Lawn ventilation: What is it, how, when and where is it carried out?
Lawn ventilation – drilling holes in the lawn to a certain depth in order to ventilate the bottom, improve the gas exchange between air and soil oxygen. Thanks to this manipulation the plant roots are better supplied with water, nutrients and oxygen. This gives the lawn an attractive appearance.
Source: GardenGear.ru
Why does my lawn need ventilation?
Lawns produce areas of compacted, hardened substrate. Because of this, moisture and nutrients can’t penetrate properly. Carbon dioxide also accumulates which impairs the growth of the plants.
If you don’t scarify your lawn for a longer period, the following undesirable phenomena can occur:
- The appearance of the lawn deteriorates, weeds and moss begin to grow, and dry patches appear;
- Grass loses resistance to precipitation, frost.
Lawn ventilation helps remedy the situation. In addition, it is not necessary to do it on the entire area, enough on problematic areas.
At what time of the year
When you can carry out the manipulation depends on the grass stock on the site. In the case of Swingle or panicle grass, it is possible to aerate only in autumn, since these plants are late (but no later than October).
In the case of heat-loving grasses (such as bermuda), the procedure can be done in late spring or early summer.
To determine if aeration is needed, you can use the following method:
- Use a spatula to remove some of the soil from the lawn.
- Inspect the grass roots.
- If they are small (up to 50 mm), immediate ventilation is required, because they are not getting enough oxygen and nutrients.
It is enough to carry out it once a season (in spring or early autumn). In some cases, however, more is required:
- Sports turf (e.g., on a soccer field) – 2-3 RR;
- Adverse climate (e.g., frequent and heavy rains or drought) – additional ventilation;
- Mosses, yellow grass, etc. – immediate ventilation.
Sandy soil should be ventilated once, clay floor – 2-3, as it is compressed.
Types of ventilation
Ventilation can be done mechanically, factory and independently.
Technological methods:
- Scraping with metal knobs without displacement of the substrate;
- Special tools – ventilation (excavation of soil with a circumference of 1-2 cm and its spreading).
There are different types of ventilation:
- Sickle-shaped – do not compact the floor too much, remove the dried layer well;
- Calculator of thin sickle-shaped steel rods – make a horizontal cut in the ground and comb out the dry grass;
- Ventilating soles, in which tines are attached to the underside of boots to walk on the lawn;
- Self-guided machines – for deep ventilation with good performance.
- Ventilating during drought conditions harms lawn plants, so manipulation should not be done in hot weather.
- Moisten your lawn a few days before the event. This is also possible after a rain event.
- Make holes in the rows with an overlap of 3-4 cm (if the soil density is too high, you need another hole at a 90 degree angle to the 1st).
- Wait 2 days for the excavated clods of soil to dry. Shred them, apply fertilizer, and water the lawn.
- If bare spots appear, seed them and only then crush the clods, flatten them and water them.
With the right measures, the grass becomes green and grows faster in as little as a week.
How exactly do air parties work?
At the heart of it is the weakening of ventilation. Therefore, all manipulators are equipped with a spike or hollow tube length of 15-20 mm to 15 cm to displace the floor.
Automatic devices
Lawn vents are designed to ventilate under the layer of grass. This can be achieved by piercing the surface and partially removing fallen earth. There are devices that can scarify, ventilate and verticalize the lawn at once.
How to aerate with a pitchfork
This method is suitable if the plot is not very large. Because making back and forth movements from bottom to top for long periods of time is tedious and difficult. Airing forks are thin plates on a handle.
With this attachment, you can precisely cut and comb the top layer of the roller. The progression should be well watered. You can buy pale forks or make your own.
How to aerate with sandals.
This fixture can be made by yourself.
- A board, plywood 30-50 mm thick or a piece of thick rubber. You can use metal, but it will be heavier.
- Self-tapping screws or nails from 10 cm.
- Fastening tapes, such as various straps.
- An electric jigsaw.
- Screwdriver or screwdriver, hammer.
- Cut two pieces of plywood or cardboard. Make the size several times larger than your foot, since the device is put on through regular shoes. The foot should be placed on a piece of wood and circled with chalk, leaving a few centimeters.
- Cut out an outline sketch. Take wooden shoe tips.
- Hammer in nails or screw in 10-12 pieces of self-tapping screws. If a metal base is used, the studs must be welded with a welder.
- To attach the insoles to the shoes, make holes in the sides, through which you can pass the straps.
After that, all you have to do is put on homemade sandals and run across the lawn.
This device is suitable only for areas with a small number of square meters. Even the most trained feet can not withstand such a large physical load.
