Lawn Care After Aeration & Seeding

How To Care Your Your Fescue Lawn After Aeration & Seeding

Aeration and seeding is one of the most beneficial lawn care services for your Fescue grass.  This service is performed late summer to early fall—August through October.  As a reminder, core aeration is the process of removing small plugs of soil from the ground.  This allows the soil to better absorb water, air and nutrients.   

While warm session turfs such as Bermuda and Zoysia can benefit from core aeration, seeding is not necessary.  Because Fescue is a clump style grass, seeding is recommended in addition to aeration to aid in grass growth.

After Service Care

Once your core aeration and seeding service is completed, the real work begins.  Proper maintenance and care for your Fescue lawn is important in the weeks following to ensure the success of seed germination and establishment of new growth.

Tips For After Care

• Water, water water!  Water for 20-30 minutes every day for 3 weeks, enough to keep the lawn moist. Then decrease frequency to every other day, then 3 days, etc. It is important to keep the seeds moist for germination.
• Stay off the grass. Keep foot traffic to a minimum.
• Do not mow for at least 3 weeks. When you do mow, use a sharp mower blade.
• As the new seeds germinate, weeds may develop.  Do not use weed control products until the grass has matured. If you are on our Lawn Care Program, we will complete your next treatment at the appropriate time.
• Keep leaves off the lawn.  If leaves stay on the lawn for more than a few days, the turf will be compromised.  We suggest blowing the leaves instead of raking.
• Most Fescue lawns will get brown patch fungus in the spring. We strongly recommend a Fungicide Program to combat this unavoidable disease. 

Remember to be patient.  Seed germination can take as long as 21 days or more.  Continue to water.  In the absence of water, the seeds may dry out and can even die if they have not rooted into the soil yet.

If you have any questions about core aeration and seeding, please contact us.