In this edition of “Mondays with Matt”, we talked about aeration and why it’s important for the soil to be at optimum moisture levels to achieve the best results.
Aeration provides numerous benefits, such as stimulating growth, helping with drainage, and introducing fresh air to the column. But ultimately, it’s a great exercise in reducing both thatch and compaction.
It all comes down to timing. You need to make sure that your soils are at optimum moisture levels in order to reap the benefits of the practice. If you aerate when it’s too wet, you’ll actually complicate the problem by creating more compaction.
Additionally, if you aerate at the wrong time, you won’t get enough earth to come up with the thatch, and this will stop you from diluting the amount of thatch present in the soil.
This is a problem for golf course superintendents or anybody that’s working for the public. They want you to aerate whenever you want to do it, when in fact, you need to be the authority and say “ok, this is when we’re going to do it.”.
Determine when the best time to aerate will be for your situation, then, make it happen.
