# Aerate or not to aerate, that is the question!



## Flynt2799 (Oct 17, 2017)

Aerate or not to aerate, that is the question!

So I see this question on many different threads, followed by many different answers. Figured I would start this thread so that anyone with questions or inputs could ask away.

I'll start off by saying I have pretty compacted soil. Planning on leveling the lawn next weekend and just trying to find out if there are any benefits to aerate the lawn pre leveling or not.


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

I think the answers depends on how the aerating is to be done. How do you plan to aerate?


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## Flynt2799 (Oct 17, 2017)

Movingshrub said:


> I think the answers depends on how the aerating is to be done. How do you plan to aerate?


I was just thinking rent an aerator from HD. Make a few passes than rake up all the plugs followed by my first sand application. Just can't decide if it's worth it or not.


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

Got it. I wasn't sure if you were doing one of the spike style or with the hollow tines.


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## Lacric333 (Apr 24, 2018)

Aeration is a benefit for compaction, but should be incorporated in any good lawn maintenance program. One of the major benefit of aeration is exchange of oxygen with the soil. It's the same as when we have a stomach ache and take Tums. A build up of gas relief from the soil is needed.


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## Mightyquinn (Jan 31, 2017)

If your soil is compacted then it's definitely worth doing but I always recommend aerating when you are doing a leveling project as it will help create channels in the soil for water and nutrients to get down to the roots it will also help reduce the chance of creating horizons in the soil with the sand. With only 2.8K of lawn, I would go over it as many times as you can and punch a bunch of holes. I have also found it easier to go in concentric circles with the aerator instead of trying to use it like a mower and making turns at the end of each pass. That thing is a beast to try and turn


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## Flynt2799 (Oct 17, 2017)

Mightyquinn said:


> If your soil is compacted then it's definitely worth doing but I always recommend aerating when you are doing a leveling project as it will help create channels in the soil for water and nutrients to get down to the roots it will also help reduce the chance of creating horizons in the soil with the sand. With only 2.8K of lawn, I would go over it as many times as you can and punch a bunch of holes. I have also found it easier to go in concentric circles with the aerator instead of trying to use it like a mower and making turns at the end of each pass. That thing is a beast to try and turn


Well it's settled...I'm renting the aerator :thumbup:

I did the screw driver test today and literly have a blister on my palm from having to put so much pressure down throughout the yard.


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## SCGrassMan (Dec 17, 2017)

If it's been more than a year since last aeration, aerate.


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## Flynt2799 (Oct 17, 2017)

SCGrassMan said:


> If it's been more than a year since last aeration, aerate.


We built the house three years ago and it has never been done.


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## Flynt2799 (Oct 17, 2017)

Here is a couple plugs pulled for soil sample. Both hard as a rock.


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## SCGrassMan (Dec 17, 2017)

Aerate, milorganite, and sand


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## DeliveryMan (Mar 1, 2018)

Question to piggyback on this::

My sod was laid in Dec 2016 -- it has taken root quite well and you can't really see any lines of the sod borders anymore, but is it still too soon to be aerating, or am I good this year..

I was hoping to do an aeration and leveling in Late may/early june, but will do just the leveling if you guys think its too early.


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## DeliveryMan (Mar 1, 2018)

And another question::

Does anybody know how deep they bury the cables for your TV from the street to the house.. I know where the cable from the street to the house is, but would hate to hit it with an aerator cause I know it would take a month to get AT&T to come back out


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## SCGrassMan (Dec 17, 2017)

DeliveryMan said:


> And another question::
> 
> Does anybody know how deep they bury the cables for your TV from the street to the house.. I know where the cable from the street to the house is, but would hate to hit it with an aerator cause I know it would take a month to get AT&T to come back out


About 12", but you should really do call before you dig. You could definitely wait on the aeration and sanding but you could definitely do it now as well.


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## c0mical (Apr 8, 2018)

DeliveryMan said:


> Question to piggyback on this::
> 
> My sod was laid in Dec 2016 -- it has taken root quite well and you can't really see any lines of the sod borders anymore, but is it still too soon to be aerating, or am I good this year..
> 
> I was hoping to do an aeration and leveling in Late may/early june, but will do just the leveling if you guys think its too early.


The last thing you want is your sod getting pulled up by the core aerator. If a piece is only half rooted, it may pull it up and tear all the roots in the process. I would wait as late as possible this spring to do it to make sure everything is rooted well.

I am talking from experience


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## Mightyquinn (Jan 31, 2017)

DeliveryMan said:


> Question to piggyback on this::
> 
> My sod was laid in Dec 2016 -- it has taken root quite well and you can't really see any lines of the sod borders anymore, but is it still too soon to be aerating, or am I good this year..
> 
> I was hoping to do an aeration and leveling in Late may/early june, but will do just the leveling if you guys think its too early.





DeliveryMan said:


> And another question::
> 
> Does anybody know how deep they bury the cables for your TV from the street to the house.. I know where the cable from the street to the house is, but would hate to hit it with an aerator cause I know it would take a month to get AT&T to come back out


I think you are good to go this year to aerate, when I moved into my house in February of 2006, I paid TruGreen to aerate my front lawn in the early Summer without any issue and it was a lot newer than yours so I think you are safe.

