Aeration

At Mid Georgia Turf Solutions, we are pleased to offer core aeration services to our clients. We typically aerate in the spring and are one of the few companies in Middle Georgia with a hydraulic core aeration machine which quickly and powerfully aerates the soil more deeply. For fescue grasses, we aerate and seed in the fall.

Why Aeration?

It doesn’t matter what type of grass you have, all turf needs deep, healthy roots to survive the summer heat and remain green and growing during a drought. When soil has become compacted for one reason or another, grass roots cannot spread out and grow deeper into the soil. Core aeration utilizes hollow tine to remove a chunk of soil roughly two to four inches deep and about one half inch in diameter. In the empty space that aeration creates, oxygen, water, and nutrients can freely flow and plant roots have room to develop and grow. Proper aeration actually produces turf that can function on less water.

What Causes Compacted Soil?

Georgia clay soils are prone to compaction due to the density of the soil. In addition to that, have you considered how often your lawn gets walked on? Even children playing periodically can add to the compaction of the soil. Have you had trees removed lately or other situations where heavy machinery rolled across your lawn? All of these scenarios lead to compaction.

If you’re curious to see if your lawn will suffer drought stress and weak roots from compaction, the Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of Georgia recommends this compaction test:

“Take a small rod or trowel and try to sink it into the ground. If the rod or trowel cannot go at least 4 to 6 inches into the turf fairly easily, you may have a soil compaction problem.”

pH Testing & Lime Application

Did you know that pH levels of soil are a critical indicator of soil fertility? Knowing your soil’s pH levels can assist in diagnosing nutritional problems and allows us to give your soil the appropriate nutrient applications it needs.

Our technicians will take a sample of your soil and we will send it to the University of Georgia’s agricultural department for testing. If your soil is below 6.0 pH, we can provide a lime application to help bring your soil back into balance. Lime application is typically performed in correlation with aeration as the nutrients are absorbed into the soil more effectively after it has been aerated.