The Lawn Coring and Aeration Process

The process of lawn coring involves a lawn coring machine being moved over a lawn removing plugs of turf and soil as it progresses.

The lawn coring machine is equipped with hollow tubes called tines, which are punched through the lawn and into the soil by the machine as it advances over the lawn. Each tine removes a plug of soil and turf from the lawn, leaving the plugs on the surface as the machine progresses.

At the completion of the coring a rotary mower is normally used to clean up the plugs left on the lawn. A quality fertiliser and wetting agents are then usually applied, to be watered in by the home owner.

Why Aerate a Lawn?

An important requirement of all plants including turf is to have oxygen available within the soil that can be used and absorbed by the root system. Many lawns can become compacted over time by the constant wear they are subjected to, or an excessive buildup of organic material can water-log the soil, starving it of the oxygen it requires.

Alternatively the same processes can prevent water from soaking into the soil effectively.

And finally, soils of older lawns can become extremely root bound, choked with old and dead roots from many years prior, leaving nowhere for new roots to set down and effectively receive the nutrients it requires.

Lawn coring leaves thousands of hollow tube like holes all over the lawn, allowing water, oxygen and nutrients to instantly flood into the root zone.

For a lawn thats been suffering from any of the above symptoms, lawn coring can be like an amazing Turbo Charged Boost. And for all of the above reasons, lawn coring or any other method of lawn aeration should be a part of our lawn care regimen.

What Happens To The Holes After Lawn Coring?

O.K.

We’ve just finished covering your lawn with tubular holes!

All this leads to the question... “what happens to the holes?”

You may be thinking... “I don’t want a lawn full of holes!”

There are two options to consider:

• Fill the holes with thick grained sand which allows the free flow of oxygen, water and nutrients into the root zone.
• Leaving the holes open allows even greater benefits to the lawn. After a very short period of time the lawn coring holes will be covered with new runners and top growth, and the roots will quickly spread to fill the holes in the soil. The greatest benefit of this method is that the holes continue to remain open and free flowing for a very long period of time.
• When using the rotary mower to clean up after lawn coring, the catcher is taken off the lawn mower and the lawn is mowed over. Using this process the plugs are all broken up into it's sand, soil and debris components, in this way some of the loose particles are turned into a light top dressing for the lawn.

Options two and three are always the preferred options with the greatest benefits for our lawn care which continues for a longer period of time.

Never fill the holes with any organic soil. This will simply return the lawn to the same problem of compaction very quickly.

What Results To Expect From Lawn Coring

Providing the lawn is receiving adequate supplies of sun, soil warmth, nutrients and water, the lawn should take off into a burst of good health very quickly. Two to four weeks depending on the time of year should return these premium results.

Fertilising and Wetting Agents

We aerate our lawns to allow nutrients, water and oxygen to flow freely to the roots, so in following the process of lawn coring we should use this opportunity to enhance each of those benefits to their full degree in order to get the greatest results for our work.

A quality lawn fertiliser is applied to instantly get needed nutrients into the soil and roots at this optimum time, and Wetting Agents are applied to greatly assist in allowing the free flow and retention of water and nutrients through the soil.

There is no better time to apply these lawn care products than now to turbo boost our lawns to great health.


When Should I Resume Lawn Mowing

There should be no interruption in the normal mowing frequency. Resume lawn mowing at the same frequency as is normal at the time of year that the work was undertaken. If your lawn is mowed with a cylinder mower then the best time to resume lawn mowing is when the soil debris has dissipated back into the lawn, otherwise the cylinder mower may become blunt from mowing over soil particles.

When Is The Best Time Of Year To Aerate A Lawn?

Any time in the active growing season is fine for lawn coring, from the beginning of Spring through to a month before the start of the Winter season.

Can The Homeowner Do It Themselves

Yes.

A lawn corer can be hired from a normal hire shop. But proper considerations should be given to the time required, the hire costs, and the difficulty of the work. Consideration should also be given as to the size of the machine the hire shop stocks, as some can be very large, unwieldy, and heavy. Sometimes in the requirements of our lawn care it can be far better to leave some types of work to lawn care specialists.