What Is Lawn Aeration and Why Does Your Grass Need It?
A close-up look at a person’s fingers holding a soil plug with a rolling lawn aerator and grass yard in the background.
So you really would like for your yard to look its best. You mow, trim, and maybe even throw out some Weed & Feed now and then. But you still aren’t getting the results you want. Could your grass be trying to tell you something? Maybe it is stressed because of a huge issue — compacted soil.
If you’ve never thought about soil compaction and how it affects your grass, it may be time to look into the issue. You may just find out that your yard needs a little less soil and a lot more air circulation.
Aerating a lawn is something that professional landscapers, gardeners, and golf course groundskeepers do. But is it necessary for your yard and is aerating your lawn worth it?
If you’re wondering what all the fuss is about, we’ll tackle your most important questions and concerns about aerating a lawn here like:
What is lawn aeration?
What does aerating a lawn do and what are the benefits?
How do I know if my lawn needs aeration?
When should you aerate your lawn?
How often should you aerate your lawn?
What should you do before aerating your lawn?
What to do after aerating the lawn
Types of lawn aerators
What is the best aerator for the lawn?
How much does lawn aeration cost?
Lawn aeration service in the Columbia, SC area
Is your lawn looking a little stressed out? If you are interested in aeration of your lawn, we can help.
At Boots On Enterprises, we do all kinds of lawn care and landscaping services including aeration, seeding, mowing, yard clean-ups, pest control, tree services, and more.
Contact us for a FREE estimate today.
Phone: 803-521-4978
Email: bootsonenterprises@gmail.com
A core lawn aerator pulls soil pugs from the ground in a grassy area near a small yellow flag.
What is lawn aeration?
If you have ever made a cake and used a fork to poke holes into the top so that you could pour glaze over the surface and it would absorb better, that is very similar to the concept of aeration for a lawn.
A lawn aerator acts like the fork did for your cake. Some lawn aerators only poke the ground and make holes without removing soil — exactly like your fork. Others aerators actually pull out soil plugs, removing some of the soil.
An illustration of the benefits of lawn aeration showing a lawn before and after aeration and how it helps the grass to grow better roots.
What does aerating a lawn do?
Why aerate a lawn? A well-aerated lawn has breathing room. The holes allow air, nutrients, and needed water to soak deeper into the soil and help the grass roots grow much stronger and healthier. And when you have a better root system and better nutrient absorption, you end up with much more beautiful grass.
That’s why the pros on golf courses and other groundskeepers consistently use an aerator for the lawn. It takes grass from ho-hum to stunning.
8 benefits of aerating the lawn
Using lawn aerators for your yard brings a whole lot of benefits to the table.
Improved oxygen/carbon dioxide exchange.
Better water uptake for the soil.
Better absorption of fertilizer and nutrients.
Reduces weeds by enhancing herbicide effectiveness.
Stronger roots.
Removes thatch (dead layer of debris) on top of the grass.
More sunlight absorption.
Improved grass health.
A lawn aeration service can take care of this for you and if you try it once, you’ll see for yourself the difference it can make for the health of your grass.
How do I know if my lawn needs aeration?
The truth is, almost every lawn would do better with aeration. You can do a very scientific soil compaction test to measure how hard your soil is. But it’s actually easier than that to tell that you need to look into lawn aerating near you.
7 signs you need to aerate your lawn
Some telltale signs that your yard needs aeration include issues like:
The soil feels hard.
You have clay soil.
Your grass dries out easily and feels spongy.
Water puddles in your yard.
The grass looks brown.
The grass is thinning or not growing well.
You can’t easily push a screwdriver down into the soil.
If you choose not to aerate your lawn, these problems will be difficult to solve. Even if you fertilize, water, and treat your grass, you may not see the results you desire.
A lawn worker wearing rubber boots with one foot on a pitchfork in a yard prepares to aerate the grass.
When should you aerate your lawn in Columbia, SC?
Wondering when to aerate the lawn? The best time to aerate the lawn in South Carolina (for warm-season grasses) is late spring or early summer. Think mid-April to early May. And you may even want to consider doing a combination to both aerate and overseed a lawn.
It’s best to make sure the soil is a bit moist before aerating. When you aerate the lawn in spring, this lets you boost its potential and health right before peak growth season. And your grass is set up for successfully enduring the hot summer months.
A pile of plugs of soil removed from a golf course after aeration.
How often should you aerate your lawn?
How often to aerate a lawn depends on several factors like the type of soil and climate conditions. But a good rule of thumb is to base the frequency of aeration on the level of traffic your lawn receives as well as the type of soil involved.
For heavy clay and/or high foot traffic lawns (or if vehicles are often driving on the grass), employ an aeration lawn service once or twice per year because you will have greater compaction issues.
