Make Aerification Work Harder This Fall

By the time late summer rolls into fall, turf has been through a lot. Heat, traffic, irrigation, mowing and months of regular maintenance can take a toll above ground, but they can also create challenges below the surface. Compaction builds, oxygen movement can become limited and roots may struggle to access the water and nutrients they need.

That’s why fall aerification matters. It relieves compaction, improves oxygen exchange and opens channels through the soil profile that allow water and nutrients to move more effectively. But according to Dr. Chris Underwood, Ph.D., aerification also creates an opportunity to do more than punch holes and wait for the turf to recover.

“Aerification creates one of the best opportunities to improve rootzone performance,” Underwood says. “Supporting soil biology, oxygen movement, and root recovery helps maximize the benefits of the practice and discourage black layer.”

The key is taking advantage of the access aerification creates.

Performance Nutrition’s Aerification Performance Program pairs NutriWise^® WSP, Korban^®  and Pennamin^® Si to address three different needs following cultivation: biological activity in the rootzone, soil performance and nutrient efficiency, and turf recovery and root strength.

NutriWise WSP starts with biology. As a microbial inoculant, it introduces beneficial microorganisms directly into the newly opened soil channels created during aerification. Once there, those microorganisms can support biological activity and nutrient cycling while helping reduce thatch buildup and improve overall soil function.

That biological activity is only one piece of a healthy rootzone, though. Soil conditions also determine how effectively turf can use the fertility being applied.

Korban, a humic acid solution, helps improve nutrient retention and availability in the rootzone while supporting soil structure and healthy oxygen movement. Following aerification, that can help turf managers make better use of fertility applications while continuing to improve the soil environment below the turf.

Then there is the recovery period. Aerification is beneficial, but it is still a cultivation practice that disrupts the turf, and getting it back to full performance is part of the job.

Pennamin Si combines amino acids and silicon to support metabolic activity during recovery while encouraging root growth and overall turf vigor. It also helps maintain turf performance following cultivation, making it the third piece of a program designed to capitalize on what aerification has already accomplished.

For turf managers, the opportunity is pretty straightforward. You’re already opening the rootzone, so make the most of it.

Fall aerification can do more than relieve the compaction that built up through summer. By supporting soil biology with NutriWise WSP, improving soil performance and nutrient efficiency with Korban, and encouraging recovery and root strength with Pennamin Si, the practice becomes an opportunity to improve what is happening below the surface and help turf head into the next season in a better position than it started.