How do we relieve soil compaction?

The key to a healthy lawn is a healthy soil so here at Lawntech, we understand the importance of getting to know your soil type and its components.

When your soil is compacted, your grass plants simply can’t grow well. Understanding the reasons for soil compaction and taking the right steps to relieve this, will allow your lawn to flourish.

Why is a healthy soil important?

Generally, around half of a healthy soil is made of up of pore space. This pore space enables elements such as oxygen and moisture to pass down into the soil to allow it to breathe. Access to these vital elements and nutrients is crucial for bacteria, worms, and other organisms in your soil to survive. It’s these key elements and organisms that contribute to a healthy soil ecosystem and encourage your grass plants to grow.

When your soil becomes compressed the pore space is heavily reduced. This means the amount of air and moisture your soil can hold is limited. This compaction suffocates the soil, and your grass plants suffer as a result.

Taking care of your lawn’s soil and relieving its compaction is key to a healthy lawn. Check out the soil cores being pulled out of the ground by one of Lawntech’s Aerators.

So, how can I manage soil compaction?

At Lawntech, we recommend an Aeration to relieve soil compaction, assist water penetration and aid nutrient efficiency. This is a key part in maintaining your lawns health and keeping it in good condition, so we recommend this is carried out regularly.

Our lawn care professionals use specialist machines to carry out solid or hollow tine aeration depending on the type of soil you have.

Aeration greatly improves soil and root structure by relieving compaction, root-pruning and penetrating cores into the sub-surface, which allow vital nutrients, air and water to enrich the soil.

Solid or hollow tine aeration, what’s the difference?

Hollow tine aeration is the process of mechanically removing thousands of small deep cores of subsurface thatch and soil from your lawn to allow oxygen, nutrients, and water to penetrate deep into the root zone.

Soild tine aeration is similar to hollow tine aeration but instead of removing soil cores, metal spikes push soil deeper into the ground.

There is much debate in the turf industry on which is most beneficial, but either process is better than doing nothing. The deeper you can aerate, the better it will be. You can carry out solid tine aeration in situations where hollow tine aeration might not be appropriate, for example on heavy clay soil where lots of cores left on the surface could be problematic or in situations where quick recovery is essential.

Before, during an after an Aeration treatment. How the lawn benefits, in 3 stages.

When is the best time to carry out aeration?

If you soil is showing signs of compaction, then Autumn is the optimum time to carry out an aeration and relieve your soil of this stress.

That said, an aeration can be carried out at any time of year providing the lawn is not frozen, water-logged, or suffering from drought. Spring and late autumn are the optimum times to carry out lawn aeration.