For silty soils or moderate foot traffic areas, consider aerating the lawn once per year.
Sandy soil or lawns with low traffic don’t need help as often. Sand doesn’t usually become compacted so every 2-3 years would usually be fine.
A close-up view of lush, healthy green grass.
What should you do before aerating your lawn?
Before lawn aeration is a good time to mow the grass and water a day or two ahead of time. Also, consider having aeration done in the morning on a relatively cool day not during a very hot, dry summer afternoon. This will help to avoid the lawn drying out too much.
A manual rolling lawn aerator with spikes on a grassy area with someone’s black boots in the background.
What to do after aerating the lawn?
It’s a good idea to overseed right after aerating your lawn so that more new grass seeds will be able to take root and grow well.
Also after aerating the grass, plan to water the lawn within 48 hours and increase the frequency of watering to about every 2-3 days for a few weeks.
Another good thing to do after aeration for the lawn is to apply pre-emergent herbicide.
A good lawn-care company near you can help you decide what should be done before aeration and right afterward for your particular soil, grass type, and climate.
A close-up view of a woman’s pink and yellow rain boots walking with shoe aerator attachments on a grassy yard.
Types of lawn aerators
There are many kinds of methods used for aerating a yard.
Shoe aerators - let you walk around the yard with spikes attached to your feet.
Rolling lawn aerator - has a large cylindrical piece with small cylindrical pieces that pull plugs from the soil as it goes.
Liquid lawn aerator - an alternative to lawn core aerator or spike aeration methods, liquid lawn aeration uses chemicals that are sprayed onto the grass to try to soften the soil compaction.
A man uses a large rolling lawn aerator that he is pulling behind a riding mower in a grassy yard to aerate a yard with evergreens in the background.
What is the best aerator for the lawn?
Most reputable lawn aeration services feel the best aerator for a lawn as core aeration. This means, usually, that they use a rolling aerator to dig out soil-core plugs to physically reduce hard soil issues and to improve air, water, and nutrient circulation.
Many lawn aeration service providers will also do liquid aeration if you’d like. Using a liquid yard aerator will be a bit less expensive, generally. The results tend to be a bit slower than with manual yard aeration but they also may last longer. It really just depends on your preference or what your lawn care experts recommend.
A yellow and gray yard aerator on grassy surface.
How much does lawn aeration cost?
Nationally, the average cost to aerate a lawn, according to Angi, is $0.10 to $0.35 per square foot. If you have a 10,000 square foot yard, the average cost would be about $129.
Some lawn aeration pros may charge flat rates by the square foot and others may charge by the hour.
A local lawn aerator service near you can give you a quote for the exact cost to aerate your lawn. And if you ask for a package, you may be able to get a better deal by bundling seeding, tree trimming, shrub maintenance, fertilizing, pesticide application, dethatching, mowing, or other lawn services with the aeration.
Another way to save money can be to schedule multiple aeration services per year ahead of time.
And remember, if you have a very large yard, you may decide you only want to aerate the visible portion. You don’t have to do the entire thing.
Lawn aeration cost factors
The size of your lawn, the type of aeration you receive, how sloped your yard is, what kind of soil you have, and where you live in the country all impact the price of lawn aeration, as well as other services.
Cost of lawn aeration by type
The type of aeration you have done will impact the cost, as well.
Core aeration cost
Core aeration costs, on average, about $170 (with a range of $75 to $250). This usually involves using a gas-powered machine that looks similar to a lawn mower or tiller. The tines in the machine pull out cylinder-shaped plugs of grass and soil.
Liquid aeration cost
Liquid aerators are chemicals mixed with water that are sprayed onto the grass to help loosen the soil. It generally requires multiple applications and takes 6-8 weeks for improvement to be noticeable. The cost of liquid aeration ranges from $80-$150 nationally for a professional landscaping service.
Spike aeration cost
Spike aeration usually costs less than core aeration — on average about $80 nationally. It doesn’t remove any soil plugs but just pokes metal spikes into the ground. Spike aerators don’t work well for clay or very impacted soil. But it can be an option for aerating lawns in sandy soil.
Many people opt to overseed and add other services at the same time as having lawn aeration done, which would increase the cost a bit. But having services bundled usually saves you money in the end.
A beautifully landscaped yard with healthy plants and luscious green grass.
Lawn aeration service near you in Columbia, SC
If you’re ready to give your yard a big boost, Boots On Enterprises would be happy to help with providing a lawn aerator service and anything else you need for your lawn maintenance, tree services, and landscaping needs.
Please contact us today for a FREE estimate:
Phone: 803-521-4978
Email: bootsonenterprises@gmail.com
Talk with us about bundling multiple services seasonally for the best pricing.
