Yes, spring and fall. I core aerated my lawn a couple weeks ago after the last rain. The best time to aerate is a day or two after a heavy rain. You'll get better penetration.

I'll aerate again in the fall. I have a 48" unit that I tow behind my garden tractor.

-Deerslayer

If your soil is soft when wet and firm (hard) when dry, that is normal and you do not need to aerate.

"If your soil is soft when wet and firm (hard) when dry, that is normal and you do not need to aerate."

Nearly all soil in Northern Illinois is soft when wet and firm or hard when dry including compacted soil.

Ron, here's a link to advice specific to Northern Illinois lawns from the University of Illinois.

U of I Lawn Talk

-Deerslayer

dchall. I can't tell because it hasn't been raining for more than 2 weeks now. However, I have already noticed that the area that I was referring to above wasn't greening so much as shown on early April screenshot below. The part I'm talking about is in front and maybe 10 ft from my front wall. Even after the application of CGM, that part didn't green much but the other areas were very healthy.

Also, from another forum, they are recommending to me Nitron-35. I would like to get your opinion guys about Nitron.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Ron

oops, I forgot to include the picture.

{{gwi:338280}}

oops, I forgot to include the picture.

And a very nice picture it is! I notice that you, like me last year, are right next to what's probably going to be new construction and have a very young lawn.

I'd be tempted to leave the aeration until fall, if it's even needed at that point. It's not that you can't do it now if you want (you certainly can), but that I think the lawn is a year old or less. I'd be somewhat wary of shocking roots that are still setting themselves up and aren't as deep as they will be--and doing it just before summer hits. Younger grass doesn't recover as well as the established stuff does although it's still able to recover, of course.

The Nitron wouldn't shock it (much, anyway), nor would any other chemical aerator. We've had the discussion on how effective they are (the consensus being somewhat although not very).

For that bad patch (I had four or five), I'd dump organics on it. Which is what I did--the rest of the lawn got 14 lbs per K sq ft, the bad ones I went over three times. In a year, mine had improved to green carpet status.

All those happy bacteria and fungi do a nice job of aerating and decompacting the soil for you. Mine now sucks up water like the proverbial sponge!

The non-greening area also seems to have a slight tilt to the south unless I have my compass all messed up again (math, yes, directions...find somebody who can read a map because I sure can't). It may have gotten burned a bit last summer/fall and is trying to recover. If that's why it's not as green, the organics and watering would help a lot.

I had the same issue on my southern face (all contractors seem to grade their houses the same way for water runoff, and our house colors are similar--highly reflective). I put down a mulch of a quarter inch of peat moss on that entire southern face and it really seemed to help it retain water.

If I think of it this weekend amid everything else on the to-do list, I'll try to take the same shot and post it.

I put down a mulch of a quarter inch of peat moss on that entire southern face and it really seemed to help it retain water.

I'm sorry, I can't visualize this. Are you saying that you put mulch where the grasses are?

By the way, this morning, I core aerated the bad patches and topdressed it with compost. I'm currently watering as well. I'll shut it down after 1.5 hours.

Thanks for the tips! :)

morheuspa,

I have more pictures at this link especially the effect of organic. :) It was my first time to try organic and they've been very friendly to me. Hehehe.

I'm sorry, I can't visualize this. Are you saying that you put mulch where the grasses are?

Yep. I mulched right over top of the grass and then raked it in. The peat, although slow to get wet itself, does help the soil retain some moisture and a quarter inch isn't enough to repel water.

That can be done any time--just be careful not to smother the grass. Or, a quarter inch. No more. I had absolutely no issues with it.

I have more pictures at this link especially the effect of organic. :) It was my first time to try organic and they've been very friendly to me. Hehehe.

Yeah, I'll say it has! So...you're complaining about what in that lawn?!? It looks fantastic (from a distance, anyway, which sometimes is the best we can reasonably ask from a young lawn).

Yep, it looks good from a distance. It is true that some areas in front are very dense. I love it. However, in the middle, maybe about 12 ft from my front door, grass isn't growing well. If you noticed, it has dead blades. That same area was a bit dead even after application of CGM. It had the slowest growth, actually, looks like grass didn't grow on that area. Anyways, let's wait a week or two to see the results of what I did this morning. :)