# Spring aeration and overseeding



## GrassDaddy (Mar 21, 2017)

There is an obsession with people thinking their lawn needs to be aerated and overseeded every spring and fall. So much so that people recommend it without even knowing the type of lawn or how bad it is.

I did a video on it but essentially its unnecessary unless you actually need it. Sure do the aeration if you want but wait till the fall to seed!

https://youtu.be/rQ1qRul6mDM


----------



## Jersey Devil (Apr 5, 2017)

Thanks for the great video.
I chose to not core aerate this Spring because we just moved into this house last Summer, and to be honest I've such a problem with moss, bare spots, weeds, and clumped tall fescue that I've been working on establishing my soil for the most part. 
That being said, I decided to top dress and seed today though. 
While seeding in Spring seems to be quite controversial, what are your thoughts on top dressing?
Thanks again!


----------



## GrassDaddy (Mar 21, 2017)

I prefer peat moss for top dressing. Easy to spread around and the color change when it goes dry is easy to know it needs more water!

I'll be doing spring seeding myself, it can be done. When you have little good lawn then IMO it makes sense to seed now and get the ball rolling. But a lot of people have decent lawns that just need fertilizer so skipping pre-em, seeding and aerating makes it worse =P


----------



## Jersey Devil (Apr 5, 2017)

GrassDaddy said:


> I prefer peat moss for top dressing. Easy to spread around and the color change when it goes dry is easy to know it needs more water!
> 
> I'll be doing spring seeding myself, it can be done. When you have little good lawn then IMO it makes sense to seed now and get the ball rolling. But a lot of people have decent lawns that just need fertilizer so skipping pre-em, seeding and aerating makes it worse =P


I just did this today. So as to not repeat myself, please see my latest post here: http://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=91

I hope I can salvage something from the aftermath of the  storms......... :evil:


----------



## Jersey_James (Jun 4, 2017)

We just bought our house in January and finally got the irrigation system commissioned a couple weeks back. While working the lawn, I've noticed a few of the irrigation pipes are sitting near or on the surface of the grass.

Has anyone ever dealt with shallow irrigation pipes when core aerating? I'd really prefer to not low-crawl my lawn with a screw driver for hours.

Also, how deep does the core aerator dig? E.g. is there a safe depth that I could confirm that pipes won't get clobbered this fall?


----------



## LIgrass (May 26, 2017)

They usually pull ~4" cores. You will have to move/replace those pipes if you want to core aerate. I would dig and place them lower anyway as nothing (good) will grow with a pipe near the surface. You need at least 6"-12" for the root zone to thrive.


----------



## GrassDaddy (Mar 21, 2017)

Yeah the pipe should be a foot below ground. Very odd for it to be that shallow.


----------



## Mightyquinn (Jan 31, 2017)

GrassDaddy said:


> Yeah the pipe should be a foot below ground. Very odd for it to be that shallow.


That is VERY odd, who installed the irrigation?


----------

