How to Aerate for Ryegrass

Ryegrass is a cool season turf often mixed with other grasses or planted alone. There are two types of ryegrass that gardeners plant: annual and perennial. Annual ryegrass is generally overseeded in warm season or cool season grasses to help with thinning turf. Perennial ryegrass is grown in the regions that have cool climates in the northern parts of the United States. For ryegrass to grow, gardeners improve their soil's drainage and air flow by aerating. Aerating your ryegrass after the grass greens up in the fall helps reduce the instances of disease.

Measuring stick
Power dethatcher
Lawn mower
Rake
Core aerator
Annual ryegrass seeds
Perennial ryegrass seeds

Instructions

- 1
  Press a measuring stick through the ryegrass to the soil to check the thatch layer. Thatch is a layer of living and dead organic material that naturally accumulates in ryegrass lawns. A thatch layer more than 1/2 inch indicates that it must be removed to help improve drainage and allow the tines of an aerator to push through the soil.
- 2
  Mow the lawn down to its recommended height. Annual ryegrass is mowed to 1 1/2 to 2 inches, whereas perennial ryegrass is mowed to 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches. Rake up the grass clippings.
- 3
  Push a power dethatcher across the lawn to rip through the ryegrass and pull out the thatch. Rake up the debris.
- 4
  Water the lawn for 2 to 3 days. Keeping the soil moist helps core aerators dig up plugs of dirt out of the soil.
- 5
  Push a core aerator back and forth over the rye grass making three to five passes. Core aerators remove plugs of soil that are 1/2 to 3/4 inch in diameter and 1 to 6 inches in depth. Rake up the plugs of dirt.

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