Too Late to Aerate My Lawn?

[cyfanatic]

These cold temperatures snuck up on me! Just wondering...is it too late to aerate my lawn? Lawn seems to be in great shape...but very thick! Moved into this place last spring...no trees so I won't be raking this fall. Should I go ahead and aerate it?

Guess I should state that I live in Cedar Rapids...if you were wondering about the temps...

 

[Al_4_State]

I used to work for a lawn care/landscaping company, and they would aerate in mid-November yet. My guess is that it isn't too late.

 

[cyfanatic]

I used to work for a lawn care/landscaping company, and they would aerate in mid-November yet. My guess is that it isn't too late.

Cool...thanks! Guess I better get it done before it snows too much LOL! I was looking at webcam shots of the Twin Cities and got spooked! Looks like December up there!

 

[Cyznutz]

I've never really understood the whole point of aerating ones lawn. Can anyone elaborate?

 

[zach]

I've never really understood the whole point of aerating ones lawn. Can anyone elaborate?

Oxygen to the roots...better root growth.

 

[Cyznutz]

I see

 

[3TrueFans]

Is it too early to completely forget about my lawn until spring?

 

[brianhos]

It is only too late after the ground is frozen. This is a great time to do it, and put the last step of fertilizer on. Then wait a week and buzz it off nice and short and clean up all the leaves.

 

[Cylax51]

just did mine this weekend. Great time as the ground is fairly soft right now.

 

[cyfanatic]

Do you aerate twice a year or just once?

 

[mj4cy]

Doing mine on Wednesday.

 

[CYdTracked]

I'm debating if I am going to wait till all the leaves fall to mow or mow now and 1 more time before winter after that. Bet its been a month and I put fertilizer down about 2-3 weeks ago so grass definitely is tall enough but I hate how the leaves fill the bagger up much quicker.

 

[brianhos]

I'm debating if I am going to wait till all the leaves fall to mow or mow now and 1 more time before winter after that. Bet its been a month and I put fertilizer down about 2-3 weeks ago so grass definitely is tall enough but I hate how the leaves fill the bagger up much quicker.

When I get lots of leaves, I put it in mulch mode. It grinds them up pretty good, and I figure it is good fertilizer for the lawn. Of course then the kids are ticked off because they cannot jump in the leaves.

 

[aeroclone]

When I get lots of leaves, I put it in mulch mode. It grinds them up pretty good, and I figure it is good fertilizer for the lawn. Of course then the kids are ticked off because they cannot jump in the leaves.

I go this route as well. I don't have the biggest trees, so I don't have a ton of leaves. But I just set the mower to mulch and send them off to meet their maker. Maybe it is good fertilizer and maybe not, I really don't care. The fact of the matter is I mulch instead of raking because I'm pretty lazy. :biggrin:

 

[CYdTracked]

I'm skeptical about if leaves make good mulch for lawns. They are kind of toxic in a way because if you let a pile of them sit too long on your lawn nothing grows there next year. I've even had thin dead streaks in my lawn from where the bager got full and it left a line of mulched leaves till I emptied the bag. I guess if you don't let them stay on too thick it is OK. Just read where if you keep on top of it while they are falling and mulch them every few days it works better than after they have all fallen because then it will bee too much leaf mulch. Problem right now is grass is tall and thick enough I really don't want to add some thatch in with the leaves.