Lawn Auger | Soil, Yard & Tree Aeration Tools | Power Planter (2024)

FAQs

Does yard aeration work? ›

Aeration Promotes Healthy Grass

Aerating your lawn allows vital nutrients, water, sunlight and oxygen to sink in and reach the root system of your lawn. This will promote a healthy and deep root system, giving you a lush green lawn that is better equipped to defend against the intrusion of unwanted weeds and grasses.

Both power raking and aeration will improve the look of your lawn, but in aerating, the benefit is somewhat secondary. Power raking will immediately cut through thick thatch accumulated on a lawn, and after overseeding, you'll see new growth quickly. Power raking is more likely to improve the appearance of your lawn.

Augers are great lawn aeration tools. They bore holes into the ground to break up your soil and let roots receive air, water, and nutrients.

Learning how to aerate soil around trees has its benefits. However, it might be better to consult trained professionals because the procedure can damage your tree roots if done incorrectly.

You want to aerate the lawn when your grass is in its peak growing period so it can recover quickly—think early spring or fall for cool-season grasses, and late spring through early summer for warm-season grasses. If you have high-traffic areas or heavy clay soil, you will want to aerate every year.

How long until I'll see healthy grass? Whether you fertilize and aerate together or just fertilize your lawn, you should see results within six to eight weeks.

You can over-aerate. Over-aerating your lawn can stress out your lawn and leave you with uneven soil. Even though it can be damaging to over aerate your lawn, it is actually quite difficult to aerate too much. It is recommended to have your lawn aerated once or twice a year.

As we talked about earlier, aeration is an essential part of leveling a bumpy lawn. Over time, weather, wildlife and regular wear-and-tear can cause the soil to become compact, preventing your lawn from getting the nutrients it needs. To reverse this, aerate!

Gas-powered aerators make the job relatively quick and easy for more extensive lawns and are a good choice if you have concerns about hurting your back. These heavy-duty aerators usually remove plugs of soil and grass, which is the best method of lawn aeration.

The soil is cultivated, greatly improving the results. It's a great way to thicken up a thin lawn or introduce better grass types to a lawn. The majority of the new grass will grow in the aeration holes. “Tufts” of new grass will grow out of the holes and then “tiller-out” and thicken up the lawn.

What are the disadvantages of auger holes? ›

The principal disadvantage of sampling by auger methods is that samples are highly disturbed and soils from different strata can be mixed. Because of the potential for mixing soils from different strata, stratigraphic logging using cuttings from auger borings is extremely difficult.

Aerating Guidelines

Aerator holes should be 3 inches deep, 3 inches or less apart, and about 3/4 inch in diameter. Several passes may be required for correct spacing. Aeration frequency depends on soil type, thatch, and traffic, among other factors.

You can safely remove a live tree's roots from lawn. However, when doing so, keep these tips in mind: Before removing surface or underground roots, ensure the tree is healthy enough to root prune. If it isn't, it may not survive the procedure.

It's common for trees to have shallow roots around the trunk, which makes it difficult for grass to obtain water and nutrients. If grass does manage to get established in this zone, known as the “root flare,” it can actually stunt the tree's growth—or even kill it.

Aeration can be an extremely vital element to a healthy lawn because it allows air and water to penetrate built-up grass or lawn thatch. Get rid of thatch and make way for a beautiful lawn with this quick guide to aeration. You'll learn why, how and when to aerate your lawn for the best results.

Aerating your lawn can be worth it, particularly if it has problems with poor drainage, soil compaction or thatch buildup.

Step 3: Core Aerate Your Lawn

Core aeration is an important step in leveling a bumpy lawn by reducing compaction.

As we've established, don't remove aeration plugs. It takes approximately one to two weeks for the plugs to break down on their own, but there are some things you can do to help the plugs break down faster to tidy up the lawn. You can hope for rainfall, but you can also water the lawn to help the plugs break down.