Liquid Aeration
The goal of aerating a lawn is to get more oxygen, water and nutrients into the root zone. Improving the aeration within the soil is especially beneficial to lawns that are growing in clay or compacted soils.
The benefits of liquid aeration:
- Creates fractures within the soil allowing for deeper penetration of water; roots will in turn follow, making nutrients available that were previously unreachable by the plant.
- Can be done anytime during the growing season.
- Covers the entire lawn.
- There is no need to mark sprinkler heads, invisible fences or cable lines.
What is Humic Acid?
Humic acid is a natural soil conditioner that acts as an organic chelator and microbial stimulator. It has a unique carbon matrix which includes a high concentration of trace minerals and organic acids. Humic acid enhances the plant’s ability to take in essential nutrients and improves soil structure.
Proven Humic Acid benefits
- Increases soil carbon
- Improves germination and viability of seeds
- Chelates macro and micro nutrients to increase availability to the plant for a longer period of time
- Increases cation exchange capacity (CEC)
- Improves soil structure for better aeration and water movement
- Stimulates beneficial microorganisms, which can improve long-term soil pHC
Aeration
Aeration is a crucial and important service to have preformed on your lawn to help keep your soil healthy. Here are some reasons on why it’s so important to aerate:
Reduces Soil Compaction
When soil, especially clay soil, becomes compacted the grass has difficulty developing deep roots in it leaving it susceptible to drought stress because of the shallow roots.
Reduces Thatch Build-up
The Microbial component to our liquid aeration feeds the soil Biome. These bacteria and fungi eat the dead grass plant parts (thatch) and circulates those nutrients back into the soil to feed the grass. A thin layer of thatch (1/4 inch) acts as a mulch stabilizing soil temperature and holding in moisture. Excessive thatch (over 1/4 inch) becomes a home for surface insect pests such as Chinch Bugs and Sod webworms. The extra humidity it holds also creates the perfect environment for Dollar Spot and other harmful fungal pathogens to live.
Allows deeper water penetration
With the soil less compact the water from rain or a sprinkler will penetrate deeper and reduce the run-off that can happen. Deeper water = deeper roots and healthier, stronger turf.
Allows more air in the soil
Grass roots without air will drown. That’s why over watering lawns will lead to Blue Grass die-back and promote Bentgrass to take over in patches. Even grass roots need air so aeration improves this and also leads us back to one deep soak for watering each week as the best watering practice (see above).
Allows fertilizer to reach the roots more easily
Fertilizer is absorbed primarily through the roots. When the soil is compacted you will have more run-off of fertilizer and less of it being absorbed into the soil.
When should we have the lawn aerated?
When we used to offer core aeration we would recommend early fall for aeration because of the cooler damp weather at that time of year. Now that we have switched to the more effective liquid aeration we can apply this at any time of year to get the soil loosened up.