barrier that prevents weeds from germinating. Instead, aerate your yard in the fall before applying a pre-emergent herbicide. This will ensure that your weed treatment works properly and that the grass seed you’re planting can get a good start in the spring. Then, you can have a lush lawn that will compete effectively against any weeds that may try to take hold in the summer.
Increases Water Absorption
If you have soil that feels stiff and compacted, aerating can help. The tines used for aeration puncture the ground breaking up compacted soil and creating holes that allow water, air and nutrients to penetrate more easily. If you have a lawn with sparse growth, it could be due to thatch build up, which can be aided by regular aeration.
When done correctly, aeration provides the perfect balance of all natural elements needed for a healthy ecosystem balance. If this balance is disrupted, evidence shows up in sludge-filled lakes and rivers, and sick or dying species connected to those bodies of water. Aeration is an essential part of this process and can greatly speed it up, allowing the natural elements to restore their healthy ecosystem balance.
Aeration allows the water to be infused with oxygen and can be accomplished using either water-to-air or air-to-water methods. Both types of aerators allow water to fall through the air as it is pumped through the system. This allows the water to come into contact with atmospheric oxygen, oxidizing organic matter and other metals including iron and manganese. This helps to reduce the foul smell and taste that can be associated with these contaminants, which is why many wastewater treatment plants use this method of aeration.
The aeration process also promotes microbial decomposition of organic compounds in the water such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), metallic components, and ammonia and hydrogen sulfide. This process is known as biological phosphorus removal or BPR. It is a vital step in purifying drinking water as well as wastewater before it is released back into the environment.
Aeration also enhances nutrient uptake by loosening the soil and increasing root penetration. The holes created by core aeration allow nutrients to move more freely throughout the soil, which leads to a more even distribution of moisture to the roots of your grass. It also encourages deeper root systems, which are more drought tolerant and healthier long term than shallower roots. This process is also effective in reducing thatch, which can develop into a layer of dead grass that prevents water and nutrient penetration, as well as promoting new seed germination and turf establishment.
Increases Root Growth
Your lawn’s roots need air, water and nutrients to grow long and strong. But the soil can get compacted over time and prevent these elements from reaching the roots. This results in thin, weak turf. Aeration helps loosen the soil, which allows air and water to penetrate to the root zone. It also aids in breaking up thatch, a layer of organic material that inhibits the growth of roots and can rob your lawn of important rainwater and nutrients.
Aeration increases the rate of plant nutrient uptake and makes the soil more favorable for optimal agronomic practices, such as crop cultivation, fertilizer application, irrigation and harvesting. When aeration is performed regularly, it ensures that the necessary mineral soil nutrients are delivered to the crops’ rhizosphere where they can be most effectively absorbed.
Moreover, aeration can help reduce crop susceptibility to disease and improve the uptake of nutrients by enhancing the permeability of the soil. For example, the uptake of iron and manganese in well-aerated soil is more efficient than in poorly-aerated soils. In addition, aerated soils can decrease the amount of soluble salts in the soil that are toxic to plants.
In the study, the crop yield, root surface area, root volume and root fork number were positively correlated with soil aeration index. The aeration index showed the strongest correlation with the apparent index of root growth, which indicates that aeration promotes the physiological and metabolic activities of the roots that promote nutrient uptake and utilization in crops.
Aeration can also improve the performance of other agronomic treatments, such as fungicides and herbicides. Soil aeration can allow these treatments to reach the roots more easily, which leads to better outcomes and lower costs. Aeration also improves the efficiency of soil amendments, such as compost, which can be more readily absorbed by the roots. And because aeration improves soil structure, it can reduce the need for chemical fertilizers, which also reduces the environmental impacts of these chemicals.
After all of your summer barbecues and kids running through the sprinklers, your lawn may look unhealthy. Its soil could be compacted or exhibiting excessive thatch buildup. Experts on Utah County landscaping, aerating your lawn alleviates soil compaction and opens the way for air, water, and fertilizer to reach grass roots. Aerating regularly throughout the year…