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Creech Landscape offers a comprehensive lawn aeration service in Alpharetta and North Atlanta. Turfgrass is designed to withstand foot traffic and lawn equipment. In the South, warm season turf grasses such as bermudagrass and zoysia are even tough enough to stand up to the abuses of golf course environments. But the constant use can lead to compaction of our heavy clay soil as well as thatch. For your turf to thrive, it’s essential to aerate it.
Almost all lawns benefit from aeration. Great lawns demand it. Creech Landscape’s aeration program is an important part of making sure your lawn stays healthy and great-looking all year long.
Organic debris from turfgrass, including stems and shoots, falls to the ground. It then decomposes over time. However, when this debris accumulates faster than it can break down, it begins to build up. This buildup is known as thatch.
A thin layer of thatch is useful as insulation. It can protect your lawn’s root system from extremes in temperature and fluctuations in soil moisture.
But when thatch reaches a depth of more than one inch, it creates a number of problems:
Thatch can also lead to inconsistent mowing. Areas of heavy thatch develop a spongy consistency that causes your equipment’s wheels to sink. This phenomenon is often the culprit behind unattractive lawn “scalping.”
One of the biggest contributors to thatch is irregular or inappropriate lawncare. Both poor watering practices and improper fertilizer application can lead to excess grass growth.
That sounds like a good thing. After all, you want your lawn to grow. However, too much grass can create thatch problems down the road.
Irrigation should be calibrated for optimal root growth. Watering your lawn frequently but not deeply encourages rapid growth. However, it also causes roots to stay near the surface.
Deep roots are necessary to keep lawns from drying out. Dry, dead grass breaks off and builds up on top of your soil. This accumulation contributes to thatch.
Additionally, using a fertilizer with too much nitrogen for your soil conditions will cause excessive grass growth. This includes both root growth and stem tissues. Excess growth leads to more debris.
Microorganisms are necessary to break down that debris. Soil that is too acidic isn’t hospitable to these microorganisms. That’s why soil tests and using the correct type of fertilizer is an important part of maintaining a healthy level of thatch.
Similarly, using too much pesticide can lead to a thatch problem. The overuse of pesticides kills beneficial creatures like earthworms. Earthworms speed up the decomposition of organic matter and improve soil fertility. You want to make sure you keep them around.
Proper turf maintenance practices can help mitigate the buildup of thatch.
When thatch accumulates to a depth of an inch or greater, it’s time to aerate. Aeration benefits your lawn in multiple ways:
The most common types of lawn aeration are spike aeration and core aeration. Both methods loosen the soil surface, increasing root access to air, moisture and nutrients.
However, they have important differences that can affect the health of your lawn long-term.
Spike aeration is a quick fix for lawns with mildly compacted soil. Rolling push aerators, spiked aeration shoes, and even pitchforks can be used to poke holes in the soil surface. No soil is removed. Instead, the solid spikes on the devices push it to the side.
This process alleviates soil compaction in the short term, but increases it over time. For a truly healthy lawn, we recommend core aeration.
Core or plug aeration involves using a machine to remove small cylinders of dirt from your lawn. Once removed, these plugs are deposited on the surface. The created holes then act as air pockets. Improved air flow helps break down the thatch, restoring your turf to good health.
The Creech Landscape Difference
The Creech Landscape lawn aeration service helps control thatch buildup. We scalp warm season grasses in early spring and perform core aeration once turf is more than 50% green. This ensures your lawn stays healthy.
If you have questions about our lawn care services, or would like to schedule core aeration, contact us at 770-988-4635.
We pride ourselves on being the North Atlanta lawn care company you can trust.
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