# Mechanical vs. Chemical Aeration



## DeliveryMan (Mar 1, 2018)

Hello all,

Does anybody have any experience with head to head experiments with the chemical aeration products (Air8) vs. mechanical aeration with a core aerator??

I am planning my leveling project for May and since I plan on aerating and leveling over a period of a weekend I was thinking that mechanical aeration is the way to go.. Also I have never seen or heard of chemical aeration before joining this thread..

Just thinking that there is no way chemical aeration can be as effective as mechanical -- but I have also thought that I am a bit worried about a couple parts of the lawn that have my cable/internet wires coming from the street (and I am not sure exactly where they are or how deep)..


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## jjepeto (Jan 27, 2019)

For the cables and wiring you can call 811 or go online and they will come out and mark it for free in a few days. I tried a spray aeration product on my front lawn about a month ago. I can't say yet if I've seen any real difference from before, but I will give it a few more applications throughout the year and see what happens. I should say, I didn't use Air8, I used the liquid aeration product by Simple Lawn Solutions that Ryan Knorr used in his video.

I think I will still do mechanical aeration this fall, but continue to use the liquid in the front yard and see if there is a noticeable difference.


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## reidgarner (Jun 18, 2018)

If you are topdressing, def go mechanical. The sand will work down into the holes and help amend the soil. I'm assuming you are mostly clay soil.

On the issue of your cables - a quick call to 811 and they will come out and mark for you so you can avoid them.

I'm still skeptical on the liquid aeration. Would love to see someone (ie. a university) do a literal side-by-side comp between liquid and a control to see if it makes any difference.


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## Buffalolawny (Nov 24, 2018)

Mechanical always works. As mentioned previous post. For the first one do a mechanical then a follow up liquid at a later date. You could cut grass, aerate, sand, water, liquid fert. which will all go into the holes. After you do the screwdriver test. Then you can determine if you need to liquid aerate.


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