Aerating and overseeding are two of the most important things you can do for the health of your lawn, but if these processes are done improperly or at the wrong time of the year, you can end up harming your grass more than helping it. For example, it is much better to aerate and overseed a lawn in fall than in spring.

Learn why you should try to aerate and overseed in the fall instead of spring in Columbia, Millstadt, Waterloo, and the surrounding cities of Illinois.

Your lawn is stronger in the fall than in spring.

Lawn aeration infographic.

In spring, your lawn is just beginning to emerge from its winter dormancy period. More than likely, snow sat on the grass for most of the season, which means it is a bit weak and the soil is not hard yet. If you try to perform core aeration on the lawn at this time, it could end up pulling up more of the grass than you intended to, creating larger holes and causing unwanted damage that you will have to fix.

Instead, aerate in the fall as that is when your lawn has had the entire growing season to establish itself and recover from the winter. The growing season, which covers spring and summer, is also when your lawn sees the most foot traffic and use. That means the soil will be more compacted at this time and will benefit from the aeration more than it would in the spring.

Typically, we try to always overseed lawns in mid-fall around September or October.

The new growth from overseeding in spring may be too fragile to handle the summer heat.

Lawn care worker pouring grass seeds from hand near Columbia, IL.

If you try to also overseed in the spring after aerating, you will see new growth, but keep in mind that those new grass blades will need certain care after the overseeding treatment and that includes watering every day. In fall, the sun is not as warm and we have cooler weather. But in spring going into summer, that hot sun beating down on the new grass could spell disaster, especially considering how much water the new growth needs in order to thrive. That hot sun may evaporate the water away before it can be fully absorbed, which will not be good for the new grass. It could either die off or establish a very weak root structure, which will make it more susceptible to lawn disease or insects.

Overseeding in the fall is the best route, as the lawn will begin to grow at this time and you will not have the concern of hot temperatures damaging it.

Do you need to have your lawn aerated and overseeded this fall? Call us for an estimate.

In fall, the lawn care experts at Linnemann Lawn Care & Landscaping provide aeration and overseeding services to residential and commercial properties located in and around Waterloo, Millstadt, and Columbia, IL. If you need aeration and overseeding at your property, we are ready to perform those for you at the proper time. Call us today at (618) 939-4769 to get an estimate.