Lawn Aeration, Aerating & Dethatching - Portland Oregon, West Side

After a while, certain varieties of grass tend to build up thatch faster than they can decompose it. This layer of thatch, or dead grass, creates a layer under the turf that makes it hard for water, fertilizer, or beneficial microorganisms to get to the root systems of the grass. To penetrate this layer of thatch and restore health to your lawn landscapers either Aerate or Dethatch the lawn.

Even if your variety of grass isn't prone to thatch buildup, there is always a concern with compaction. Turf becomes compacted after a lot of regular use. Compaction leads to denser soil and also makes it hard for nutrients and water to penetrate. This is the other main benefit of Core Aeration.

Core Aeration is when we use a big rolling power tool to create perforations, or holes, in the lawn. The cores, or plugs, are redeposited onto the top of the lawn and work as a beneficial top dressing. This is the preferred method for many landscapers because there is less risk for damage to the lawn and the lawn can recover faster than it does with dethatching.

Dethatching a lawn is where a big tool called a Power Rake goes over your lawn and uses a rake like blade to pull up all of the old thatch. Then the landscaper rakes the thatch up and hauls it away. This is a much longer process and has more potential to do damage. Typically, we do not recommend dethatching unless you have a variety of grass that is prone to creating large amounts of thatch. Instead, we recommend aerating.

The Professional Turf Solutions, one of the region's local authorities on turf maintenance, recommend aerating twice per year for optimal results. If this isn't affordable, we recommend doing it at least once per year.

The best time to aerate lawns is in the spring time. It can be done in the summer but the lawn must have ample irrigation in order to recover properly. Fall is the second best choice to aerate. We aerate several customers homes all on the same day. In this way, we can distribute the cost of renting the best equipment available among many customers. This saves you money. If you schedule your aerating job when we are doing many houses at the same time we can aerate for a very affordable price - $75 - $80 for most homes.

If you'd like to schedule an aerating job or even an estimate to see exactly how much your it would be for your lawn, please contact us.