For a large area it is advisable to use electric or gasoline devices to ventilate (such as a roller). This is quite expensive, but it can be rented or use a special rink with spikes, which is cheaper.
To summarize, in order for the lawn to have a fresh and well-groomed appearance, it is necessary to ventilate the soil at least once a season. Otherwise, the grass will turn yellow, grow poorly and overgrow with weeds. You can use homemade or store-bought lawns to ventilate.
What is lawn ventilation and how does it work?
You can take pride in a beautiful, healthy and well-maintained lawn. To get that perfect green carpet look, you’re going to have to put in a lot of hard work to take care of it. In addition to watering and mowing, your lawn needs regular ventilation.
See for more information.
All living things, including flora, need oxygen. Lawn vegetation includes perennials that have a well-developed root system. Due to the growth of the roots, a dense grass crust is formed, which prevents the penetration of invigorating air into the soil. The consequence of this is slow growth of the lawn grass, its neglect, the appearance of yellow color, changes in texture and the formation of bare spots.
Lawn ventilation is an important process in which the lawn is pierced to a certain depth in order to ventilate the floor and encourage gas exchange between the floor and the environment. Performing this activity allows water, oxygen and nutrients to penetrate to the roots of the vegetation. The result of ventilation is an attractive lawn appearance.
If patches of compacted and hardened earth appear on the green carpet, it is time to aerate the lawn. As practice shows, this procedure should not be carried out on the whole area, but only on its problem areas. Loosening, poking and aerating the lawn brings the following benefits:
- stimulate the growth of green grass;
- improve the condition of the soil;
- Stimulate the growth of beneficial bacteria;
- Increase the plant’s resistance to negative factors.
Ways
Ventilating lawn floors is an activity that is quickly gaining popularity. You can carry out this process yourself or ask for help from professionals. Currently, there are several ways to ventilate the floor, so everyone has the opportunity to choose the most suitable for themselves.
Slotted
The process of drilling the ground is a slotting with the help of specially made teeth or pipes with a diameter of 20 mm, followed by extraction of the ground. This method of ventilation is one of the most effective, because after the puncture the ground is not compressed, so the relaxation is of particular quality. With all the advantages of slot ventilation, it has a disadvantage, namely the need to use expensive devices.
A way out of the situation can be to make a slotted device at home or install workers with gasoline-powered machines to conduct venting.
drilling through
In conventional drilling, special pencils are put into the ground without pulling out the substrate. As a result of the procedure, the walls of the holes may remain tight, so it is better to use tools with a large number of teeth and a small diameter. During the work, it is recommended to constantly change the direction and angle of the puncture.
For ventilation, certain devices can be used.
- Forks. Puncturing the hay by hand with a pitchfork is a simple and inexpensive way to ventilate the lower part of the lawn. However, it is worth noting that such work will be long and difficult.
- Sandals. Ventilation with this device consists of drilling the floor with your feet. Special shoes can be made at home without much financial cost and effort. The basis for unique shoes should be a piece of plywood with a thickness of 3 to 5 cm, you can also use a metal plate or thick rubber. Once a suitable insert for the gardener is cut out of the prepared material, you can start hammering 10-cm nails or screwing in self-tapping screws. There should be holes on the sides of the blank, through which it is worth bringing out straps to attach the sandals to the feet. Such an installation for tillage is suitable for small lawns and people who are not afraid of monotonous physical activity.
- Roller with spikes. The constant rotation of the spiked base allows you to quickly and easily pierce the ground. To make such a roller yourself, you need to prepare 1 meter of pipe with a diameter of 0.2 meters, 10 cm nails, stones or gravel for pouring the roller, a holder, bearings and shaft. The first step in the work will be the installation of nails on the outer sheet of the pipe. To make the invention heavier, stones are poured into the future rink, and then the sides of the pipe are welded. For easy rotation of the structure it is necessary to install a shaft and bearings on it. The device is attached to the bracket and equipped with a bracket for the handle. A custom spiked roller helps lawn owners save time and money on lawn care.
- Aerator. The design for aerating the lawn resembles a roller and tractor with a pipe welded to it.
- hand rake. This type of device for aerating the substrate has a lot in common with a garden rake. The difference between the devices for aeration of the soil is the presence of stamped steel tines. The shape of the latter is sickle-shaped, directed downward. These devices have a galvanic coating. Thanks to the use of rakes, it is easy to get rid of all the dead plants on the plot.
The depth of penetration into the soil can be adjusted by applying certain physical efforts.
