When To Aerate Lawns in Colorado’s Front Range
With Colorado weather changing every other day it can be a little confusing when the best time aerate your lawn is. That’s why Erbert Lawns has created a guide about when to aerate lawns in Colorado, more specifically the front range.
But first, let’s talk about why it’s important to aerate your lawns. Over time you will notice your lawn will grow thin and shorter. Your lawn’s soil will get compacted from activities, rain, and even snow! This compacted soil doesn’t allow for your lawn to soak up nutrients and breathe properly.
The key to proper lawn aeration is knowing when is the best time to aerate. A good rule of thumb is that aeration should be done in the cooler seasons like Spring or Fall. However, living in Colorado, you probably get a little confused when those seasons really start or end. Here are our tips and tricks for aerating your lawns in Colorado during these seasons.
Spring:
Spring is the trickiest season to aerate your lawn in Colorado because it depends on the winter we’ve had. If it’s a relatively dry winter, most likely it won’t extend too long into the spring. Meaning, you are probably safe to aerate your lawn after a couple of weeks of sunny weather. If it’s been a wet winter and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to end, well then it’s probably better to wait until that last big spring snowstorm to hit.
Even if you aerate your lawn and it happens to snow the week afterwards, there’s no need to worry. A little bit of snow isn’t going to have any negative impacts on a freshly aerated lawn. It’s only a concern if the snow piles up and compacts the lawn again.
Fall:
After a long, hot, and dry summer your lawn is going to need some time to breathe for next season. This is why we recommend aerating when the summer heat finally starts to cool off around October! For the best results, overseeding in tandem with aeration has amazing results!
Overseeding
Overseeding is best done in the fall because of the optimum growing conditions for new grass. The cool air and a freshly aerated lawn are the ideal settings for seeds to germinate. The reason we don’t recommend overseeding in the spring is that we spray pre-emergent. Pre-emergent is used to prevent crabgrass from growing but also prevents any new seeds from growing as well.
Different Aeration Methods
Typically when talking about when to aerate lawns in Colorado, it is assumed we are talking about core aeration. Core aeration is the aeration method we used for many years; that is until a better method was created. As of 2019, Erbert Lawns primarily does liquid aeration instead of core aeration for many reasons. The main reason is that it works better, but let me explain why.
Core Aeration
Core aeration is done by pulling up 2”-3” plugs from the soil. These plugs that are removed create a network of tiny holes in your lawn. These tiny holes allow for your lawn to soak up everything it needs to be rejuvenated. The problem with core aeration is that it isn’t 100% effective because you are limited to how spread out the holes are, as well as where the aerator can go. In addition, it’s just not the most aesthetically pleasing lawn when it’s poked to look like swiss cheese.
Liquid Aeration
Liquid aeration is the better method of aerating a lawn because it provides entire coverage. The liquid is spread over the entire lawn and it essentially turns the lawn into a sponge by creating thousands of microscopic holes in your lawn. This method doesn’t leave a bunch of gopher holes and even provides better results. We’ve found that liquid aeration takes a little longer to see results, but when you do they last significantly longer than core aeration does. Liquid aeration is the technologically improved aeration service. From the results we’ve seen as well as the time saved, it’s the best aeration service we offer!
Learn more about our core aeration and liquid aeration services or reach out for more information (303) 948-6631!
