New house with hard pack soil

Hello all, I've been in my new house for about two years. It is a typical builders lot with hard pack soil. When it rains, and/or I run the sprinkler system, most of the water just seems to run off. I am going to plug aerate in the fall, but I was hoping to do something now. Perhaps spike aerate. I need to get the water down the to roots of the grass.

Advice is appreciated. Thank you.

Zone 6 rhode island.

What *is* plug aeration?

Ah yes...the wonder of new houses. Builders ought to be put in pillories in a public square and pelted with rotten vegetables, because of what they do to the soil. Any chance you can get your builder to bring back the topsoil he stole from you?

Aeration is a first step. But you need to take stronger measures if you have Subdivision Soil Syndrome. This happens when the developers scrape off all the topsoil and sell it, leaving the house sitting on often very nasty clay subsoil. Then they drive their heavy machinery around on it in wet weather just for good measure to make sure it is properly compacted.

Dig a hole. Do you see any earthworms? If not, you soil is never going to get any better than it is now. You can encourage earthworms by adding organic matter to the soil. Topdressing the lawn a couple time a year with 1/2" of compost is a start. Aerate first, then topdress for maximum effect.

Improving a truly lousy soil is a long, uphill battle, especially if you are trying to do it over an established lawn.

For more ways you can test your soil, including testing drainage, go to Plantfacts:

Also, check with your local Extension office and see if they have a Horticulture Educator or turfgrass specialist. Extensions can be a good source of free advice that will address problems specific to your growing area.

Cheers!

-- Karen

The Garden Gate

If you believe this, I'd like to marry you. :-) You'll have to put up with a certain amount of fishing, though.

plug aeration = core aeration

Inserting something as the hole is made? In my fantasy, it's a plug of peat moss, but that's probably silly.

Don't blame the builders. It is the government regulations that require soil compaction. It is mandated that the builder compact the soil. The building inspector must sign off on proper compaction before the foundation can be started. Blame your elected officials.

Dick

No, nothjing is inserted. Rather, a "core" of soil is removed, acutally thousands of them. The idea is to open up the soil so air and water can penetrate easier. If anything *is* inserted, it is usually a topdressing of sand.

OK, but that doesn't mean they have to remove the topsoil for a hundred feet around the house, which is often the case.

I can't think of any reason it would cause problems. I have done it in both the spring and the fall. We are only a couple weeks into summer. I'm curious, what did your research give as reasons not to core aerate now?

I was lead to believe that doing a plug aerate now during the summer was a bad thing. I did alot of reading on the web etc, and most recommended waiting until the fall. If I do it now, would I run into problems ??

This is the first time I have done this, so I am unsure of what is involved (other than renting the plug aerator)

summer was a

recommended

I guess that is due to plug aerate will break quite some grass root and rhizome. It's good to do anything that will cause physical damage(pruning, dividing...) to plant during the dormant period(late fall to early spring).

Regards, Wong

-- Latitude: 06.10N Longitude: 102.17E Altitude: 5m

Some would say that the best time to annoy the grass is right now, when it's growing like crazy, but not during the hottest part of summer when the plant is stressed.

Actually, my grass is about to go into a summer dormancy as the temperature rise and precipitation ceases. Fall and spring are the times that grass grows like mad here, fall being the best time to renovate or plant a new lawn.

You could water a few days before aerating. Also, I have been known to rake-up the plugs in areas that I want to keep tidy.

temperature

Some people said grass are under stress at summer, if so, then it is not the right time to do this.

Part of grass get used by having supplement water supply from other part through rhizome, once grass rhizome are broken, that part of grass that depend on other may die under the hot sun.

I believe the best time to do this are after the grass accumulate starch and go to dormant, but before the grass start to regrow.

Regards, Wong

-- Latitude: 06.10N Longitude: 102.17E Altitude: 5m

period(late

It is best to do pruning, transplant... in late fall due to:

1. In dormancy, plant can endure more. e.g. apply herbicide will be less effective at this period.
2. Plant do accumulate starch(energy, carbon), before go into dormancy, so it will regrow better than doing this at other period.

When something put all it energy for growing, it will not have much energy(starch) reserve for regrow once the growed part fail/remove.

Agree, job(pruning, plug aerate...) should not do when plant are under stress, they don't have enough vitality(starch) to recover.

Regards, Wong

-- Latitude: 06.10N Longitude: 102.17E Altitude: 5m