Benefits of Aerating Your Lawn (A Can’t-Miss Part of Lawn Care)

Tackling your lawn with an aerator a few times a year can have huge benefits for your grass and the soil beneath it. I always pull my aerator out of the garage come spring and fall each year without fail. Why do I do this? Well, let me explain the benefits of aerating a lawn and why you should do it too.

Why Should You Aerate Your Lawn? (The Short Answer)

Lawn aeration has been proven to have many benefits that can improve the quality of your lawn’s soil and the health of your grass. Here are some of the key reasons why you should aerate your lawn.

• Reduces Water Runoff
• Reduces Standing Water
• Reduces Soil Compaction
• Improves Air Exchange
• Improves Water Intake
• Improves Fertilizer Intake
• Allows for Deeper Roots

7 Big Benefits of Aerating Your Lawn (A Closer Look) (How to Spot)

Let’s answer the question, does aeration help your lawn, and are spike or core aeration benefits worth it? Putting a bunch of holes in your lawn might seem like a strange idea and may not be something you have tried before. But, in my experience, aeration is well worth the effort. So let’s take a closer look.

Reduces Water Runoff

Regardless of what type of aerating machine you use, you’ll create some type of penetration into the ground of various degrees. Aerators either cut or spike into the ground, leaving openings in their path. One of the benefits of these openings in the soil is that they allow water to soak into the soil more quickly.

So, if you have a sloped yard, water will have less chance of running off your lawn before it has absorbed in the soil. An added benefit is that soil erosion from water run-off will be less of a problem. Again this is because the water is soaking into the soil rather than just running straight off the surface to a lower part of the yard.

Reduces Standing Water

If you have a level yard that has a problem soaking in water due to the properties of the soil, then aeration is a method that can help. Depending on the severity of the standing water, you can use different levels of aeration to penetrate the soil surface to various depths. This can drastically reduce the volume of standing water and help dry out your lawn.

For example, deep core aerators can remove deep soil core from your lawn to help even those lawns with significant standing water issues.

Reduces Soil Compaction

One of the common issues most of us face with our lawns is the compaction of the soil. This is where the soil becomes increasingly less porous and struggles to absorb the water, air, and nutrients that our grass needs to succeed. So, an aerator cuts into the soil to alleviate the compaction and allows the water, air, and nutrients to reach deeper into the soil with less effort.

Improves Air Exchange

Part of the grass growth cycle is a process called root respiration when the roots absorb oxygen in exchange for carbon dioxide. This process enables root maintenance and growth and improves soil fertility. However, issues like soil compaction can reduce root respiration, affecting the root’s overall health.

For example, if the soil of your lawn is compacted, the roots will not be able to breathe and can’t perform the necessary air exchange. But if you aerate your lawn, you will notice new tiny white roots in these aerated voids, indicating a boost in your lawn’s health and growth.

Improves Water Intake

Water is a vital ingredient for grass to grow. However, grass can only receive water in a certain way to properly use it. Water that sits on top of the surface, such as standing water from a rainstorm or irrigation, will cause a problem, as will saturated soil. This is because too much water will disrupt the root respiration process.

In short, the roots will drown/suffocate if they are unable to receive the air they need. When your lawn finds itself in this position, the grass will go into survival mode to protect itself. Unfortunately, this process leads to plant decay due to the lack of oxygen. Also, the anaerobic pathogens will take over the aerobic bacteria in the soil, stopping the nutrient cycle. So this means the root’s nutrient resource is locked away, and the pathogens attack the roots.

Now, this all sounds fairly complicated, so what can you do to stop it? The simplest way is to aerate your lawn and allow that stagnant water to move through your soil properly. This is a big benefit of aerating your lawn.

Improves Fertilizer Intake

Aerating doesn’t just improve the soil’s water intake and air exchange. Another key benefit is improving the root’s ability to absorb nutrients. For example, if you spread fertilizer on water-logged soil or on soil that is baked solid, then the nutrients will not be able to make their way to the roots of the grass. Aeration creates pathways for not only the roots, air, and water but also allows fertilizer to travel through the soil more effectively.

Another source of nutrients for your lawn is the grass clipping you spread on your lawn while you are mowing. This layer of organic matter becomes part of the top layer of the soil and provides the grass with added natural nutrients.

The roots of your lawn absorb fertilizers and natural nutrients, but that’s not all that’s going on. As roots use nutrients, they give off various water-soluble compounds such as sugars, organic acids, and amino acids, forming the rhizosphere around the roots. This rhizosphere provides a food source for good aerobic bacteria and keeps pathogens at bay.

Again this is a very complex process that has yet to be completely understood. But ensuring the nutrients make their way to the roots is one part of the process we understand to be extremely important. So, what does aerating your lawn do? It helps get nutrients to the roots.

Allows for Deeper Roots

The last benefit of aerating lawns I want to talk about is that aerating helps the grass roots grow deeper. The deeper you dig in the soil, the more compact the soil becomes due to the weight of the soil on top. So, the deeper you go, the harder it is for water, nutrients, and air to travel. The result is that the further you dig down into your soil, the less beneficial the soil is for your grass.

Also, the more densely compact the soil is, the harder it is for the roots to extend. So, it’s good to aerate your lawn to eliminate the issues created by compacted soil and give your lawn roots the ability to grow stronger and deeper.

For example, if you remove a big plant from a small pot, you will notice how the roots coil in the bottom. You’ll also notice that your plant isn’t too happy. This is the same situation your lawn faces if the soil doesn’t get aerated properly. Again, another reason why you should aerate your lawn.