[dsnrbec]

We just closed on a new house with zoysia grass and have been getting mixed signals about aeration. Some lawncare guys say it should be done once a year and others say never. Does anyone with zoysia have experience with this?

[graciegirl]

We have Zoysia but have not had the lawn aerated in the two years we've owned here. We do in Ohio, but the soil is mostly hard compacted clay and it would make sense to let some air in. Here it is sand and the second you would pull the thing that pokes holes in it ........out, it would just squash back together again.

Gracie. Not a botanist.

[English Ivy]

Maybe it will depend on what kind of soil you have in your yard. Gracie has sand in Hadley but our yard in Bonita is mostly clay. Our previous yard in Duval was also more clay than sand. Massey takes care of our yard and has aerated each year. Certainly doesn't seem to hurt it.

[graciegirl]

Who knew there was different dirt? I will lodge a complaint. ( I am trying to change my personality)

[chuckinca]

Who would have thunk - clay on a sand dune!


We have owned for five years and not aerated - all sand in our area.

In CA SF Eastbay our yard was mostly clay and didn't aerate there either.



.

[redwitch]

I'm with chuck -- Northern California "soil" is pretty much clay, at least in and near San Francisco. Never aerated. I did know people who did. My lawns looked as good as theirs did (great when no drought, dead and gone after a serious drought). I've seen lawns aerated here -- doesn't seem to hurt them but not convinced if it really helps.

[mulligan]

The only thing I can add to the conversation is the fact that with a new house, you had construction equipment in all shapes and forms running around the yard for several months. Probably did a pretty good job compacting the soil, no matter what type it is. IMHO, aeration, at least one time, certainly couldn't hurt.

[villages07]

I have Massey and they aerate every year. The first year they did a very poor job as the soil was rock hard and they just didn't pull up any plugs. Didn't seem to do any good.

The second year, they did a great job of aeration and the lawn just seemed to spring back to life soon thereafter. Maybe coincidence but I was just about to fire them before this happened because the lawn just didn't look good.

Now, I am very pleased with our 4 year old lawn and look forward to the annual aeration. I think we have a combination of sand and clay in our yard.

[Tom Hannon]

I live in Buttonwood and I don't know what kind of soil I have. All I know is--A neighbor emailed me saying my grass was the greenest on the block. Not sure why, but I'm not complaining.

[784caroline]

A group of neighbors just got together last week and had Massey aerate about 10 lawns (designer homes). Dont know what an individual lawn would cost but we paid $65 per lawn. Never had it done in 4 years so I just figured it was time. It will not hurt the lawn but certainly can help it.

A good suggestion by TRUSCAPETURF..deep water before you aerate....Watering will make the ground/soil/clay whatever you have more penetrable allowing more and deeper cores to be removed.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by truscapeturf

Aeration is always recommended at least once a year. The biggest deciding factor on how many and when has to do with what kind of Fertilizer program you are on. If you get 4 treatments or less you can get away with one. Any more you will need at least two.


You want to water deeply for two days prior to getting an aeration to get the best results. It's also good to time that service with an over seeding and fertilizer treatment to see a nice result.

Hey there neighbor! I live in Beckett Ridge!