Aeration
The goal of aerating a lawn is to get more oxygen, water and nutrients into the root zone. Improving the aeration within the soil is especially beneficial to lawns that are growing in clay or compacted soils.
The benefits of liquid aeration:
- → Creates fractures within the soil allowing for deeper penetration of water; roots will in turn follow, making nutrients available that were previously unreachable by the plant.
- → Can be done anytime during the growing season.
- → Covers the entire lawn.
- → There is no need to mark sprinkler heads, invisible fences or cable lines.
What is Humic Acid?
Humic acid is a natural soil conditioner that acts as an organic chelator and microbial stimulator. It has a unique carbon matrix which includes a high concentration of trace minerals and organic acids. Humic acid enhances the plant’s ability to take in essential nutrients and improves soil structure.
Proven Humic Acid benefits
- → Increases soil carbon
- → Improves germination and viability of seeds
- → Chelates macro and micro nutrients to increase availability to the plant for a longer period of time
- → Increases cation exchange capacity (CEC)
- Improves soil structure for better aeration and water movement
- → Stimulates beneficial microorganisms, which can improve long-term soil pHC
Aeration is such a crucial and important service to have preformed on your lawn to help keep your soil healthy. Here are some reasons on why it’s so important to aerate:
Reduces Soil Compaction
When soil, especially clay soil, becomes compacted the grass has difficulty developing deep roots in it leaving it susceptible to drought stress because of the shallow roots.
Reduces Thatch Build-up
The plugs of soil pulled up from the lawn during aeration contain microscopic microbes that feed on thatch and break it down to a healthy level. It’s like a little topdressing or like re-potting a house plant that sparks up the life again.
Allows deeper water penetration
With the soil less compact the water from rain or a sprinkler will penetrate deeper and reduce the run-off that can happen. Deeper water – deeper roots and healthier, stronger turf.
Allows more air in the soil
Grass roots with air will drown. That’s why over watering lawns will lead to Blue Grass die-back and promote Bentgrass to take over in patches. Even the grass roots need air so aeration improves this and also leads us back to one deep soak for watering each week as the best watering practice (see above).
Allows fertilizer to reach the roots more easily
This is where the fertilizer is absorbed, and it also stays put there and won’t run off when watering if the soil is not compacted.
When should we have the lawn aerated?
We recommend early fall for aeration. This is the time of year where we receive the most consistent cool damp weather, here in Ottawa. Springs here can go from -20 and 2 feet of snow to plus 20 and dry as a whale bone. Also, there is a lot of other work to do in the spring so why track all those dirty cores around and into your house when you should be out planting flowers or shaking off those winter cabin fever blues.