How to Loosen Up Compacted Soil

Does your lawn feel more like cement than soil? Sounds like you could have a compaction problem! Soil that is heavily compacted can cause some major lawn care headaches, so don't wait to treat it this spring. Contact a Nutri-Law Burlington Inground Sprinkler System technician today to learn how core aeration and proper irrigation can improve water retention in your yard.

Understanding Soil Compaction

In order to understand soil compaction, you must first understand your soil. The soil in your Burlington lawn is made up of a wide variety of elements, including water, oxygen, organic matter, insects, and mineral products. Each of these unique elements plays an important role in the health and vitality of your soil. When soil becomes compacted, it is because a handful of these items have been reduced within the soil's make-up – mostly oxygen and water. When the soil is squished together, the structure becomes compromised, making it difficult for plant life, including grass, to take root and grow.

Signs of Compact Soil

Compact soil is relatively easy to diagnose. Simple take a walk across your lawn this spring – if it feels like an extension of your driveway, you're likely dealing with some compaction issues. If your lawn feels springy underfoot, you've got nothing to worry about. You can also survey your lawn for any patchy spots. Grass has a very hard time growing in compacted soil, so bald areas could be a symptom of soil compaction. Finally, if the infected area is located in an area of high traffic, you're practically guaranteed that compaction is the guilty culprit.

How Not to Treat Soil Compaction

There are lots of suggested remedies for soil compaction posted online. Unfortunately, most of these will only provide you with future problems. Here are three remedies not to try when dealing with hard soil:

  1. Adding sand: Adding sand to compacted soil will only reduce the oxygen levels more, causing your soil to become even harder.
  2. Spreading topsoil on top of the infected area: While this will provide a temporary fix, it will only cause more problems down the road. The differing soil textures will cause interference with water movement and limit root spread.
  3. Adding gypsum: Gypsum, or calcium sulphate, can impact the pH of your soil, causing it to become extremely acidic. Grass seed cannot grow in acidic soil.

Proper Lawn Care Maintenance for Compacted Soil

If your soil is suffering from compaction issues, call in the professionals from Nutri-Lawn Burlington for expert lawn care maintenance. Our core aeration treatment will help increase water, nutrient and oxygen movement within your soil, which in turn will improve lawn rooting, enhance infiltration of rainfall and irrigation, and increase microorganism activity under ground.

Installing a Burlington inground irrigation system will also help ensure that your lawn is always receiving the right amount of moisture. Regular watering, when coupled with an organic top dressing application, will help improve your turf's ability to retain water over time.

Don't be hard on your soil this spring. Contact Nutri-Lawn Burlington Inground Irrigation today for more information on soil compaction treatments.