Last Updated on June 2, 2025 by Duncan

There is no denying that aerating your lawn comes with plenty of perks, such as improving the movement of air between the soil particles and many others. Even if this is the case, there is nothing without its negatives. If you are wondering what are the negatives of aerating, there are a couple of them.

The most significant disadvantage of aeration is that it is time-consuming for the average homeowner. Renting a machine is the easiest part of the process. Operating the machine a whole new ball game.

This is especially true if you are operating in a dry area. The machine will be unable to form the core if the soil is dry. Before beginning the process, you will need to thoroughly soak the lawn, which can be a lot of work.

You will need to do this on a regular basis over a few weeks to ensure that the moisture penetrates deep into the soil.

Another negative of aerating is that you can easily damage your lawn, especially when you aerate the lawn at the wrong time or use the wrong equipment.

Best practices when aerating your lawn

Use the right aerating method.

Unless the area you intend to aerate is small (like a small garden), spike or liquid aeration is not a viable solution. Spike aeration is exactly what it sounds like: using spiked shoes or spiked equipment to punch holes in the earth physically.

Walking across your yard with spiked shoes may appear to be a time-consuming task.  If it feels this way due to the size of the lawn, you should avoid the practice.

On the other hand, liquid aeration has been proven to be largely useless, and it can further compact and stress your grass. If you’re thinking about liquid aeration, you should reconsider.

Almost all lawn care professionals recommend core aeration as their preferred aeration method. For core aeration, you push an aerator machine (similar to a lawnmower) across the lawn.

As the aerator moves, it extracts thumb-sized cores of soil and grass, which you allow to decompose on the surface.

The process of opening core-sized holes has numerous advantages for your soil, root, and grass health. The cores left on the grass decompose over time, supplying nutrients to the soil underneath.

Core aeration is the most effective strategy for DFW’s readily compacted clay soils. Without question, it is the most effective lawn aeration approach.

Aerate at the right time of the year

One of the most common blunders people make is aerating during the hot and dry summer months. You should never aerate in hot or dry circumstances.

Remember that aeration is intended to relieve stressed-out lawns after a difficult season and prepare the yard for the following one.

Your lawn requires warm temperatures and sufficient rainfall to swiftly fill in those core holes and promote root and grass development. Overall, aerating during a tough season may increase stress levels.

Aerating your lawn twice a year is an excellent strategy to keep it healthy. When should those two times occur? Spring and fall.

Aerating in the spring promotes dense growth throughout the growing season. Fall’s chilly temperatures and plentiful rain provide another ideal opportunity to aerate.

Fall aeration speeds up your lawn’s recovery from summer stress and prepares it for winter dormancy.

If you attempt to aerate when the soil is extremely dry, you will encounter a number of potentially serious issues. The first is simply tiredness. The dirt hardens and compacts as it dries.

This implies you’ll have to expend a lot more manual energy driving a machine or penetrating the dirt. Slightly damp soil is simpler to work with, both in length and depth.

Second, dry soil is a strained soil. If you wait until the day after a good soaking rain, the grass and soil will be more responsive to the process. After you’ve over-seeded your slightly damp lawn, make sure to keep the soil moist.

Watering is necessary to maintain development and establish roots. You cannot rely only on the natural rain cycle. Be cautious when watering your grass.

Daily watering (at least the top ¼ inch of soil) is essential for healthy growth. Once you notice fresh sprouts, you can gradually reduce your watering schedule to its prior level.

Properly use the aeration equipment.

You wouldn’t begin baking a cake without the necessary instruments (ingredients, measuring devices, oven, etc.). You wouldn’t start without a recipe or know-how. The same thing should be true for grass care.

You must have the appropriate equipment and understand how to utilize it appropriately. You wouldn’t try to make a wedding cake in an Easy-make Oven, so why are you trying to aerate a large piece of property with aeration shoes?

As a rule of thumb, you need to ensure that you have the right aerating tool for the work.

Once you’ve paid the money, leased the machine, and loaded and unloaded the heavy equipment, the last thing you want to deal with is a user mistake. Knowing how to use aeration equipment is critical for safety and achieving the healthy grass results you want.

Aerating at the wrong time or in the wrong technique can cause additional stress on your lawn. This not only worsens soil compaction, but it may also make your lawn look and feel worse than it did before you started aerating it yourself.

Common aerator handling blunders include injuries caused by the machine’s weight, trouble remaining in straight lines, missing places, insufficient moisture, and damaging sprinklers and subterranean connections.

Don’t try to do it if you have never done it before

Aeration is not something to be taken lightly. Take the time to research to understand everything there is to know about self-aeration. Aeration takes a lot of time, effort, and talent.

The equipment required is enormous, heavy, difficult to maneuver, and not the most affordable item to rent. If you believe you can tackle this daunting task, begin your research here to understand when and how to aerate your grass.

Knowing exactly when, when, and how to aerate is a learnt skill that most lawn care experts have. When the work, time, and cost concerns are considered, hiring a lawn care firm to aerate your grass is the best option.

Having a lawn specialist manage your lawn is the most effective way to avoid all of these typical lawn aeration problems.

Parting shot

Yes, there are a number of negatives that can arise from aerating your lawn, but you can minimize them by doing the right things mentioned above.