Scarifying
Scarifying the soil in the lawn is usually done before aerating. This process removes dry grass, thatch, moss and weeds from the ground. Scarifying is also done to sweep out the green carpet, thin a dense lawn, and loosen the soil lightly. After the work, cuts appear on the roots of cereal plants, their growth is activated, and their general condition is strengthened.
The optimal period for scarifying is early spring and fall. The procedure is carried out with the help of a scarifier – a special device for combing and cleaning the green lawn. There are different types of scarifiers.
- Mechanical. The manual type of equipment, which looks like a cart on wheels. When the device moves, the shaft with spokes rotates, making small notches in the ground. These devices are considered the best option for scarifying a small green area. Not only does it save fuel and electricity, but it is also cost-effective.
- The electric one bears an outward resemblance to a regular lawn mower. It also has a spoke shaft with a fan, but it runs on electricity.
- The gasoline scarifier is considered the best device in its category. It is distinguished by its performance and good work. The blades of the device penetrate deep into the soil, thus improving its condition.
scarifying
The scarifying process bears some resemblance to scarification. However, the former is distinguished by its solidity and the deep penetration of the feed tines into the soil. This method requires a special device called a Verticutherr to aerate the soil. The working principle is similar to the scarifier, but the teeth of the blades are longer.
Heavy, dense soils such as B. loamy chernozem, old neglected lawns should be scarified. A scarifier is a garden tool necessary for lawn care. The purpose of this device is:
- trimming old layers of soil;
- Removing layers of leaves, moss, dead stems;
- Selective stripping of the roots, allowing the remaining root system to feel free in the substrate.
- Loosening the soil, promoting an active inflow of moisture, oxygen and nutrients.
A manual verticalizer is a roller, a roller on wheels with tips. It has compact dimensions and is equipped with steel blades. Easy to use, the device does not require complex maintenance or special storage conditions.
When should it be done?
Every owner of a lawn is interested in when and how often it is carried out on the site airing. According to experts, it is necessary to drill the floor twice a season. The timing of substrate deicing depends on many factors that need to be taken into account. This and the type of vegetation that grows on the lawn, and the constant load on the grass.
Considering the above factors, we can conclude that aerating the soil is necessary not only in the spring and as a post-winter care, but also in the following cases:
- Highly stressed, athletic type of weeds require 2-3 times a year.
- If the region receives frequent rainfall and other negative climatic conditions, the soil needs to be aerated more often.
- If you find moss, yellowed grass on the lawn, you need to ventilate immediately.
A sandy substrate needs to be ventilated once, and a sound one twice as often (per year). If the lawn is growing oxbow, it needs to be ventilated only in the fall. Lawns with Bermuda and other heat-loving grasses are aerated in late spring and early summer.
Technology for doing the job
In order to properly carry out floor ventilation in the lawn, it is necessary to know the plan of its step-by-step implementation. First of all, it is necessary to reduce the degree of grass cover in the green garden to 5 cm. After that, it is necessary to carry out a ruthless elimination of weeds, as ventilation can provoke their rapid growth. A few days before digging the floor should be well watered – so it will become soft and smooth. Experts do not recommend irrigation in hot weather, as this can damage the soil cover. To achieve a good effect from the piercing process, loosening is better carried out in transverse rows with a distance of 3-4 cm. The depth of penetration should be 0.1-0.15 m.
After a few days, the gardener should start breaking up the soil clods from the date of aeration. When this activity is completed, you can start watering the lawn and sow grass seeds in the bare patches. In doing so, you should not forget about feeding and backfilling.
If the area of the green carpet is large, it is better to use a vertical for ventilation. If you work with devices, it is worth carrying out actions similar to mowing plants.
Nowadays, 2 options for ventilating the floor are most commonly used.
- Power. The work is done with equipment with iron tips. The procedure results in a length of 4 cm in the substrate. The choice is considered the best option for healing and good delamination of the floor.
- Piercing. The method involves punching holes in the soil to a depth of 8 to 12 cm. Through penetration into the substrate, it is compacted and is guided through the resulting slots to the roots of the grass. The floors have a direct influence on the depth of ventilation.
Nowadays, ventilation rakes are in high demand because they are not only efficient to work with and affordable. Many gardeners also prefer shoe attachments, which they put on their feet. By simply walking on the green lawn, the gardener can ventilate the ground and encourage improvement. If the plot is large, it is better to opt for venting systems that run on gasoline or electricity. When choosing a piercing device, you should be guided not only by your financial means, but also by the size of the area and its overall condition.
Ventilating a green lawn is an important process, without which the lawn does not always look fresh and well maintained. If the procedure is done correctly, the gardener not only improves the condition of the grass, but also the health of the soil.
For information on the difference between lawn scarification and ventilation, see the following video.
