Spring- Aerate or De-thatch??

[EricS55902]

Newbie here with this stuff.... Which is better to do in the spring??

[hotrod1]

Both are best to do in the fall.

[Bryce]

Not an expert but ours been dethatched in the spring every year and has not been areated since 2005 when we moved in. Lawn looks great. Probably some health reasons but I sure like the look of a dethatched lawn as the growing season starts.

[Quetico]

Generally most residential lawns will never need to be dethatched. Let the thatch break down and serve as an organic source of nitrogen and phosphorus. The thatch layer also helps retain moisture in the soil.

Aerate in the spring or fall either or will help improve the quality of your lawn. I've never seen any studies that show either way.

Thatching is only beneficial if your mowing your lawn at an extremely low height of cut, in cases such as golf courses. For the common residential situation dethatching and liming are both a waste of time and money. Dont every let anyone tell you your lawn needs lime. Its been studied heavily with no proof that it does anything other than make money for lawn services.

There's a reason I dont work for a lawn service.

[hotrod1]

Aerating can be done in spring or fall. Fall is generally best because it is a good time to overseed if needed and aerating is a good way to prepare a lawn for overseeding.

Aerating in the spring is ok but it does open up the ground to allow a spots for weeds to move in, which is also why i would dethatch in the fall.

To much thatch can lead to problems. Insects and disease thrive in excessive thatch. Also, IMO, to much thatch will not allow water deep enough into the soil to get at your roots and will lead to shorter roots in your lawn.

[EricS55902]

So if I aerate in the spring should I fertilize before or after or does it not matter???

[hotrod1]

I personally would fertilize before aerating whether it is spring or fall.

You will want your lawn to come out of dormancy and growing before you aerate so the holes will fill in quick.

I would wait till maybe around Memorial day.

[Boogaard]

I talked to a guy from tru green that tried to get to to join thier services and he said to areate about 4 weeks after your first application of weed/crabgrass preventer. My lawn has not had this done in a few years since i have sodded it and i tend to get diseased lawn easily. Hopefully this will help. along with that sending in a soil sample to the UofM that should help a lot!

[LwnmwnMan2]

 Originally Posted By: Boogaard

I talked to a guy from tru green that tried to get to to join thier services and he said to areate about 4 weeks after your first application of weed/crabgrass preventer. My lawn has not had this done in a few years since i have sodded it and i tend to get diseased lawn easily. Hopefully this will help. along with that sending in a soil sample to the UofM that should help a lot!

For what it's worth, the Tru-Green guy showed his hand.

A proper application of pre-emergent herbicide will last for 6-8 weeks, obviously dependant on rainfall. If we get alot it'll be gone faster than a little.

If you poke holes in the weed barrier for the pre-emergent with aerating, you're opening your ground up for crabgrass seeds, as well as others.

From everything I've learned over the years, once you put down yuor pre-emergent, the last thing you want to do is disturb that "blanket" of chemical for at least 6 weeks.

If you're going to aerate or dethatch, try to do it in the fall, which again, is the best time to fertilize as well.

I run a dethatcher on the mower in the spring, but that's used mainly to help remove any leaves or garbage that's been packed down to the soil.

[Powerstroke]

Lwnmwnman is DEAD ON!! Once you place that Pre-emergent down you do not want to do anything that will disturb that vapor barrier in the soil, which is a main reason most of the aerations are done in the fall.

The company I used to work for also did root fertilizing injecting for trees. It would mean injecting fert every 3 feet under the canopy of a tree. I've actually seen a perfect grid pattern of crabgrass plants popped up every 3 feet where the pre-em was disturbed.