Hard freeze coming up, when to aerate?

dinosaur1 · 10-01-2012, 06:31 PM

Here in WI we will be having a hard freeze coming up this weekend. The temps have been in the high 60's lately. I have a small yard so I just manually aerate. The last rain that we had was over a week ago. When would be a good time to aerate? I know that it's usually a day or two after a rainstorm, but in my case there's no rain and a hard freeze coming up. Help!

Thanks....

creeper · 10-01-2012, 07:29 PM

I'd just wait until spring

sdsester · 10-01-2012, 07:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by creeper

I'd just wait until spring

Canadians, our lazy half French neighbors to the North, would wait for anything but you serve no purpose aerating ground this late. Jan is right. Wait until after the spring thaw.

creeper · 10-01-2012, 07:45 PM

Merci

dinosaur1 · 10-02-2012, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sdsester

Canadians, our lazy half French neighbors to the North, would wait for anything but you serve no purpose aerating ground this late. Jan is right. Wait until after the spring thaw.

I usually aerate in fall so that the fertilzer gets down as deep as possible before winter.

concretemasonry · 10-02-2012, 06:43 PM

dinosaur -

Have you though that the fertilizer can wash down as much a 6" into the core holes, which is beyond most (or all) of the root growth. After that is just goes deeper and never gets a chance to do much. Maybe a surface application will get more fertilizer to the active roots.

Dick

chrisn · 10-03-2012, 04:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by concretemasonry

dinosaur -

Have you though that the fertilizer can wash down as much a 6" into the core holes, which is beyond most (or all) of the root growth. After that is just goes deeper and never gets a chance to do much. Maybe a surface application will get more fertilizer to the active roots.

Dick

helps the trees

Plump · 10-03-2012, 04:50 PM

Aeration helps with gas infiltration and exchange more than anything and is a good thing to do nearly anytime of the year (hot summer weeks notwithstanding). It's a perfectly acceptable time to do it as well as spring, late spring, late summer, early fall, mid-fall. Aeration is an incredibly healthy thing to do for your lawn...especially if you're going to do some top dressing and/or over-seeding.

Golf courses aerate right now as well. Ask their greenskeeper what he/she thinks.

Finally, 6" is quite a deep penetration that you will likely not get nor need from your aerator.

dinosaur1 · 10-05-2012, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plump

Aeration helps with gas infiltration and exchange more than anything and is a good thing to do nearly anytime of the year (hot summer weeks notwithstanding). It's a perfectly acceptable time to do it as well as spring, late spring, late summer, early fall, mid-fall. Aeration is an incredibly healthy thing to do for your lawn...especially if you're going to do some top dressing and/or over-seeding.

Golf courses aerate right now as well. Ask their greenskeeper what he/she thinks.

Finally, 6" is quite a deep penetration that you will likely not get nor need from your aerator.

So even after a hard frost like the one we will have tonight it's still ok to aerate this early in fall? When should I put the Scott's Winterguard down? I normally cut my lawn, aerate and then apply fertilizer around this time of the year, but this hard frost worries me.

dinosaur1 · 10-05-2012, 06:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dinosaur1

So even after a hard frost like the one we will have tonight it's still ok to aerate this early in fall? When should I put the Scott's Winterguard down? I normally cut my lawn, aerate and then apply fertilizer around this time of the year, but this hard frost worries me.

Our forecast calls for close to 70 degrees by the 15th. Until then...high 50's.

dinosaur1 · 10-06-2012, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sdsester

Canadians, our lazy half French neighbors to the North, would wait for anything but you serve no purpose aerating ground this late. Jan is right. Wait until after the spring thaw.

Spring aeration exposes a lot of bare soil to warm season weed seeds like crabgrass

dinosaur1 · 10-11-2012, 05:00 PM

hard freeze tonight. Looks like I won't be able to aerate or even apply the fall fertilzer.

jomama45 · 10-11-2012, 06:12 PM

As dry as it is, and subsequently how hard the soil is, I don't think you'll have any luck attempting to aerate now. We probably need a good soaking, like 2-4" of rain, before the ground will soften enough.........

dinosaur1 · 10-11-2012, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jomama45

As dry as it is, and subsequently how hard the soil is, I don't think you'll have any luck attempting to aerate now. We probably need a good soaking, like 2-4" of rain, before the ground will soften enough.........

What about fertilizing?

dinosaur1 · 10-11-2012, 06:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jomama45

As dry as it is, and subsequently how hard the soil is, I don't think you'll have any luck attempting to aerate now. We probably need a good soaking, like 2-4" of rain, before the ground will soften enough.........

I normally aerate around mid October. The freeze came way too early this year. I just hope that I won't be paying for it in Spring.