Compacted Lawn Soils

Compacted Hard Lawn Soils

The soils underneath lawns naturally become compacted over time as lawns are walked on, played on and even driven on or ridden on by cars and kids bikes.

The affect of compacted lawn soils is that the soil granules are become so tightly squashed together that water, oxygen and nutrients can no longer flow freely within the soil and to the roots of the lawn. The roots of the lawn will also become restricted and will have a stunted growth which further impacts lawn health most severely. As the problem continues to get worse over time, the lawn will become sickly and often feeling hard under foot, eventually reaching a stage of continuing poor lawn health.

A compacted soil will not repair itself, no matter how much fertiliser, wetting agents, or organic matter we add in our lawn care practices. The only cure for soil compaction is lawn aeration.

Lawn Core Aeration

Lawn coring is a process which uses a lawn coring machine to aerate lawn soils. As the lawn coring machine travels across the lawn, it will remove plugs of soil, lawn and thatch, and leaving the lawn filled with open holes.

After lawn core aeration is completed, the lawn and soil is then further treated to aid in it's health, it's repair, and most importantly to aid in allowing the soil to properly transfer water through it's profile. These things are done with an application of fertiliser and wetting agents directly after the lawn coring process if finished.

Clay Soils

Some soils underneath lawns become more compacted, more quickly due to having a high clay component. These types of soils should have an application of Gypsum Clay Breaker added to the lawn directly after the coring process is completed also to aid in breaking up clay soils.

Ongoing Lawn Care

If the lawn is regularly subjected to becoming compacted, then consideration should be given to making lawn core aeration a regular part of the lawn care routines for the property. In these cases, the lawn should be cored every 1-3 years.