Listen closely, and you might hear a strangled lawn screaming, “I can’t breathe.”
Thick thatch and compressed soil stifle lawn roots and prevent air, water and nutrients from breaking through, despite adequate water and fertilization. Aeration is CPR for suffocating turf. It opens up lawn lungs and relieves compaction through the removal of ½-inch diameter plugs of thatch and soil.
Cliff Drezek, manager, Green Lawns Plus, Marlboro, Mass., compares aeration to farmers turning over the soil in their fields. “Like the fields, aeration exposes lawn roots to air, killing the germs and bacteria harming the lawn, controlling the thatch, relieving the compaction and enhancing the lawn’s ability to absorb water and fertilizer,” he said. “Overall, aeration promotes long-term lawn survival.”
But to offer aeration effectively, contractors, like people who get certified to offer CPR, must learn the lingo so they can educate clients thoroughly, aerate the lawn correctly, price the service accordingly and develop a successful service system.
COMPACTION: THE SILENT KILLER. Turf troubles start when plants grow quickly and the intensity constricts the top 4 inches of soil, shrinking pores and blocking air, water and nutrients from grass roots. “A compacted layer as thin as ¼ to ½ inch can greatly impede water infiltration, nutrient penetration and gaseous exchange between the soil and the atmosphere,” pointed out John Harper, extension agronomist, Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences, University Park, Pa.
| THEORIES ON THATCH |
Thatch is a layer of undecomposed turf stems and roots that accumulate near the soil surface. Thatch, though a normal part of every lawn, can become harmful when the layer exceeds ½ inch because turf will then root into the thatch instead of the soil, making the lawn weak. Dethatching machines, power rakers or vertical mowers help control thatch. These machines rip into the lawn surface and pull up dormant turf tissue and a little of the thatch surface, explained Cliff Drezek, manager, Green Lawns Plus, Marlboro, Mass. But they also can cause lawn damage if not used correctly, he said. “If these machines are set too low, they can pull up too much good turf growth instead of thatch,” he explained. In addition to being labor intensive, dethatching machines have negatively affected crabgrass control in Drezek’s experience. “We try to talk clients who contract other landscapers for dethatching into doing it in the fall vs. spring so it doesn’t affect their crabgrass control,” he said. “A lot of times, in the spring, we don’t know a lawn has been dethatched and the efficacy is affected anyway.” Drezek pointed out that aeration can control thatch just as much as dethatching can, and sometimes more. “For thick thatch build-up, aeration is sometimes more beneficial because the dethatching blades don’t go down as deep as the aeration ones and crabgrass control isn’t as negatively affected,” he said. – Nicole Wisniewski |
As this pressure intensifies, grass plants become powerless against weeds and are slow to recover from traffic or mower injury. They also become lazy and refuse to take in fertilizer or drain water – symptoms that falsely alert lawn care operators of other villains when, in fact, compaction is the criminal. “Insects, diseases, nematodes, improper watering and a lack of fertilizer are often blamed for a lawn’s decline when the real culprit is compaction,” maintained Bob Polomski, extension consumer horticulturist, Clemson University, Clemson, S.C.
Compaction also has adverse effects on the earthworms and microorganisms that decompose decaying plant parts below the soil surface. Consequently, these living and dead roots, crowns, and lower turf shoots are no longer exposed to air that breaks them apart. Instead, they build and form thatch, which can weaken or even destroy a lawn if not prevented or removed, Drezek warned. “Over a period of time, the natural decomposition process can only go so fast, and the thatch level can get ahead of that,” he said. “And thatch accumulates faster on compacted soils, heavy clay soils and subsoils that are disturbed during construction,” Polomski added. “Left unmanaged, thatch can lead to serious maintenance and pest problems.”
When soil is compacted, the solution is straightforward: aerate, Polomski said. “Aeration enhances the decomposition process so oxygen can reach the lawn roots and stimulate bacteria that aids the decomposition process,” Drezek agreed.
Though unfit lawns require aeration, “all lawns are prime candidates for it,” pointed out John Muehlbauer, owner, M&K Lawn Services, Sheboygan Falls, Wis. “And aeration decreases the level of water runoff by 30 percent, meaning you can water less.” Many of Paul Wagner’s clients have thatch-ridden, bluegrass sod that was installed in clay soil void of a healthy topsoil layer. “These bluegrass lawns with heavy thatch are prone to disease,” said the president of Masters Green, Walled Lake, Mich.
And Dominic Carlos’ San Diego clients have a mix of warm- and cool-season grasses, including some, like bluegrass, which doesn’t perform well in the summer, and others, like Bermudagrass, which can be aerated most of the year except for January. “Bermudagrass is dormant in January and no matter how much water or fertilizer we give it, it won’t green up,” explained Carlos, president, Four Seasons Aeration & Thatch.
Aeration success is best achieved in spring or fall. Timing is based on location, turf type and desired results. Muehlbauer aerates between the first spring mowing and the initial fertilizer application. If he doesn’t aerate during spring, fall is just as good – enhancing root growth and improving spring green-up of cool-season grasses. “Again, you want to do it before a fertilizer treatment,” he suggested. “If you aerate after a fertilization treatment, you could encourage weeds to germinate and grow in the lawn.”
Drezek also deals with cool-season Kentucky bluegrass lawns that react well to spring and fall aeration. But summer’s high temperatures stress this turf, so he avoids aeration at this time. As far as spring or fall aeration is concerned, each season has its benefits, but fall has an added bonus for Drezek. “In spring, aeration is a nice pick-me-up because turf is already growing and vibrant,” he said. “But in the fall, you see more filling-in action because the lawn is recovering from the ravage of summer.”
