Aeration is a crucial lawn care service that loosens compacted soil to improve the flow of nutrients, water, air, and sunlight to the roots of your grass. There are two methods of aeration: core and liquid. Core aeration involves using an aerator to mechanically pull up plugs of soil, whereas liquid aeration involves applying a liquid treatment across your lawn that creates tiny pores in the soil. While both methods are beneficial, core aeration is better for lawns in Tennessee with heavily compacted soil and provides results quicker, making it a top choice over its counterpart. However, you'll want to always hire pros to perform this service to ensure it's done right and at the ideal time so your grass can tolerate the process.

What's the difference between core aeration and liquid aeration?

Worker performing core aeration on a lawn in Memphis, TN.

Core and liquid aeration are two methods of achieving the same goal: to loosen compacted soil and make it easier for nutrients, water, air, and sunlight to reach the roots of your grass. However, they do so differently. Core aeration involves passing over your turf with an aerator machine, which pulls up hundreds of soil cores and leaves holes in the ground. These holes serve as passageways for those essential resources to penetrate the soil, making them more accessible to your grass. Meanwhile, liquid aeration involves applying a liquid treatment across your lawn that creates tiny pores in the soil. These treatments also typically contain beneficial microbes that help break down the hard, packed soil particles, improving structure and resource flow.

Which aeration method is better - core or liquid?

While both core and liquid aeration methods offer great benefits, the former tends to prove more effective. After all, core aeration is perfect for lawns with heavily compacted soil because it's highly effective at loosening it, whereas liquid aeration may have more trouble perforating it. Not only that, but core aeration provides results quicker! That's because liquid aeration typically requires multiple applications over time to yield the same results. So, if you want to ensure your lawn has optimal access to everything it needs to thrive in less time, core aeration is the top choice.

You can leave the soil cores on your lawn after core aeration because they return nutrients as they decompose.

Always Hire Pros to Aerate Your Lawn

If you plan on aerating your lawn, you'll always want to hire pros to perform it. Aerating your lawn yourself can be risky, as you could damage it if you don't know what you're doing. On the other hand, professionals have the skills, knowledge, and experience to do it right, plus the proper equipment. They'll also know when to perform it to ensure your grass can withstand the process and yield the best results. For example, they'll aerate cool-season lawns in the fall and warm-season lawns in late spring, as this is when they're at their strongest and can recover quickly. That way, you can rest easy knowing your lawn is in good hands and will reap the most benefits from aeration.

Call us today to sign up for our core aeration service!

At Herbi-Systems, we offer a core aeration service to help your lawn reach its full potential! Our team will pass over your turf with our aerator to loosen compacted soil and create passageways for nutrients and resources to reach its roots more easily. We perform this service from the beginning of June to mid-July for warm-season lawns and in September and October for cool-season types. That way, your turf has ideal conditions to recover quickly and intake everything it needs in preparation for the summer and winter, respectively.

We offer our core aeration service to residential and commercial properties, as well as HOAs, in Memphis, Collierville, Germantown, and other nearby areas in Tennessee. Call us today at (901) 382-5296 to sign up for this service!