Aerate again in Fall??

[SKIQUATTRO]

I Aerated for the 1st time ever about a month ago, applied a new growth fert and seed....except for a few patchs, the lawn is looking great..I'll be applying fertilizer in another week....i have 2 kids that play in the yard all summer (soil gets compacted) and the sun beats on it....should i aerate again and overseed in the fall?? I'm on Long Island, NY...do not have an inground sprinkler system...

[larryinalabama]

Yes, I would do it again in the fall

[rachael24]

Wouldnt hurt!

[turfcobob]

When turf is used alot i.e. golf courses for instance they aerate a bunch. Even little feet can compact the top layer pretty quick. So to answer your question fall and spring for your lawn would be a good idea. Also a late fall fertilizer application after you aerate and put out seed is a good plan. The soil moves all winter and will have the fert in the root area come spring. I do that here in Nebraska and it jump starts my lawn in the spring.

[ponyboy]

personally, we do it in the fall if you do it in the spring you are going to allow more crabgrass to come up and weeds in general. We apply pre-m(yes we are liscened) in spring and work on the weeds for the year then after the summer damage we do our renavation work, thatch,slicer seed and aerate add some water and you have sod like quality. When you areate you should be doing it 2 times each in a differnt direction one pass does abvout 7% of the lawn 2xs is about 15%. Then next year try to wait until the fall again . when you do it in the fall try to water the groung for 2 days before or wait untill we get some good rain then do it you will get better and deeper plugs

[Stillwater]

go for it...

[SKIQUATTRO]

thanks...by the time i thought of aerating it was too late and i missed the fall aeration, so i figured the spring was better than nothing...I'll do the fall this season, then just wait till the following fall...after you aerate and waiting for the plus to dry, would it be advisable to throw down some top soil, fert, seed then rake it all in???

[ponyboy]

we do not top dress you can, what type of soil do you have and do you know your ph?

[Stillwater]

If I top dress I use compost and not loam or topsoil unless I have some laying around

[ponyboy]

even sand it all depends on what type of soil you have, one of the biggest pronlem i see is customers ph is off measuer the level and lime it kinda like a multi vitiam for your body and next year when your ph is normal all your chemical app will work better then that will help keep your grass roots under less stress and keeping your lawn looking better

[kenny s]

ponyboy,
I read your reply to skiquattro in regards to aerating his lawn. I have a small lawn maint. business in northern NJ and I have always thatched and core aerated my lawns in the spring clean up because I have the time then to do it. Your advice and reasoning for doing it in the fall is sound. I just recently learned this from Lesco. By aerating in the spring, you allow crabgrass andother weeds to grow much easier. I never realized this!! That would explain why after I put down Pre-emergence in the spring clean up, the crabrass still grows to a degree. I am going to try to start to core aerate and over seed in the fall starting this season before the leaf blowing season. You know what that is like, and how you beat up a lawn with blowers. I am a one man operation with about 26 accounts, but I am going to try to do the aeration this fall. I have some lawns that could use thickening up and be more lush. Maybe the advice you gave is the answer for me. I went to Lesco to look at their Lawn Renovator and discuss my situation with them. I would love to get one and use it to overseed each lawn in the fall as part of my service. They are expensive, and the fellow at Lesco told me to try the core aeration and over seeding with a broadcast spreader and see the results before I invest $3400.00 in a machine I am only going to use part of the season. Do you find your power seeder worth the investment and does it produce the results I want, thicker, lusher lawns.
Thank you,
Kenny S

[Stillwater]

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