However, this is only the case with turf like Kentucky bluegrass that produces rhizomes or underground stems that yield new bluegrass plants and spread rapidly, Drezek said. Bunch-type grasses, which are slower to reproduce, may not benefit as much from the growth stimulation of fall aeration. The intensity of lawn troubles will indicate how often aeration is needed, Muehlbauer said. “Usually, annually is sufficient,” he remarked. “With repeated aerations over time, the lawn will show improved tolerance to heat and drought stress. Customers should not expect miracles after a single aeration.”
THE AERATION ADVANTAGE. Carlos has been offering aeration since the mid-1970s, when it was an easy add-on service in Southern California because the primarily cool-season residential lawns were close and flat. “Over the last 15 years, the service has become its own industry,” he said. A successful marketing strategy for Carlos includes scheduling as many jobs in a five-block-radius neighborhood as possible on the same day. “Then, when our sales representatives call the area, they call that specific zip code,” he explained. “And the education process is easier because clients can see what the lawn looks like before and after and how the aeration process works.”
His salespeople also distribute door hangers and conduct door-to-door service sign-ups in evenings when his 90-percent residential client base is home from work. All clients are entered into a database and are categorized based on lawn type to ensure adequate service timing. After aeration, Carlos said his “silver bullet” is an immediate fertilization treatment. “Fertilization after aeration is like force-feeding it, and the lawn looks almost instantly like you painted it bright green – it’s the greenest lawn on the street two weeks later,” he said. “If you don’t fertilize, you’ll still get the benefits of aeration, but you won’t see a green-up that fast.”
Most contractors don’t include aeration in their regular maintenance programs. For instance, Wagner keeps aeration separate from his normal five- or six-application lawn care program, and about 30 percent of his clients order aeration sometime during the season. Just as service offerings vary, so does pricing. Most contractors price their service by square footage. Drezek’s prices in Massachusetts range from $8 to $12 per square foot, depending on service difficulty and lawn obstructions, such as gates or trees. He said an average 6,000-square-foot lawn is priced at approximately $72, but if the lawn is more than 10,000 square feet, the price increases.
Muehlbauer prices aeration based on every 500 square feet, so an average 6,000-square-foot lawn is about $110 in Wisconsin. Wagner said his minimum price in Michigan is $66, and jobs are typically priced $11 to $13 per 1,000 square feet.
Carlos offers aeration for a minimum of $40 for any yard between 500 and 1,000 square feet in California. If a client wants the back yard aerated as well, he’ll offer that at a 50 percent discount if it is similar in size to the front yard. These prices are for the first 2,500 square feet. Then, he charges $10 for every additional 1,000 square feet. “I stick to my prices,” Carlos said. “The guys out there selling it for less use cheaper machines and don’t fix problems or instruct clients on care.”
| THE PLUG PROBLEM |
After aeration, the lawn is full of small dirt plugs. “They dry up after two or three mowings and melt back into the soil,” explained Dominic Carlos, president, Four Seasons Aeration & Thatch, San Diego, Calif. “It’s an added topdressing.” Today, since clients are more educated on aeration, they rarely ask contractors to remove these soil plugs from the lawn because they understand their benefit. Instead, contractors said they are more interested in having clean, dirt- and mud-free driveways and sidewalks after the service. Every once in awhile, a client will ask Carlos to clean up soil plugs instead of leaving them – but for this process, his price increases. “Very rarely do we get a customer who can’t stand the soil plugs,” he said. “But if a client insists on it, we charge them double price for the aeration.” – Nicole Wisniewski |
DO IT RIGHT. There are two basic types of aerators contractors can purchase: rolling machines, which rotate metal rods around a drum to extract cores, and reciprocating machines, which punch up and down with force to penetrate soil and pull up cores. Since both machines puncture the soil with force, the first step in a successful service is checking for any lawn systems that are buried within the first 3 inches of soil and flagging elements, like sprinkler heads, to avoid unnecessary damage. In addition to irrigation systems, contractors should make sure to ask clients about invisible fences and landscape lighting, which also tend to be installed close to the surface.
Since avoiding these lines isn’t always possible, many contractors, like Drezek and Carlos, carry small repair kits that include tools and replacement parts for punctured piping or damaged irrigation heads. To make sure his kit included the right equipment, Drezek consulted irrigation manufacturers for advice. Carlos said having this tool kit is essential for sufficient customer service. “We can’t say it’s the client’s fault – even if they didn’t tell us about their invisible fence,” he commented. “Ninety percent of the people we service aren’t home, so we don’t want them to come home to a broken system. Instead, we flag everything the best we can, turn the system on afterward to make sure it’s OK, fix any problems that result, and leave the client with service sheets and maintenance instructions. Customers respect that if we break something, we’re going to fix it.”
Prior to aeration, Carlos advised contractors to remind clients that their lawns need to be slightly moist – not soaking wet. During the service, staying in straight lines with the machine is important to avoid tearing up turf, particularly if the grass isn’t deep-rooted, Drezek pointed out.
Afterward, cleanup is crucial. Wagner suggested contractors clear concrete areas of any cores or fertilizer. Carlos agreed. “You can’t leave muddy tracks all over the sidewalk,” he insisted. “You have to make sure you do a thorough job – your reputation depends on it, and you’ll gain more clients because of it.”
The author is Managing Editor of Lawn & Landscape magazine.
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