Spring is thought to be the best time for aeration, overseeding, and planting new flowers. Lawn owners rush to get their yards planted with new plants, remove leaves and grass blades, dethatch, and so on. However, there are plenty of activities to do in the early fall as well, including aeration and overseeding.
Often summer is rough on the lawns with high temperatures, humidity, insects, and diseases. All of that stress can highly impact your turf’s health, which is why you need to consider fall aeration and overseeding.
Conditions tend to be best between September-October when the days and nights are cooler. During this period, the temperatures are ideal for seed germination. The soil is soft to get proper plugs in and new seeds can retain moisture.
Aeration is the process of creating tiny holes across your lawn. Over the summer months, the soil is compressed from high temperatures, excessive use, and hard rain, making it difficult for the roots of your grass to access air, water, and the necessary nutrients. Aeration solves this problem, digging thousands of small holes, allowing nutrients, fertilizer, and water to access your turf’s roots.
Fall aeration is vital to achieving a green and healthy lawn. If you want your garden to look its best, fall aeration should become an essential part of your lawn care and maintenance process.
In fact, fall overseeding and aeration are the best combo to give your turf the boost it needs to germinate and mature.
Overseeding is the process of planting grass seeds into your existing turf, without devastating the soil. From a professional point of view, it is one of the best ways to improve your grass’s color, fill in bare spots, and improve your turf’s overall health. After high summer temperatures, foot traffic, and lawn diseases, your yard may look work out. Following fall overseeding and aeration help thicken up the outer grass layer, reduce weed growth, enhance your lawn’s ability to protect itself from insects, and improve your yard’s appearance.
When taking care of your lawn, it is always a good idea to be proactive. During the summer months, be on the lookout for these common signs indicating that your lawn needs to be refreshed and restored to its original condition.
Stress is typical during the hot summer months, especially in mid-July and August. If you notice a few brown spots on your lawn, chances are your grass didn’t have the necessary nutrients to survive the heat. A combination of fall aeration and overseeding will restore the soil and dill in with new seeds, so you don’t have bare spots.
When the soil under your turf becomes too hard, seeds won’t be able to penetrate and grow. Compacted soil chokes your lawn and doesn’t allow oxygen to circulate to the roots, making them vulnerable and your turf susceptible to diseases.
Thatch is the outer layer of dead and living plants that form around the grass. Excessive thatch can have a negative impact on the roots and your lawn in general. Thatch build-up creates a perfect environment for pests and fungi to reproduce and thrive. Thin layers of thatch build-up can be easily removed with a garden rake, but if the layers exceed one inch, a vertical mower or dethatching machine will be more practical.
Crabgrass and weeds take advantage of stresses or worn out lawns to reproduce all over your garden. Weeds compete with your grass plants for air and water, and if there are not enough nutrients, weeds will have a bigger chance of thriving.
If you notice any of these common signs, you have to consider aeration and overseeding in the fall. It is the best way to get rid of invasive grasses, thatch build-up, and brown spots.
Choosing to aerate and overseed in the fall has a number of benefits for your lawn.
While grass can live for years, a fresh one is always welcomed. Without fresh grass, your lawn will look old and worn out, with bald patches in the corners. Aeration and overseeding take care of this problem by stimulating fresh growth of new and healthy grass and keeping your lawn green and healthy at all times.
When you aerate and overseed, you give the roots air boost. The roots of your grass have more access to water, air, sun, and other nutrients necessary to expand through the soil. Invasive weeds won’t grow in a lawn that is full of healthy plants and strong roots.
In early fall, your grass will start to slow its growth. However, if your soil is lush and productive, the roots will continue to grow. By helping the roots have access to water, air, and essential nutrients, you are helping them grow stronger and deeper into the ground. The deeper the roots, the more resilient the turf. The more resistant the turf, the lesser the weeds.
Lawns that are susceptible to diseases and invaded by weeds in the fall don’t survive the harsh winter temperatures, making it difficult and expensive to fix the damage. Even if you take care of the weeds and brown patches, it may take a few weeks for new turf to grow. In other words, you may need to invest in a couple of weeks of corrective methods to restore your lawn’s health
Aerating and overseeding in the fall will prepare your lawn for the upcoming temperatures and set it up for progress once spring comes.
For cool-season grasses such as Kentucky Bluegrass and Tall Fescue, it is best to aerate and overseed in late summer or early fall to give the seeds a boost to develop before the first frost. In other words, plan to overseed in mid-August to mid-September.
For warm-season grasses such as Bermudagrass and Zoysiagrass, it is best to aerate during the early summer when the soil temperatures are still warm and create the perfect environment for seeds to develop and grow.
Knowing when it is too late to aerate and overseed depends upon your grass type. For cool-season grasses, late fall and early winter are too late to do anything. For warm-season grasses, once the growing season has passed from late summer to early fall, it is not smart to take any actions.
New grass needs about five-six weeks to evolve before winter hits. If you missed your chance to aerate and overseed this season, it is best to wait until the next year.
Aeration creates the ideal spacing and perfect conditions in your yard for grass seeds to grow and thrive. Since you are planting new grass seeds, it will require all of the available oxygen, water, fertilizer, and nutrients to suffocate invasive weeds. When done right, aerating and overseeding will give your yard a brand-new look.
