Aeration is a lawn care service that should be performed annually in Michigan and involves pulling up plugs of soil from your lawn to loosen compaction and make it easier for nutrients and other resources to reach the roots of your grass. After this process is done, you'll likely notice clumps of soil on your turf. These clumps are caused by the aeration machine pulling up cores of soil as part of the process and leaving them on your lawn. However, they are not harmful or detrimental to your lawn in any way. In fact, these clumps contain nutrients that they will return back to your lawn as they decompose. If you don't like how they look, there are some things that you can do to speed up their decomposition such as mowing or raking them. But, we recommend against removing them altogether because your lawn will miss out on the nutrients that they contain.

Why are there clumps of soil on your lawn after it has been aerated?

After your lawn has been aerated, you may notice clumps of soil scattered across your lawn. Don't worry! This is completely normal and expected after the aeration process is complete. During this process, an aerator machine will pull up plugs of soil from your lawn to loosen compacted soil and make it easier for nutrients and other vital resources to reach the roots of your grass. As part of this process, the machine will leave behind the cores of soil that it pulled up on your lawn. That's why you see these clumps of soil scattered around your lawn.

Aeration should be performed annually in Michigan to ensure your lawn always has easy access to the nutrients and resources that it needs to thrive.

These clumps of soil will return nutrients back to your lawn as they decompose.

When you're looking after your lawn after it has been aerated and are noticing all of the soil clumps scattered across it, you may be wondering what you should do with them. Well, the answer is simple - leave them alone! That's because these soil clumps are filled with nutrients, and as they decompose, they will return those nutrients back to your soil so your grass can benefit from them!

What should you do with the soil clumps if you don't want to wait for them to decompose?

If you really don't like how the clumps of soil look, there are a few things that you can do to help speed up the decomposition process. Some options include:

  • Mowing over them: Mowing over the soil clumps will break them down so that they will decompose faster.
  • Raking them: Raking the clumps will break them apart so they start to decompose sooner.
  • Removing them: While it is not recommended to remove them, you can if you want to get rid of the clumps right away. However, your lawn will miss out on the nutrients that they contain, so it is not advised to do this.

Give us a call today to schedule our core aeration service!

At Stiles Lawn, Landscaping & Snow Removal Inc., we offer our core aeration service to help alleviate soil compaction and make it easier for nutrients and other resources to reach the roots of your grass. When we perform this service, you'll likely see lots of little clumps of soil left over once we finish. Although they don't look great at first, they will eventually decompose and return nutrients back to your lawn as they do. We offer our core aeration service to property owners in DeWitt, Haslett, Williamston, MI, and throughout the surrounding areas. Call us today at (517) 322-2671 to schedule this service with us!