Do I Need to Aerate My Lawn for Healthy Grass?

You’ve overheard the neighbors discussing when to schedule their next lawn aeration service, and you’ve started to wonder, “Do I need to aerate my lawn, too?” Whether your lawn is looking a little lackluster or seems relatively healthy, aeration is an important part of your lawn care regimen. Let’s dig in deeper to learn how often, associated costs, and benefits of aerating your lawn.

What Is Lawn Aeration?

You’ve probably wondered how to aerate your lawn and if your yard even needs it. But what does that aerating even mean? Aeration is a lawn care process that involves poking holes a few inches deep into the soil and pulling out small pieces, or plugs, of soil. While poking a bunch of holes in your yard may sound like a terrible idea for the look of your lawn, it’s actually important for healthy landscaping. By poking the holes, you’re creating more openings for oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water to get into the soil and around the roots of your grass.

Do I Need to Aerate My Lawn Every Year?

Do you need to aerate a lawn annually? No, maybe not. But should you? Absolutely. Lawn aeration is beneficial to your soil health, and therefore, the health of your grass. Aeration is the secret to getting the greenest grass on the block.

If you plan to do other lawn care throughout the year, like overseeding to thicken the look of the grass, filling in bare patches of grass, or dethatching, aerate at the same time. It can even help in some cases (like seeding, for example). 

How Often to Aerate a Lawn

You’ve decided that it’s best to go ahead and tackle this project, but now you may be wondering, “When should I aerate my lawn?”

Most lawns thrive with annual aeration. But if your lawn gets a lot of foot traffic from kids and pets running around the lawn or regular summer cookouts with friends and family, or you have compacting soil, like clay, aerate once or twice a year.

When to Aerate a Lawn

Just like it’s more efficient to know the best time to water the grass, knowing the optimal time for aeration can help your lawn get the most out of its freshly aerated soil. While the exact timing will vary by the type of grass and soil you have, a general rule of thumb is to aerate during the lawn’s peak growing season, which gives the grass time to recover and quickly fill in any spots left bare after aeration. 

Lawns in areas that get colder winters typically have cool-season grasses, and it’s best to aerate these in the spring, before the growing season takes off, or in the early fall when the grass has enough time to recover before winter.

Lawns in warmer climates typically have warm-season types of grasses. For warm-season grass, plan to aerate later in the spring or early in the summer, before temperatures skyrocket.

Why Lawns Need Aeration

There are many reasons to aerate your lawn, especially if your grass has been looking a little lackluster. If you want a healthy, lush lawn, aerating can help set the stage for optimal growing. Aerating breaks up the soil and lets in air and nutrients, giving roots better access to the things they need to grow. It also allows water to better seep into the soil, so less water is wasted as runoff. Here are some of the ways aeration can benefit your lawn:

Breaks Up Compact Soil

Soil naturally compacts over time, whether you have a lawn with low, medium, or high foot traffic. But when the soil compacts, it limits the amount of air, water, and nutrients that can reach the roots of your grass and other plants. It also makes it harder for the roots to strengthen and grow. Weak roots can make your lawn look less full while making your grass more vulnerable to disease and stress.

Allows in Air and Nutrients

By breaking up the soil and creating small holes throughout the lawn, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and other nutrients can reach deeper into the soil, and grass roots can take in more of these essential elements they need to grow.

Improves Water Efficiency

When watering your lawn, you may notice some of the water tends to pool on the grass or run off into the driveway or street, instead of soaking into the ground. When that happens, you’re spending money on wasted water. 

But with lawn aeration, you create small pockets throughout the lawn and break up the compacted soil, so more of the water can soak into the ground and reach grass and other plant roots. Not only does this waste less water, but it also gets more water to your plants to help them grow.

Reduces Thatch 

Thatch is a buildup of dead plant matter, like leaves, plant stems, and roots, that forms right on top of soil. A layer of thatch thicker than one inch is a problem for grass. It can trap moisture, which rots the base of the grass and prevents enough water from reaching the roots. If you mow over thick thatch, which becomes tightly interwoven, you can accidentally mow the lawn too short, leaving your grass vulnerable to pests and disease.

Knowing how to dethatch a lawn is helpful, as this process prevents decaying organic matter from suffocating and killing off grass stems. Aerating can also help break up and reduce thatch, but keep in mind this isn’t an alternative to dethatching. For a healthy lawn, you’ll want to dethatch about once every year or two. If you plan to both aerate and dethatch, it’s best to dethatch first.

Improves Seed to Soil Contact

If you’re preparing to lay new grass seed or other plant seeds, aeration can help prepare the land for the seed to thrive. The newly created holes mean more seeds make contact with the soil and have a better chance of germinating. That means you’re wasting less seeds and less money.

How Much Does Lawn Aeration Cost?

Lawn aeration costs about $75 to $210 for a 10,000-square-foot lawn, or about $0.10 to $0.35 per square foot for smaller lawns. For bigger properties, expect to spend about $480 to $650 per acre.

There are multiple options when it comes to paying for lawn aeration. You can learn how to aerate a lawn the DIY way with manual coring tools, spike aerating shoes, rolling aerators, or even larger gas-powered aerators that you can rent at local home improvement stores. Smaller tools cost about $30 to $150, while rentals may cost around $100 per day. Add on the amount of time spent aerating, and you’ll find that hiring a local lawn aeration pro isn’t just more convenient—it’s often a more budget-friendly choice, too.