I don't think you will be hitting any cables as the aerator will only go down to 4" MAX and I even doubt you will get that deep with it. I don't know how AT&T is with coming out to fix stuff but Spectrum(Time Warner) has been pretty good around here to get out and fix things. But I highly doubt they didn't bury the cable deep enough. If it is COAX cable you could fix it yourself if you did happen to cut the line.


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## Fishnugget (Sep 29, 2017)

Great thread...

I was also thinking about aerating. I laid down sod in my backyard back in Nov. 2017. Is it too early to aerate or should I hold the aeration and leveling for fall? Should I allow my grass more time to get established. I know its rooted, I doubt I will have any uprooting.


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## Flynt2799 (Oct 17, 2017)

Fishnugget said:


> Great thread...
> 
> I was also thinking about aerating. I laid down sod in my backyard back in Nov. 2017. Is it too early to aerate or should I hold the aeration and leveling for fall? Should I allow my grass more time to get established. I know its rooted, I doubt I will have any uprooting.


Everything that I have read and heard says that as long as you can't oull the pieces of sod up you are good. Had a neighbor a couple houses down aerate 1 month after having his sod put down and it handled it surprisingly well. Some areas pulled up but he just matted them back down.


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## Flynt2799 (Oct 17, 2017)

Has anybody used or have experience with liquid aerating? Reading reviews on amazon but never know how well you can trust them.


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## Ridgerunner (May 16, 2017)

https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2396


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## Mightyquinn (Jan 31, 2017)

Flynt2799 said:


> Has anybody used or have experience with liquid aerating? Reading reviews on amazon but never know how well you can trust them.


They are two different methods and are not really related at all. I'm still a little leery of liquid aeration and it's abilities to do what it says it does.


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## Flynt2799 (Oct 17, 2017)

Mightyquinn said:


> Flynt2799 said:
> 
> 
> > Has anybody used or have experience with liquid aerating? Reading reviews on amazon but never know how well you can trust them.
> ...


I was just reading up on the thread that @Ridgerunner posted and seems that the verdict is still unknown. I was planning on aerating and leveling next weekend but appears that storms are in the forecast, guess this gives me time to read up a little more and hopefully get my soil test back as well.

I know that I have compacted clay soil. But will mechanical aeration have lasting effects? I am also trying to decide if it is worth it since I plan on doing multiple sand applications which should in itself raise the root level away from the compaction over time.


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## Mightyquinn (Jan 31, 2017)

Flynt2799 said:


> Mightyquinn said:
> 
> 
> > Flynt2799 said:
> ...


I would still core aerate and top dress as that will help incorporate more of the sand into the soil profile. I think if you do that every time you top dress it will eventually start improving your soil.


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## Tellycoleman (May 10, 2017)

Flynt2799 said:


> Has anybody used or have experience with liquid aerating? Reading reviews on amazon but never know how well you can trust them.


There are calcium or gypsum based liquid aeration and their is biological/oxidizing material based such as those available with green county fertilizer Air8.

Calcium Based are cheaper however they are only efficient with very specific soils and situations. Soils with high salinitymay benefit but I believe there are PH considerations. So there is only a small window of people who would benefit.

I did both mechanical Aerating and using liquid Air8


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## Ridgerunner (May 16, 2017)

Mechanical/core aeration is a tool and can serve a number of purposes. It has upsides and downsides.Without going into a ton of finer points, If the upside purpose for which you are employing it outweighs the downside, then use it.
In your immediate situation @Flynt2799 
THIS:


> ... I always recommend aerating when you are doing a leveling project as it *will help create channels in the soil for water and nutrients to get down to the roots it will also help reduce the chance of creating horizons in the soil with the sand.* With only 2.8K of lawn, I would go over it as many times as you can and punch a bunch of holes. I have also found it easier to go in concentric circles with the aerator instead of trying to use it like a mower and making turns at the end of each pass. That thing is a beast to try and turn


 :thumbup: 
Those sand channels will also create pathways for deeper rooting.


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## SGrabs33 (Feb 13, 2017)

Another thing to note is that it would be ideal to remove the cores IMO. It's great to do multiple passes but keep in mind that the tires will mush some of the cores making them harder to remove.


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## FATC1TY (Jul 12, 2017)

SGrabs33 said:


> Another thing to note is that it would be ideal to remove the cores IMO. It's great to do multiple passes but keep in mind that the tires will mush some of the cores making them harder to remove.


I've always felt like the grass plugs will decompose and back into the soil along with any nutrients.

I plan to drag em and spread around and then sand.


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## SGrabs33 (Feb 13, 2017)

FATC1TY said:


> SGrabs33 said:
> 
> 
> > Another thing to note is that it would be ideal to remove the cores IMO. It's great to do multiple passes but keep in mind that the tires will mush some of the cores making them harder to remove.
> ...


