Wake Landscapes Blog

Aerating and Seeding: Frequently Asked Questions

What are benefits of aerating a lawn?

Aerating a lawn involves perforating the soil with small holes to allow water, air and nutrients to reach the roots. 

When is it best to aerate?

In NC, we recommend aerating our fescue lawns each fall, around mid-September through mid-October. Fescue is a cool season grass, so we do not aerate in August because the 90-100 degree heat will diminish germination rates. It is also important not to wait too late in the season to allow the lawn to start growing before our first frost, which usually occurs early November. We always want to keep our newly seeded lawn free of leaves, sticks and other debris to help the seed grow.

What kind of aerators are there?

There is a variety of commercial equipment we use to aerate our lawn. The most popular style of aerators is a walk-behind style aerator, which consists of a drum style self-propelled walk-behind unit. These...