Microbial Aeration Introduction

What is Microbial Aeration?

Microbial aeration is a new technology in the Green Industry that uses microbes to aerate the soil under your turf without disturbing the surface of the lawn. The product, is a concentrated consumable carbon food source for soil microbes.

The Issue with Soil Compaction

Poor water retention and a lack of airflow is the main issue when compaction is mentioned. But if you’ve been involved in turf for a long time, you’ll also consider that heavy thatch accumulation, — which can, among other things, lead to the lawn rooting in the thatch layer instead of the soil—poor root development and disease issues are also much more prevalent in compacted soils.

Of course, the only way to relieve soil compaction, up until now, was mechanical aeration where machines with tines are used to remove soil plugs from the ground and deposit them on the surface, leaving an open hole that allows water and air in.

Why Aeration Wasn’t a Great Solution

Sprinkler systems, drain tiles, dog fences, anything that is underground, must be marked so it’s not damaged. After the job is done the soil plugs lay on top of the lawn and can lead to muddy conditions that interfere with mowing or can be brought into the house by pets. Areas of the lawn can be missed as well, either because the aerator won’t fit or because there’s a steep slope that’s not safe to run the machine on. Basically, aeration is a hassle, but it’s necessary to relieve soil compaction.

Or it was. But it doesn’t have to be anymore. There have been some amazing advances in the study of microbial activity in soils and we now have an alternative to mechanical aeration that gets the same results without all the hassle.