# Average time for recovery of aeration



## DeliveryMan (Mar 1, 2018)

So I have a question from someone who has never aerated a lawn before -- I have an actual lawn for the first time in my life and have really enjoyed taking care of it (thanks to the help of you guys)..

I have decided that I am going to core aerate this weekend.. The golf course that I play aerated the fairways this week and so I guess its a good time to do so.. I will probably do a leveling job next year (just not in the budget of time this summer)..

The questions I have are:

1) How long should I anticipate it looks like it got beat up 
2) Should I collect the cores of just leave them on the lawn (hoping to make it be nice again before the July 4th holiday)

Thanks in advance for any answers


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## viva_oldtrafford (Apr 4, 2018)

What's your hoc?

What's the spacing and tine size?

Are you satisfied with your soil? If you are, then just drag them back into the profile. I just aerified my back 9 fairways this week and we ran a dragmat over the cores to reincorporate the removed soil.


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## FATC1TY (Jul 12, 2017)

I aerated back in April or so. Grass was just getting going, I did it in two directions and then used the drag mat and broke up the cores. Yard didn't even look damaged that bad. Within a week, it wasn't even noticeable after a good rain or two.


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## Anthony Drexler (Apr 23, 2018)

Fall is the best time of year to aerate, and overseed. I always leave the cores, as they breakdown quickly. It should go from torn up to healthy in a month with proper watering.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

Anthony Drexler said:


> Fall is the best time of year to aerate, and overseed. I always leave the cores, as they breakdown quickly. It should go from torn up to healthy in a month with proper watering.


This is the warm season subforum.


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## rhanna (Jun 7, 2017)

DeliveryMan said:


> So I have a question from someone who has never aerated a lawn before -- I have an actual lawn for the first time in my life and have really enjoyed taking care of it (thanks to the help of you guys)..
> 
> I have decided that I am going to core aerate this weekend.. The golf course that I play aerated the fairways this week and so I guess its a good time to do so.. I will probably do a leveling job next year (just not in the budget of time this summer)..
> 
> ...


Now is a good time. You want to aerate when your grass is growing which is now for warm season grass and fall for cool season grass. 
I'm assuming you have a decent amount of clay in your soil for NC and since you have a reel mower you probably should pick up the cores. 
One thing I've thought about doing is buying Greene county fertilizer product air8. Renting an aerated by yourself isn't much cheaper plus you wouldn't have to pick up cores


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## FATC1TY (Jul 12, 2017)

Anthony Drexler said:


> Fall is the best time of year to aerate, and overseed. I always leave the cores, as they breakdown quickly. It should go from torn up to healthy in a month with proper watering.


I think you are bit off, especially for warm season grasses like Bermuda.


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## FATC1TY (Jul 12, 2017)

rhanna said:


> DeliveryMan said:
> 
> 
> > So I have a question from someone who has never aerated a lawn before -- I have an actual lawn for the first time in my life and have really enjoyed taking care of it (thanks to the help of you guys)..
> ...


 Chemical aeration will never be as quick or as effective as mechanical. Not to say it can't hurt and with good cultural practice even make the end product better but sprayingthe yard ain't gonna do what pulling up good old cores will do for the soil and turf.


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## Anthony Drexler (Apr 23, 2018)

Ware said:


> Anthony Drexler said:
> 
> 
> > Fall is the best time of year to aerate, and overseed. I always leave the cores, as they breakdown quickly. It should go from torn up to healthy in a month with proper watering.
> ...


My bad. Late Spring, or early summer... I still think you should leave the cores...


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## rhanna (Jun 7, 2017)

I could have sworn Matt Martin at the grass factor had a video showing the results of liquid vs core aeration.


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## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

rhanna said:


> I could have sworn Matt Martin at the grass factor had a video showing the results of liquid vs core aeration.


A couple actually. I don't think liquid does everything mechanical does and vice versa. The one thing I like about mechanical is that it helps smooth and level if you aerate aggressively. For me, the drainage improvement was immediately obvious with mechanical.


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## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

DeliveryMan said:


> So I have a question from someone who has never aerated a lawn before -- I have an actual lawn for the first time in my life and have really enjoyed taking care of it (thanks to the help of you guys)..
> 
> I have decided that I am going to core aerate this weekend.. The golf course that I play aerated the fairways this week and so I guess its a good time to do so.. I will probably do a leveling job next year (just not in the budget of time this summer)..
> 
> ...


Mine looked good, perhaps a tad tousled after the cores were cleaned up. After the next mow, you might see the holes. After a couple weeks you won't be able to see much other than green.


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## Tellycoleman (May 10, 2017)

3/4 inch tines will take a while to fill in if you aerate 2 passes in opposite directions and don't topdress
As a side note all weeds I have had originated from soil inside the aeration hole


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## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

Tellycoleman said:


> 3/4 inch tines will take a while to fill in if you aerate 2 passes in opposite directions and don't topdress
> As a side note all weeds I have had originated from soil inside the aeration hole


This is the reason that I'm giving serious thought to renting the stand-on aerator from Sunbelt Rentals and then levelling/topdressing with sand only. The holes that I pulled plugs from in the front yard have all filled in with grass, and no weeds at all. Last time I aerated, I used the walk-behind, and did my yard and my neighbor's yard. I was worn out. FWIW, they want $185 for the day's rental.


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## jonthepain (May 5, 2018)

We aerated some of our bermudas last week here in Raleigh. We leave the cores and put down greentrx.

They respond very quickly here, especially if we get a good rain.

We use a Lawn Solutions hydrostatic walk behind. Very easy to use compared to the Classens.
(The photo on their website is actually one that I took of my machine the day I took delivery, sitting on my centipede, under one of my Magnolias. They were supposed to give me "photo by" credit, but never did.) They sold out to toro several years ago.


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## kur1j (Jul 2, 2017)

I rented a Toro stand-on aerator and aerated April 28th. I would say it took about a month before most of the holes filled. See the album below for timeline. I added dates to the images.

In the future, I should be more consistent in what pictures I'm taking :-/. But should give you an idea of recovery time.

https://imgur.com/a/I3uyNoU


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## JRS 9572 (May 28, 2018)

DeliveryMan said:


> So I have a question from someone who has never aerated a lawn before -- I have an actual lawn for the first time in my life and have really enjoyed taking care of it (thanks to the help of you guys)..
> 
> I have decided that I am going to core aerate this weekend.. The golf course that I play aerated the fairways this week and so I guess its a good time to do so.. I will probably do a leveling job next year (just not in the budget of time this summer)..
> 
> ...


Once you clean up the cores I'm not so sure someone can tell anything has happened unless you top dress with sand or some other material.

Being in the midlands of SC we're full of red clay. The only good soil is what I've top dressed in over the last 3 years. So I drag mat mine 1st, and it busts up the cores ok. What's left I use my regular push mower with bagger to finish up. The red clay cores turn to rocks once they sit in the sun for a little bit. The reel mower won't like trying to run through those.


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## Redtenchu (Jan 28, 2017)

Anthony Drexler said:


> My bad. Late Spring, or early summer... I still think you should leave the cores...


 :thumbup:


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## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

I forgot to add my quip that I wasn't sure if you were talking about the recovery time of the turf or your body when you created this topic :lol:


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