Aerating increases the flow of air, water, and nutrients into the zoysia grass root zone. Since zoysia grass forms a dense, impenetrable grass cover, aerating can have marked effects on the quality and consistency of your zoysia lawn's growth. It can also be used to renovate areas like dry banks since it will crease water penetration.
A zoysia grass lawn can be aerated any time during the growing season, as long as it is not suffering from drought. I prefer not to aerate a dormant zoysia grass lawn, since it will disrupt my pre emergence weed control and open the soil to weed infiltration. In addition avoid aerating during spring green up since it will damage tender roots and shoots at a time when the grass is low on stored energy. The best time for a once a year aeration is in the late spring when your lawn is completely green and soil temperatures reach 75-80 degrees zoysia grass roots grow best at the temperature and will capitalize on the additional air, water, and nutrients. This is usually late May.
Aerating can also be done using Lazyman Gold or Lazyman Aerator which is a liquid and can be done at any time of year. LazyMan Liquid Gold's aerator portion is made up of a solution - similar to the electrolytes found in sports drinks, but much, much more complicated. These polymers (very complicated) are HUGE--over 20,000 combined molecular weight. Most of these substances are hydrophilic--they LOVE water. One of the polymers is strongly hydrophobic (runs away from water). Due to these polymers high molecular weight, they're very, very stable. So when you mix it with water and spray it on turf, the hydrophobic polymers run from the water, but the hydrophilic polymers in the chain attach themselves to the water (and they aren't coming off for a long, long, time) so they get dragged along with the hydrophobic polymers leading the way! This is what makes the lawn aerator portion work. Think of it this way. Did you ever play with two magnets when you were a kid? If you aimed the right end at the wrong end of the other one, it pushed it. That's what happens when LazyMan Liquid Gold gets down in the dirt. The negative and the positive push each other along, and they open up pathways in the soil. Both the hydrophobic quality and gravity work together, moving, stopping, moving, stopping, until the polymers finally breaks down...which usually doesn't happen for about a year (depends on variables, like weather...).
Also, if you have a high sodium content in your soil (usually from your water source,) sodium causes compaction, and it also reduces nutrient absorption by the turf. Sodium is positively charged, while clay is negatively charged, so the sodium smashes the clay together. The lawn aerator portion LazyMan Liquid Gold grabs onto the sodium and removes it to a lower level so that it's out of the way of the plant root zone. That's a benefit you will never get from mechanical aeration!
Links Regarding Maintaining a Zoysia Grass Lawn
- Mowing Zoysia Grass
- Irrigating Zoysia Grass
- Fertilizing Zoysia Grass
- Soil pH and Lime for Zoysia Grass
- Aerating Zoysia Grass
- Dethatching Zoysia Grass
- Weed Control for Zoysia Grass
- Insect and Pests problems in Zoysia Grass
- Diseases in Zoysia Grass
- Renovating a Zoysia Grass Lawn
- Planting a Zoysia Grass Lawn
Compadre
