DIY vs. Expert Lawn Aeration: Which Should You Choose?

Ask any lawn care professional, and they'll tell you that aeration is an essential part of lawn maintenance, as crucial as fertilization and weeding. Without the occasional aeration, the soil and thatch in your lawn can become tightly compacted, shutting your grassroots off from their supply of oxygen, water, and essential nutrients. Slowly but surely, your lawn will eventually die unless the soil is loosened up and allowed to breathe once more. How often you should have your lawn aerated is a point of contention amongst lawn care providers, but all agree that at some point, most lawns need aeration.

Now comes the crucial question: is it worth it to hire a lawn aeration expert, or should you do it yourself? After all, when you get down to it, aeration is essentially just poking holes into your lawn to loosen up the soil. Why can't you do that on your own?

The answer is, of course, that you can do aeration on your own - but it's usually a much better idea to let the pros do it. As Hilliard's premier lawn service professionals, we here at Buckeye Turf know the ins and outs of lawn aeration and what sort of pitfalls you can fall into with DIY aeration. While we'll touch on some of the pros of DIY aeration, we'll also be presenting our arguments for why we think professional lawn aeration is worth it.

The Pros of DIY Aeration

The biggest argument for DIY lawn aeration is that it puts you in the driver's seat. You can decide how many times you go over your lawn, what equipment you want to use, and when you want to do it - no need to wait on a professional when you can gather the necessary equipment and do it yourself. Sure, it's hard work, but if you're someone who takes a lot of pride in handling all of your own lawn maintenance, DIY aeration might be worth the effort!

The other reason that some people choose DIY aeration is that it *can* be cheaper than professional aeration - but that comes with a few caveats. You can aerate your lawn for next-to-nothing by using a pitchfork or specially-designed spiked aeration shoes, but these methods are extremely laborious and time-consuming, and you may still end up with subpar results after all your hard work. You could also rent an aeration machine, but depending on what type of machine you're getting and how long you need it for, the cost of renting one may come close to - or even surpass - the price of simply hiring a professional. That's not the only reason we recommend investing in professional aeration, though.

Four Reasons Why We Recommend Professional Aeration

Aerators Are Hard To Work With

Using a pitchfork to aerate your lawn is exhausting work, but using a lawn aerator isn't much easier. Lawn aerators are very heavy, cumbersome, and difficult to maneuver. Even with the best machinery you can rent, aerating your lawn is backbreaking work, especially if you don't have a lot of experience working with aeration equipment. For many homeowners, the physical strain alone makes DIY aeration more frustrating than productive.

DIY Aeration Can Result In Costly Mistakes

Any time you're working with heavy equipment designed to punch tons of holes in your lawn, you're assuming a lot of risk. If you're not careful, you can very easily tear up your lawn with an aerator. Worse still, if you don't carefully mark out "danger zones" before you begin, you could inadvertently run over parts of your irrigation system or buried cables, resulting in a lot of expensive damage. These types of mistakes can quickly outweigh any money saved by attempting aeration on your own.

The Pros Have Better Equipment

A rented aerator likely isn't serviced as often as it should be, and after being used over and over again, it can get pretty beat up. If you're using a subpar aerator, it might not dig deep enough to sufficiently loosen up the soil, and you've spent all that money and time for nothing. Our lawn care pros use top-of-the-line hydraulic aerators that are routinely serviced and kept in great shape. They'll have no trouble getting the job done right. Professional equipment allows for deeper, more consistent core removal across the entire lawn.

The Pros Know When It's The Right Time To Aerate Your Lawn

A lawn usually doesn't need to be aerated more than once a year - and depending on what kind of lawn you have and how much foot traffic it sees, it may even be able to go 2-3 years between aerations. Sometimes people aerate their lawns because they think their lawn problems are caused by soil compaction, when in fact there's another underlying cause like insect damage or lawn disease. Our pros can assess your lawn to let you know if and when it needs aeration, and whether or not there are other lawn problems we need to tackle first. This informed approach ensures aeration is only performed when it will actually benefit your lawn.

Going With The Pros

Whether or not you choose to aerate your own lawn is ultimately up to you. However, even in cases where professional lawn aeration is slightly more costly, the convenience and assurance of quality more than make up for it. As Hilliard's go-to lawn care company, Buckeye Turf takes the guesswork out of the aeration process. Our professional services are designed to drastically reduce soil compaction, improve nutrient absorption, and create the ideal environment for healthy grass growth.

We use commercial-grade equipment to ensure consistent core removal across your entire lawn, followed by overseeding that helps fill in thin areas and strengthen overall turf density. The result is a lawn that recovers faster, grows thicker, and performs better through the seasons. Buckeye Turf provides professional aeration & overseeding services that are guaranteed to drastically reduce soil compaction and promote the quick growth of healthy new grass. If you're curious about whether or not your lawn needs aeration, our experts can give your yard a full assessment before determining the best next steps to take.

Looking for professional aeration & overseeding services in Hilliard? If so, call Buckeye Turf today at 614-502-5757.