Got ya, this is one of the main points of contention for professionals.

With my HOC being around .5 in they are very visible so I like to have them removed. To each his own!


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## SCGrassMan (Dec 17, 2017)

Remove them and use them to patch bare areas!


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## FATC1TY (Jul 12, 2017)

SCGrassMan said:


> Remove them and use them to patch bare areas!


This is a great idea.

I don't remove because I'm actually looking to add more substrate my yard due to erosion

Would be great to use plugs broken up in area of the yard to blend with sand.


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## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

If they won't interfere with your mower (this means you rotary folks for the most part) the. You can by all means leave them. As a golf course with a ridiculously tight budget, we used to break them up with a steel drag mat to reduce the amount of top dressing material we needed. Then we'd just blow the remnants (thatch) off the surface before top dressing.


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## booneatl (May 19, 2017)

Something to consider when aerating is that it is going to encourage more weeds and ruin your pre-emergent barrier. My neighbor started aerating once a week last year with a pull behind core aerator and his yard has more weeds than the people on either side of him. I can only assume he is doing this because his grass is so thin and dosn't seem to grow like the people on either side of him. He uses a riding mower and cuts way to high and can't seem to figure out why his grass is so thin.

I would try and educate him but he is the type that knows it all so I just sit back and laugh. He uses a lawn care service and shortly after they applied a pre-emergent for spring he was out there aerating. I also have a feeling the lawn care company is not fertilizing because his bermuda doesn't seem to grow like the people on either side of him and he has full sun all day on his front lawn. We all have the same sod as this neighborhood was built with a few builders that used the same Tif-419.

I'm not completely sold on aerating but I have never had it done. When my soil is dry I cannot get a screwdriver much below the surface but after good irrigation or rain the screwdriver easily pushes into my soil 4-6 inches. I'm not sure if compaction and dry soil are one in the same or not. My lawn looks great and we have been in this house 6 years now.


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## booneatl (May 19, 2017)

DeliveryMan said:


> And another question::
> 
> Does anybody know how deep they bury the cables for your TV from the street to the house.. I know where the cable from the street to the house is, but would hate to hit it with an aerator cause I know it would take a month to get AT&T to come back out


When I was taking soil samples I found my cable line about 3" from the surface. We also have a hill that heavy rain water errodes and I found my cable line exposed to the surface and had to dig it out myself and bury it deeper.

I'm sure it's suppose to be a certain depth but it probably comes down to the actual guys in charge of doing the work and wheteher or not the give a crap about doing it right!


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

booneatl said:


> DeliveryMan said:
> 
> 
> > And another question::
> ...


I work in the communications field and here in S. Carolina they must bury cable drops, telephone drops, and fiber drops at around 36"-42" deep. Now whether they abide by those rules is relative. I would call 811 and have them schedule locates for your lawn. If you hit a buried line without locates, there's a good chance you'd be on the hook for paying the cost of repairing it.


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## FATC1TY (Jul 12, 2017)

BakerGreenLawnMaker said:


> booneatl said:
> 
> 
> > DeliveryMan said:
> ...


I know for a fact att didn't bury my fiber line low enough. I can see it near the house and had to bury some of it myself after some erosion over a few months.

I'm wondering who would come out on short noTice to mark them. Otherwise I'm gonna guess and if it happens then they can come fix it.


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

I think you should be ok if you aerate around the area, the fiber optic should be either protected by conduit or protected by a carbon fiber sheath. If you do snag it, oh well, ATT should've buried deeper.


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## Fishnugget (Sep 29, 2017)

Flynt2799 said:


> Fishnugget said:
> 
> 
> > Great thread...
> ...


Sounds good... thanks Flynt, I am sure I will have no problems with uprooting. Just got to get motivated this weekend.


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## TigerinFL (Mar 29, 2018)

I've been around new home construction and seen the cable guys lifting up new sod just laid and tossing their cable right below the surface. I like knowing where my cable runs are and would avoid those areas with an aerator if at all possible unless I knew for certain they were at least 6" below the surface.


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## J_nick (Jan 28, 2017)

It would be a safe bet just to call 811 like @BakerGreenLawnMaker mentioned. For one it's nice knowing where all your utilities are. Second it's insurance in case you do hit something. Not sure how it is where you live but here they have 48 hours from when you call to have everything marked (Monday-Friday). I think 811 would have universal rules for all the states.


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## nick_wdc (Feb 19, 2020)

I've had my lawn aerated and it's helped a lot. I've done some reading and it sounds like you should shoot to have this done once per year. I came across this article that showcases the health benefits of aerating: https://agapelawnco.com/blog/lawn-health-benefits-of-aerating-your-lawn/


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## SGrabs33 (Feb 13, 2017)

nick_wdc said:


> I've had my lawn aerated and it's helped a lot. I've done some reading and it sounds like you should shoot to have this done once per year. I came across this article that showcases the health benefits of aerating: https://agapelawnco.com/blog/lawn-health-benefits-of-aerating-your-lawn/


Agape! You must be close to Raleigh.


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