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Why Aerate Lawn?

Soil Health
4 min read

Soil problems are the main reason lawns do not grow thick and strong. If you wonder, “Why should I aerate my lawn?” the knowledgeable team at Jonathan Green has the answers you need.

Who is Jonathan Green?

Jonathan Green has worked for more than 100 years to bring beautiful dark-green lawns to homeowners using only the highest quality traditional and organic products. Since 1881, we have experimented with turfgrass varietals to breed our genetically superior turf grasses, such as those found in our Black Beauty® grass seed mixtures.

We supply grass seed, organics, and weed, insect and disease control products to the independent retailer and professional lawn care markets. All of our products are thoroughly tested to ensure that they perform to the highest standards in order to transform your lawn and help it thrive.

What is Aeration?

When your turfgrass is not looking its best or when water has difficulty penetrating through the soil surface, you may need to aerate your lawn.

When roots are unable to penetrate the soil, the grass will stop growing, and your lawn will begin to look thin and unhealthy and become more susceptible to weeds, diseases and pests.

Aeration is the method of creating openings in the surface of the lawn that help water, air, and nutrients better penetrate the soil. This helps alleviate soil compaction, creates better air flow around the roots of the grass plants, and encourages the roots to grow more deeply.

How to Aerate Your Lawn

Aeration can be done with a core aerator, a gas-powered machine that will remove small plugs of soil from the ground. To reduce costs, consider renting the core aerator machine from a local home improvement center and share it with a neighbor or two.

Aeration can also be done manually. While this may not be as effective as using a machine, you can still achieve excellent results. A manual core aerator has a handle and a foot bar with several hollow tines or spikes attached. To use it, hold the handle with both hands while you drive it into the soil.

Depending on the size of your lawn, aeration can take anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of hours. The manual process can be extremely tedious if you have a large lawn.

Soil Amendments

For long-term results, consider adding more humate-rich, gypsum-based amendments to the soil.  Humate-rich amendments will foster earthworm populations to support natural, biological aeration of the soil. Gypsum-based amendments will assist in natural aeration of the soil.

Jonathan Green MAG-I-CAL® Plus is a natural, humate-rich, three-in-one “soil food” that loosens hard soil, stimulates soil microbes, and adjusts soil pH. MAG-I-CAL® Plus is available for Mag-I-Cal® Plus for Lawns in Acidic & Hard Soil and Mag-I-Cal® Plus for Lawns in Alkaline & Hard Soil and should be used every season to keep your soil biology and chemistry balanced. It breaks up clay and compacted soil for better air, water, nutrient, and root penetration.

For very compacted soil, Jonathan Green Love Your Soil®  will loosen and aerate it organically. It will also feed the soil microbes, making the soil more alive and porous, enhance root development, and contains about 25% more soil loosening power than MAG-I-CAL® Plus.

For more help with why and how to aerate your lawn, visit Jonathan Green online or visit your nearest independent retail store for advice. Our goal is to help you grow a stronger, more vigorous lawn.

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