Some aerators are built with integrated broadcast seeders, enabling aeration and overseeding to be performed simultaneously. (Image: Z Turf Equipment)
By Jamie Ware
From the October 2024 Issue
With fall upon us across the country, it’s time to turn our attention from mowing to cleanup and maintenance to prepare turf for the winter to come. As the days grow shorter, it’s often one of the busiest times of the year, so it pays to have your cleanup and maintenance process dialed. Then, you can make the most of this brief but profitable season.
For contractors looking to expand beyond mowing and cleanup, here’s a guide to potential services to recommend to clients this fall.
Dethatching
While a thick, lush lawn is the goal, too much thatch can kill a lawn. For lawns with more than a half-inch thatch layer, dethatching uses tines or blades to reduce the thatch layer. This allows the remaining turf to have more access to air and water, which will help lead to an overall healthier lawn.
It’s important to choose the right time of year to dethatch a lawn based on the turf type. Fall and spring are typically good times to dethatch cool season turf varieties, while spring dethatching tends to work better for warm season turf.
(Photo: Adobe Stock/stenkovlad)
Dethatching should be done while the lawn is actively growing, not heat stressed or dormant. The turf should also be relatively cool and dry when dethatching takes place. While homeowners will often use a thick-bladed dethatching rake, most contractors use dedicated dethatchers or will dethatch as a part of the overseeding process (discussed below).
Aeration
Soil compaction can prevent a lawn from reaching its full beauty, as the compacted soil blocks vital air, water and nutrients from reaching the roots of the turf. Aeration helps lawns thrive by relieving compaction that can occur from heavy foot traffic, kids playing, or simply due to the composition of the soil itself.
Regardless of turf type, most lawns can benefit from annual core aeration. The practice of pulling plugs of soil up from the ground relieves compaction in the soil. Like dethatching, aeration helps break down an excessive thatch layer, but aeration takes the benefit even deeper by letting air, water and nutrients easily reach all the way down to the root zone of the turf. Not only is this good for overall lawn health on its own, but aeration can also increase the effectiveness of a subsequent fertilizer or overseeding application.
As a general rule of thumb, aeration can typically be performed in the fall on most cool season turf types, while spring or early summer is best for warm season turf. The turf should be actively growing and not dormant when you aerate.
Aeration equipment falls into one of two categories — core or spike — which refer to the type of tines they drive into the ground. Core aerators have rows of hollow tines that are driven into the ground to remove plugs from the soil. The plugs are then expelled onto the lawn.
Spike aerators are typically less expensive and aerate by simply driving spikes into the grass. This is generally considered less effective, as they don’t go as deep, and they can further compact soil because they aren’t removing cores from the ground.
While there are a wide range of aerator options, stand-on aerators are the most popular option among landscape professionals. Their productivity, ease-of-use and portability make them the most productive, profitable option.
Overseeding
For lawns that aren’t thriving or have bare spots, overseeding can considerably improve the density of the turf. As mentioned above, overseeding can be done after dethatching or aeration to get seed closer to the soil. Since seed-to-soil contact is essential for successful seed germination, this is a very good thing.
Overseeding should be done during the early or late growing season, but it’s important to give seed enough time to germinate if overseeding in the fall. Also, it’s important not to put down pre-emergent herbicides before or after overseeding, as this can impede germination.
For equipment, slit seeders are a popular option among landscape contractors. They work much like a dethatcher with a seeding mechanism, using rotating vertical blades to cut into the thatch layer before seeds are dropped. These machines typically are inexpensive to add and deliver consistently excellent results.
Some stand-on aerators also offer the ability to overseed while aerating, giving landscape contractors an easy way to bill for two services performed concurrently.
Pre-season Winter Planning Wins Every Time
Understanding your clients is the first step towards a successful snow season.
In Summary
In an increasingly competitive marketplace, give your business the upper hand by providing the additional lawn care services your customers want and need. Aeration, dethatching and overseeding tend to be some of the more profitable services too, so it’s a win-win situation. We’ve just scratched the surface on each of these topics, but there are plenty of resources online that can help you learn more.
Resources
University of Nebraska, Lincoln Turfgrass Sciences
Crop Science Society of America
Jamie Ware is a product manager for Z Turf Equipment and Exmark. With more than a decade of green industry experience, Jamie is responsible for distilling the feedback and needs of Z Turf Equipment customers and developing lawn care equipment that meets their needs.
Do you have a comment? Share your thoughts in the Comments section below, or send an e-mail to the Managing Editor at jessica@groupc.com.